They say that love never truly dies. While most people don't end up staying with their first love forever, many often hold a special place in their heart for a boy or girl they dated so many years ago.
Lauris Hiner and her high school sweetheart are a perfect example of that.
The 89-year-old Redding, California, grandma lived a very full life and raised a beautiful family, spending decades married to her husband, with whom she raised several children, including a daughter named Susan Broaddus. Sadly, Lauris' husband passed away 15 years ago.
But as it turns out, there was a special someone from Lauris' past who had never quite forgotten her.
Lauris first received a bouquet of long-stemmed roses from a "mystery man" three years ago. The note with them simply read: "Love, Paul." Lauris couldn't imagine who this "Paul" was — until he phoned her several days later, and she quickly remembered the high school sweetheart who had left for the war so many years ago.
Scroll through to read all about this heartwarming reunion!
Thumbnail Photo: Susan Broaddus
[H/T: Babble]
Susan's daughter and Lauris' granddaughter, Elane Henley, shared the heartwarming story with Love What Matters.
She writes:
My grandma lost my grandfather 15 years ago. She’s lived alone and has been single, ever since.
A few years back, her old high school boyfriend tracked her down, and has been wooing her, ever since.
They met through her best friend in elementary school, (he was her friend’s cousin). Years ago, they dated for a few years and broke up, because he joined the military.
He went off to war and didn’t feel right asking her to wait for him, because he didn’t know what would happen. She ended up meeting my grandfather, while her high school sweetheart was still gone.
Unfortunately, he lives in Seattle, and my Grandma in Redding.
Their relationship consisted solely of phone calls, letters, and kind gestures… until now.
My grandma finally decided she was ready to see him in person, shortly after receiving four dozen long-stem red roses in the mail from him with a note saying, ‘Verifying my love.’
My grandma is 89 years old, and he is a year or so older. He told my grandma if he knew she’d been a widow all this time, he would have called her much sooner.
Susan explained to Babble that both Paul and Lauris had married and found lifelong love with others, raising several children, before each being widowed over a decade ago.
It was Paul's cousin, Millie (also Lauris' childhood best friend), the one who first introduced them, who informed him that Lauris' husband had passed away. That news led him to reach out to his long-ago ex-girlfriend with his bouquet of roses and a phone call.
He continued to send roses every three to four months since then, until Lauris decided she was ready to see him.
Paul and Lauris live hundreds of miles apart, so Susan, her husband, and their two daughters decided to help the exes reunite. When she reached out to Paul, he was thrilled and insisted on taking them all out to "THE best restaurant in Seattle."
Susan admitted to Babble that her mom had just about transformed into a high school teenager all over again at the prospect of seeing her old boyfriend when they made the drive to Seattle.
"She about drove me crazy going through her clothes, over and over again, trying to find the 'right' outfit to wear […] putting on makeup that she never wears anymore and pacing around the hotel room. I felt like I was with a 16-year-old daughter on a first date, not [my] 89-year-old mother," she said.
"She kept saying, 'I don’t think he wants to see me like this. I am not the young girl he remembers.' To which I replied, 'Uh, mom … I don’t think he is the young man you remember either,'" Susan continued.
But once the two finally came face-to-face after seven decades apart, "the years and concerns melted away and they were the good friends that they once were." Susan revealed that Paul spent the entire evening doting on Lauris, apologizing in advance for any rudeness in ignoring the rest of them because, as he said, "I just want to talk to my girl."
Unfortunately, due to the distance and their ages, Lauris and Paul aren't able to meet up more often. But Susan explained that she's just grateful for Paul making her mom "feel special again" — and for the reminder that "you can love more than one person in your lifetime and you are never too old to find love again."
Isn't this reunion 70 years in the making absolutely adorable?
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