In the morning light of the weekend I spent in Maldives, in August 2013, I walked down the path from my hotel room to the space created for celebrations. It had soft white sand, decorated with groomed flowers, cozy chairs, stools, and a warm jacuzzi with crystal surfaces at the right angle to have a glass of wine as you're in the tub. Something big enough to fit eight people, preferably couples owning each ninety-degree corner of the tub to themselves. I slept the night before that morning thinking deeply about who I was after work hours, and I felt empty. Seeking companionship, I had a birthday party on the pristine sand.
I was going to be in Maldives for 10 days so this celebration would be helpful at the end of my meeting with the company's regional heads. I planned the party to be right after the next day when the long meeting ended and my friends started trooping in from 10 am on that Saturday morning. I wished many of them had come with lovers and spouses, but one came with his fiancee, and his fiancee's friend, who was also someone I had met before.
Long story short, the party was marvelous and classy, with all the notes of romance breathing in the atmosphere. Asked if the Jacuzzi had couples in it through the night as I envisioned. It did, until morning.
I moved around to chat with everyone and spent a little more time with the loner like me, Margret is her name.
It was my 29th birthday party and I enjoyed every bit of it. We all gradually found our way back to the hotel room. A few hours into my sleep, I heard a knock on my door, and a lost gold necklace with an agate stone surfaced. My search for its owner led me to Margret, a friend of a friend.
I took a deep breath with exhaustion from the thoughts that I would have to go around the rooms immediately as many of them planned to travel back home before evening. I went room to room in searched for the owner of the necklace.
As I knocked on the door on my third try, it was Margret's room.
She answered that it was for her friend and volunteered to come with me to her friend's room. I waited outside her room while she changed into something better. Margret came out in a sundress, breathtaking.
We walked and talked to my friend's room to hand over the necklace to her friend. Returning the necklace sparked a conversation that lingered long after. Perhaps it was the laughter or the Maldivian sunrise, but a connection felt undeniable. Then we exchanged numbers and social media profiles before I walked her back to her room. She gave me more than enough to reminisce about, more than the party I thought would help my mind before I got bored again.
We started texting each other immediately after I arrived home, and the rest as they say is history. A year later, in August 2014, we were married one year after we met.
Maldives gifted me more than a 29th birthday party; It gifted me Margret my forever love.
I know some stories are yet to be told by the curator of their heart and desire. Write your story to celebrate your love story.