"The best sleeping partner and soul mate to shack up with is undoubtedly the one who knows all your good points and helps you wear them graciously. They are a person who can bear all of your weakest traits and never use them against you in argument.
Yesterday was the 6th anniversary of the first time Sheila and I met. If I recall correctly, the very first words Sheila spoke to me when we first met on the cobbled streets of Haworth one cold afternoon on November 15th, 2010 were, 'I don't usually talk to strangers, but I have this feeling we've met before, if not in this life, then a past one?'
'That's very strange' said I in reply, 'so have I.'
And with these words spoken, we fell in love, right there on the spot and sealed our contract of never-ending endearment with a kiss and a cuddle and a coffee in Gascoigne's on the Main Street. Or at least, that is how I choose to remember it!
I was a young boy when I first learned to stretch the truth. I quickly learned that people are more inclined to listen to what you say, and believe you when you coat your words in the type of garments they would love to wear. Because all people deep down want to believe that magic exists, I usually find that if I can tap into their imagination and then, give them a wand of love, they'll wave it in whichever direction you signal. Because all of us deep down would love to fall in love with the partner of their dreams like I described above, we are more prepared to suspend our reasoning when our senses are touched, our hearts stirred and we start to dream our dream.
The simple truth is that when Sheila and I first met in Haworth that cold December day, our meeting was less by chance and more by arrangement. In fact, neither of us was physically attracted to the other at first sight to make either hope for further advancement. For me, Sheila, who then wore her hair very short, looked too severe to be taken too seriously by me, and the 14 years difference in our ages undoubtedly made her think more than twice about a second meeting. We spoke for about an hour before we parted, yet I'd been home less than an hour before I started to realise that I had met someone very loving and special that afternoon. Fortunately for me, Sheila had also been plagued with similar thoughts. The second time we met, I looked at Sheila with different eyes and saw beneath her extremely short-cut hair, a natural beauty of face which the Mona Lisa could never hope to compare with and a purity of heart to match that of any angel. Within two weeks we had communicated dozens of times by e-mail and phone calls, and by Christmas Eve, we had met three times. We both knew we were in love as we attended Midnight Mass together at St Anne's Catholic Church in Keighley in 2010. And as they say, the rest is history.
Since that fateful day we first met, every day has been a special day, and even when we are apart, our souls never lose touch. Whoever said that love and strangers never meet face to face have never been to Haworth with an open heart on a cold December day. It is a wondrous place to be at Christmas time where a Heathcliff can be found around every corner and a Catherine can always be found walking the cobbles, looking for a lifelong mate." William Forde: December 16th,2016.