Dating in Jacksonville 

Worsening health concerns meant, I had to move eighteen months before hubby could hang up his work hat. So, on February 8, 2011 at 9:00 am, I pulled out of the driveway of our Northern New York home, leaving behind all that was familiar, including my husband of thirty-three years, to play Daniel Boone and forge a new life for us in Florida. 

I cried a little when I left, trying to keep focused on the positives. Hubby would come to Florida every few months and I would come north to help settle the house once it was sold. Dating your spouse puts a whole new perspective on a marriage. I always considered myself an independent person, until the move. Living alone brought challenges I hadn’t faced since before marriage…like balancing a checkbook, and fixing things that break. 

When hubby visited, we did fun things like boat rides, walks on the beach, going to museums, and golfing. We made the best of the limited time we had together. Our long times apart taught us to appreciate the little things we used to do for each other. Like hubby’s willingness to kill spiders.  

I quickly learned that everything grows bigger in Florida—especially spiders. I’m petrified of even the tiniest crawling thing. 

I felt proud over the fact that I had purchased a home for us on my own. Hubby had come for the closing, but I had done all the paperwork and the home was in my name.  Wow, did I feel independent. Until two days after I moved in. 

Hubby had returned to the North Country and had yet to see the house we bought and wouldn’t until January since I would meet him up north at our daughter’s home for Christmas. I refused to be daunted though this dating my husband thing was getting very old and the times between “dates” too long. I felt as if I were going through life with a missing limb. 

One feature of our new home was a screened in porch where I hoped to sit outside and have my morning devotions. I opened the patio door only to be greeted by the biggest spider I’d ever seen and hope to never see again. It dared to crawl across my patio floor keeping me from the place I’d hoped to meet with God.  

First, I asked it to leave nicely. But it wouldn’t. As my panic increased, so did my hysteria. I yelled at my spouse for leaving me alone in this house. This dating thing was unnatural. He was supposed to be here to kill that spider. I shouldn’t have to do this horrible thing. Buying a house on my own was one thing, but killing a spider was way beyond possible. 

“You will not deprive me of my home!” I yelled. Undaunted, the spider continued to creep toward the patio doors. 

Sobbing, I grabbed a dust mop and held my breath as I took aim at the huge black invader. “Die! Die! Die!” I demanded as I wielded my weapon with all the hysteria of a murderous mad woman until the spider disintegrated. When I finally realized the enemy was dead, I ventured back inside and cried for another half hour, yelling condemnations at my absent spouse. 

That was the lowest point. Christmas came then a January visit, a May visit and hubby moved in by June. Life would get better and we could resume our fun on a fulltime basis. 

The month after hubby became an official Floridian, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Our retirement plans were put on hold for a long process of treatment. 

Fortunately, my prognosis is good. I am thankful he’s here with me. I’d rather kill a hundred spiders than face this alone. In sickness and health the vows said. Nothing about spiders or long periods of separation. I believe the time we spent dating was a time to reaffirm our love for one another, a prelude to our once again holding hands while we faced a new enemy, with chemo and radiation instead of a dust mop. 

I am nearing the end of the treatment process. I am driving again, and my mental acuity is returning. I rub my fuzzy head where my hair is trying to grow back and put my head on hubby’s shoulders. “We will get through this,” he says. “It’s not an end to our journey but merely another bump in the road.” 

Next on the agenda, a second honeymoon.

About Linda: A native of Central New York, Linda Rondeau met and married Steve Rondeau, her best friend in life, and managed a career in human services before tackling professional writing. After thirty-four years of marriage, they have relocated to Jacksonville, Florida, leaving rural America to live in a city of one million.

While writing is her greatest passion, the more favorable temperatures of Florida allow her to follow another great passion–golf.

Linda is the wife of one patient man, the mother of three, and the grandmother of nine.

An award winning author, Linda is multipublished. Linda’s first title, The Other Side of Darkness, released Fall 2012, won the 2012 Selah Award for best first novel. Her first book in her Sci-Fi, futuristic series, America II, written under L.W. Rondeau released summer of 2012.

About the book – It Really is a Wonderful Life: Midville newcomer and Iraq War widow, Dorie Fitzgerald, despises the frigid Adirondack wasteland that has now become her home. After twenty failed job interviews, she questions the wisdom of moving to be near her parents. Desperate to belong, she joins the local Community Theater, in production for It’s a Wonderful Life.

