Weaskedmembers of theBuzzFeed Communitywho found love after divorce to share their stories.
They opened up about love, loss, and redemption, which was very touching.
Here’s what they revealed:
1.
“I first met him during my first year of college.
While we only met up a few times, we shared the same sense of humor.
He was seeing someone else, whom he later married.
Fast forward 33 years later, we’re both divorced, and he looked me up.
A long-distance friendship ensued, but there were sparks.
We got engaged nine months later and married six months after that.
We just celebrated our 14th anniversary!
He is my best friend, my everything, and my most supportive, helpful partner.
We laugh together every day.”
Anonymous
2.
“I was in a 16-year marriage that, from the outside, looked perfect.
Inside, we lived as roommates with zero contact, affection, or intimacy for nearly 14 years.
I realized that things wouldn’t change during a Thanksgiving trip.
I didn’t know how the end would unfold, but I knew it would.
I can’t change it, but I’m here now.'”
“Within weeks, I knew this man was my call to action.
Fast forward: We’ve been together for almost nine years and are grateful we crossed paths.
We had similar stories of love and loss, and I instantly hit it off.
When he came to visit me, I was head over heels immediately.
“I was with my ex-husband for eight years.
Just three months before our fifth wedding anniversary, I found out he was cheating.
After it all ended and we divorced, I wanted to date again.
I could not let that man be the love of my life.
I’m grateful for him.
I learned a lot, but he just couldn’t be ‘it’ for me.
After some dates and a couple of short-lived relationships, I met ‘it.’
We dated for nine months, and then he dumped me.
I was sad but not devastated.
I’m so happy we found each other and then found each other once more.
I consider his love a privilege.
He worships the ground I walk on.”
mitrofannorris
6.
“I split from my ex after 16 years of marriage, right before COVID hit.
I stayed single on purpose for a year and didn’t date a ton after that.
We were engaged less than three months after meeting.
He moved in a week later, and we married five months later.
That was all almost three years ago.
I love him even more now.
Not only is he the love of my life, but he’s also truly my best friend.
I can’t imagine life without his sweet presence.”
jessherr
7.
“I married my first husband when I was 25.
He had two beautiful children who were 9 and 11, and I adored them.
He was emotionally abusive, could not keep a job, and was unfaithful.
I stayed with him for five years, largely because I loved my stepkids.
Two years in, we had a daughter together.
I finally decided I was teaching my kids to stay in a toxic relationship and divorced him.
My stepdaughter was 16 and wanted to stay with me.
At the last minute, he let her.
I thought I would be single and just raise my girls.
A year after my divorce, my stepson, who was now 15, came to live with me.
“At about the two-year post-divorce mark, a friend’s husband tried to fix me up.
His wife nixed it.
Six months later, she tried fixing me with the same guy.
I asked why she had a change of heart.
She said she had gotten to know him and thought he was great.
I am a plus-size woman, and no one ever fixes me up with anyone.
As a single mom, they put me in the driver’s seat.
They gave me his number.
I called, and we talked a lot before we met.
When we finally met, I panicked and didn’t call for a few weeks.
I kept thinking about him and finally called again.
We married five months later and have been married for 25 years.
He is my best friend.
He is easier going than me by far!
We have so much fun together.
I still think back in horror: What if I had never called him back?
melissayvonnemarklew
8.
“I found true love 37 years later.
We dated briefly in high school.
Due to a misunderstanding that wasn’t clarified, we went our separate ways.
We married the wrong people.
When we met again, it was like coming home.
In hindsight, I probably should’ve left about a decade earlier.
I left knowing I would be happier AND less lonely as a single mom.
I dated a bit after the divorce and then decided to be done with dating.
All the good ones were taken, or so I thought.
I returned to being happily single, enjoying my kids, friends, and family.
We’ve been inseparable ever since.
He is 100% the love of my life.
He’s my person.
“The versions of ourselves that we brought into our relationship are exactly who we needed to be.
We are playful and silly but also mature and can have deep, philosophical conversations.
After three years and a cross-country move, I finally left my husband.
He was a nice guy, but not the right one for me.
Returning to my hometown, I had no intention of dating again.
I was dealing with serious health issues and underwent a full hysterectomy at 32.
