My Dream Vacation

[St. Stephen's Green Park, Dublin. County Dublin, Ireland] (LOC)

My dream vacation is actually a dream that came true, and I relive it every day. That's because I met my husband while I was on vacation.

I wasn't supposed to go to Ireland; I had planned on spending a week in Spain. I had paid for the tickets and everything. But then, one night I saw one of those commercials for Irish Spring soap on TV and I had an overwhelming desire to go to the land of jigs and brogues and cabled sweaters.

Needless to say, it was a chore to change all my travel arrangements, but it was worth it. The country was beautiful, the culture was charming, and the pubs were ... fantastic.

On my last night of what had been the best vacation I had ever taken, a man walked into the pub where I was feeding my new addiction to Guinness Stout. I caught a glimpse of him standing at the door where he was staring at me. All of a sudden, he pushed his way through the crowd to my table and asked if he could buy me a drink (even though my glass was still full). I hate being hit on in bars, and had turned away several other young men that night, but I looked up at him and said "I'd like that." It was like a scene from a movie and I knew in that moment he was the love of my life.

Twenty-five years later, he is still the most romantic man in the world who can sweep me off my feet with a smile. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a vacation I was not supposed to take turned from a dream into reality.