Jamey Sullivan has put his professional life on hold in order to run the family business and to help his ailing father. He signs on for Midville’s production of It’s a Wonderful Life, although he hopes to receive a Broadway casting call any day now.

When these two meet, they are instantly attracted to one another. However, ambition, demanding children, and a romantic rival threaten to squash their growing love for one another.

It Really is a Wonderful Life is set in the beautiful Adirondack mountains, a perfect backdrop for romantic conflict.

About the book – The Other Side of Darkness: Three lives intertwined, tied together by dangerous circumstance and the faint echoes of an elusive hope. To make it through, each must find their way to the Light that’s found only on the other side of darkness… After setting out on a forced vacation, and literally running into a moose, Manhattan Assistant D.A. Samantha Knowles finds it’s not so bad being stranded in a quirky but intriguing Adirondack town.

But when her three-year prosecution against a convicted killer begins to unravel, she’s thrust into a whirlwind of haunting memories, fear, and danger…and suddenly, Haven isn’t so safe, after all. ~ With no future in Haven, and no way to escape the small town, teacher Zack Bordeaux fears he’s doomed to a life of mediocrity. ~ Haunted by the deaths of his wife and son, landscape artist Jonathan Gladstone feels bound to an estate he both loves and loathes. When Zack and Jonathon meet Samantha,their lives take on a different course.

Can You Really Meet Your Husband Online?

Yes you can! And I did. I didn’t plan it that way, it just happened. I started online dating just because I was busy and had no time to meet people. I went to work, stayed there ten or twelve hours, and went home. Not a lot of opportunity to meet someone that way!

• It’s Not Scary

One of the most common questions I get about my experience is “Was it scary to online date?” No way! Anytime you meet someone new (no matter how you meet them) you need to be careful: take your own car, have money with you, and meet out at a central location. But that old perception that online dating had to be filled with freaks and weirdoes is wrong. At least, that was my experience. I met a lot of really nice guys who were like me: busy with work and school and just hadn’t met the right person yet.

• 60 Coffee Dates in Six Months

I found that the easiest way to meet someone new was by having a coffee date, which was a one-hour date out at a coffee shop. I met the person there, chatted for about an hour, and then left. It was so easy to set things up this way. I let the guys know ahead of time that I could only meet for an hour, so it was easy after that time period was up to end the date. I think one thing people have a problem with is finding a polite way to say “I’d like to go home now!” on a first date. A coffee date is an easy way to do that.

Sometimes I’d schedule a couple coffee dates on a weekend day. It was easy and fun to do, and I enjoyed meeting my dates and finding out more about them. (Must be the writer in me!) All in all, I went on over 60 coffee dates in just six months.

• When I Met My Future Husband

You might have thought that with 60-some coffee dates, I was getting discouraged. But it was just the opposite. I met so many interesting people, that I knew the right one for me would show up eventually. And he did. They say you “know” when you meet the right one, and while I didn’t know for sure that we’d end up married, I did know we could become really good friends. We talked about things easily and had so much in common. And remember my “one hour” rule? That totally went out the window during our coffee date. We stayed and chatted for three hours. (We’d have probably stayed even longer but the coffee shop was closing.)

Even today (almost nine years later), we still have great conversations and enjoy hanging out together. We became good friends on that first coffee date, and fell in love a few months after that. Both of us marvel at the fact that we met online, it seems like we’ve known each other for our entire lives. Not only that, but we hung out at the same places for years and didn’t meet until the Internet introduced us. I can’t help thinking that God had been working for years trying to get us to meet, and it wasn’t until we both went on the Internet that it happened. I can picture God saying, “Finally!”

About Cherie: Cherie Burbach writes about friendship, dating, family, and relationships at About.com (NY Times) and Life Goes Strong (NBC/Universal). She has penned eleven books and ebooks, including Internet Dating Is Not Like Ordering a Pizza and 21 Ways to Promote Your Book on Twitter, and has published over 500 articles on the subjects of health, sports, and lifestyle. For more info, visit her website, http://www.cherieburbach.com.

About the book: Have you become frustrated with Internet dating? If you’ve tried online dating and given up, or even if you thought the Internet wasn’t right for you, this book will give you the courage to try again, this time armed with specific illustrations on what really works – from the profile through the dating stage. Don’t waste another minute wondering why some people seem to have Internet dating success while you’re still waiting for a response to your online ad. Through dozens of concrete examples, dating expert Cherie Burbach will show you how to write an eye-catching profile, search for, and meet the right person online.