I figured I would be single forever.
Then, three months after my surgery, I met my now-husband at a beer and tequila festival.
The moment I saw him, I knew he was the one.
Next month, we celebrate our fifth anniversary.”
“I got married too quickly and too young (19).
It was a military marriage the kind they warn you about.
Not long after we were married, he became abusive.
Not long after that, he cheated on me.
As a military spouse, I stuck around.
I was across the country from my family with no means to support myself.
I didn’t know how to leave.
Finally, it became too much.
I called my parents, and they arranged a plane ticket home.
I left my now-ex at 24 with nothing but a suitcase and started over.
I lived with my parents and got a job waiting tables.
There, I met the man I’m married to now (and forever).
I guess I should say I re-met him.”
“He was the younger brother of my childhood best friend all grown up.
I actually tried to resist my attraction to him because of the history there.
His mom had been my Girl Scout leader, and his sister had been my best friend.
He won me over, though.
He was everything my ex wasn’t: patient, kind, and loving.
We started dating and quickly fell in love.
We didn’t have a penny to our names, but it didn’t matter.
He eventually left the restaurant job to go to school, and I continued working to support us.
Then, he got a job in his career field, and we began building our lives together.
We were married two years after we started dating.
Two years after that, our first son was born.
Then, eight years later, we had our second son and completed our family.
I’m a stay-at-home mom now, and he provides a beautiful life for us.
More importantly, though, he is my best friend and the best thing that ever happened to me.
Our days are filled with laughter and love.
When I say this man was the epitome of selfishness, I’m not exaggerating.
He dwindled away our money, never prioritized me, and used his mental illnesses to manipulate me.
I feel like he truly catfished me because he wasn’t at all like that before we were married.
I was no different.
After a while, my friends encouraged me to go on Bumble.
I first met him on Bumble, and we talked for six hours on our first face-to-face date.
Our next date was nine hours.
When I say he is the most thoughtful, kind, loving man, I’m not exaggerating!
I had to give up everything when my ex left.
But since then, I have saved enough money to buy my first home and am thriving financially.
The most important lesson I learned was to prioritize myself.
I learned so much from being with the wrong person.
It made me become the right person for myself.
I believe it had to happen that way so the right person for me could come along.
Honestly, now I genuinely feel love the way you’re supposed to feel it.
“I left my emotionally abusive ex-husband in January 2020, after 23 years of marriage.
I tried several of the apps but had no luck.
He has no online presence, so I slid into his best friend’s DMs and left my number.
He called a couple of weeks later.
“That was three years ago; today, we are more in love than ever.
I regret all the time we missed.
absepa
14.
We were not high school sweethearts by any means.
He was older, and we had met through mutual friends.
He had purchased his first house and asked me to move in shortly after.
Needless to say, it took years for us to get married.
He had every excuse in the book for why we shouldn’t.”
He said he needed to ‘protect his assets.’
I eventually found out it was because he was cheating and had done other shady things during our relationship.
I moved out, filed for divorce, and never looked back.
He proposed 18 months into dating, and we were married less than a year later.
We’ve now been together five years and are expecting our first child.
We became friends and had a solid friend group who hung out often.
Our mutual friends would always tell me, ‘Jon has a crush on you!’
and I’d say, ‘Well, why doesn’t he ask me out?’
He left school early and went to work in South America for a few months.
A few months later, I left for college out of state, and he joined the Marine Corps.
The first week of college, I met my first husband, and wow, what a toxic relationship!
But I was lonely and young and thought it was love.”
“We got engaged at 19 and returned to my hometown for Christmas break.
At my parent’s house, someone knocked on the door.
Jon was standing there in his dress blues.
He had come to tell me he was leaving for Iraq in a few days.
I got married at 20, had my son at 21, and divorced at 22.
I had moved back home and was going to a summer session at a local community college.
I walked in, and Jon stood in the kitchen talking to my dad!
I hadn’t heard from him in four years!
We spent hours talking that night and went on our first official date two days later.
I called my best friend after and told her I was going to marry him.
She laughed and told me I was ridiculous.
We got engaged four months later and married two months after that.
We’ve now been married for 14 years, and he is 100% my best friend.
I am so proud of the life we’ve built.”
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
