My name is Dinedra A. and my partner’s name is Jermere C. We have been together for 2 years and some change, but we have known each other for 20+ years. I first met Jermere in Maryland when I was 13 years old and she was 17 or 18 years old. She was a friend of my brothers and someone that awed me from the beginning. Of course I didn’t talk to her because I was very shy and kept to myself. Years later, we ran across each other in the apartment complex that I lived in. She knew I was shy, so it was like she made me be her friend. She worked with my mom so she would always come to my house and I would be in my room reading or writing and she would always come in and convince me to come outside with her or go somewhere with her. Being as though I wasn’t confident or even sure in my sexuality, we established a relationship as big sister, lil’ sister. We were inseparable.
One day, my mom decides we were going to move out of state to North Carolina so we did and we never saw each other or talked for 17 years. One day my brother tells me she was looking for me. I still didn’t reach out to her and it took me another year to build up the nerve to call her. One morning, I just picked up the phone and called. I was so dang nervous I didn’t know what to say, so I just asked “Do you know who you are talking to?” and of course she said yes Sissi (that is the nickname I go by) I was so shocked that after all this time she still knew my voice. We talked on the phone for hours and I fell in love instantly. It was like no time had passed but as always, I was still shy and scared to tell her my true feelings. But I guess in our time apart, she grew bolder because she told me her feelings of how she loved me since we first met and how she was scared of my rejection. Talking about shocked, I was speechless.
We continued to talk for days and I found out that she was going thru a hard spell since her mom had passed and I immediately told her to come here with me and my boys in North Carolina. It took some convincing at first, but she finally agreed and came down here. She was playing it safe and wouldn’t come live with me but when I saw her face that first day that she got here, she stole my heart. Even though we were in love I think we both was scared me of being hurt and her of the same thing. It took about 2weeks of her getting here for us to realize we wanted and needed each other and she moved and we have been together and happily in love every since. We would be married now but the state we live in doesn’t recognize gay marriages so we bought rings with each others’ name on it and committed ourselves to each other.
I think it is wonderful that you two were able to still have a connection even though you were apart for 17 long years. That is hard to do, as you may not know if that other person is now in a relationship, single, or even still interested in you. It can be a scary thing not knowing what she is thinking or feeling. You almost have to put yourself on the line and just pray that you both feel the same way. Life is about taking chances and it looks like it was definitely worth it for you.