text: It was the morning of December 31st, New Year’s Eve, a time when most people were anxiously awaiting to dress up and go to some glamorous party to celebrate the new year. But not Jade, she was at home in her pajamas thinking about the last six months of her life and how she wouldn’t be celebrating the new year the way she had been hoping for, in fact, she wouldn’t be celebrating at all. Jade sat on the sofa heartbroken, she was finally supposed to meet him, the man of her dreams. A man she met online, a man that she fell in love with. But instead of holding him tonight she was holding an empty champagne glass in one hand and a box of Kleenex in the other. Six months ago Jade had met Lorenzo a 52-year-old Italian from Pisa, Italy. Their correspondence started with a few messages on the dating site and quickly moved to text and email. Jade couldn’t believe how everything flowed so easily with this man. His emails read like poetry, he told her about his family and how he came to be in the United States for work. He was a single father of a teenage daughter and also took care of his elderly mother. She had expressed to him how much she always wanted to go to Italy and she talked about all the books and information she had on his country. He loved this. Jade had raised her children all by herself as well, but they were now young adults living their own lives and that left Jade more alone than ever. Her last romantic relationship was a little over two years ago and ended just as bad as all the previous ones. Her streak of bad relationships was probably one for the record books. But she refused to give up on love, despite how many times men have broken her heart. She believed with all her heart that one day she would find the “one” to spend the rest of her life with. She prayed it would be Lorenzo. As much as she adored Lorenzo, deep down there was a little bit of fear, a little doubt. Could he really be the one she has waited for her entire life? Was he real? Was this destiny? They shared this feeling, the feeling that something great and divine had brought them together, with all her broken relationships and the loss of his wife in recent years. They were convinced they were brought together to share in the joy of love again. Each the lost puzzle piece to the other’s life. She remembered the moment she heard his voice for the first time she melted like butter. His laughter warmed her heart and awoken her spirit, something she hadn’t felt in a very long time. She knew that no matter what she was going to give her all to this relationship they were building. She decided to push her fear and doubt aside and instead be fueled but faith, trust, and love. Within a couple of months, she was head over heels in love with him and he said he felt the same about her. Her friends thought she was moving too fast, but Jade always had a ‘go for it’ attitude. The unfortunate part of her situation is that he was an engineer working overseas, even though he lived in the United States, in a different state then hers but to them, that was just geography. “True love conquers all”, is what they would say to each other. But was it true love? Jade knew that she wore her heart on her sleeve and she always believed the best in people. As far as she was concerned he was perfect for her, she hadn’t found any holes in his story and he was always forthright when she had questions for him. All these months she has waited patiently for him to finish his work overseas and finally come to meet her face to face. During the six months apart they had missed birthdays and holidays, they decided that they would start the new year together. It would be the moment they started their ‘real’ life together. But here she sat, a few hours before the new year and no Lorenzo. He told her his work was taking longer than expected and couldn’t leave yet. To make matters worse she hadn’t spoken with him on the phone in hours, which was not normal. They always talked on the phone, at least twice a day. That is one of the many things she loved about him, he has called her every day for six months. All that doubt and fear pushed its way to the surface, the tears flowed down her face, and her heart ached. She didn’t want to listen to the fear or the doubt. But she had invested so much time and emotion into this relationship, she wasn’t sure her heart could recover if he turned out not to be the man he has portrayed himself to be. But what could she do? She watched as the time ticked by, she tried calling him but the call wasn't going through, she was so frustrated with the connection problems they seemed to have. She just wanted to hear his voice, which always made her feel better. Instead, she decided to stop with the pity party and she turned on the TV, it was an hour before the ball dropped to ring in the new year, she poured herself another glass of champagne and popped some popcorn...emotional eating always made her feel better too. She sat there trying to watch the festivities but her mind kept going back to Lorenzo, and all the same, thoughts kept twirling in her mind. It was driving her crazy. Even the champagne wasn’t settling her mind down. Before she knew it the celebrities on TV were counting down to the new year...5...4...3...2...1... Her doorbell rang.