Their story starts out simply enough: 17 years ago, English boy meets Spanish foreign exchange student girl, they fall in love, they get engaged.
Problems crop up and girl moves from Devon, England, to Paris. Or maybe girl moves to Paris and then problems crop up — doesn’t really matter now.
A few years later the boy, Steve Smith, tracks down his amor’s mother’s address in Spain and writes the girl, Carmen Ruiz-Perez, a letter with the hope that their love will bloom again. The mother puts the letter on the mantelpiece, waiting for Ruiz-Perez, but it slips down the back of the fireplace and remains unopened — for 10 years.
Then during renovations, the fireplace was removed. Ruiz-Perez finally got the letter and after much internal debate, called the number Smith left in the note. Days later the pair met up in Paris.
“When we met again it was like a film,” Smith told The U.K.’s The Times. “We ran across the airport into each other’s arms. We met up and fell in love all over again. Within 30 seconds of setting eyes on each other we were kissing. I’m just glad the letter did eventually end up where it was supposed to be.”
The pair were married last week. Here’s to happily ever after.
Photo courtesy of Henry Ford, via Commons Wikimedia.