Cip is Romanian and has lived in the UK since 2006 because of work. In 2007 he moved to Aberdeen and we met online on Plentyoffish.com. This was one week (in early October 2008) after I had kicked out my ex boyfriend (whom I'd also met on P.O.F), who had been living with me in my flat. That relationship had gone sour (for reasons on his part) after 3 months and I stupidly let him back into my life (and on top of that, move in with me). During those 6 months I led a very quiet life and lost lots of weight and my confidence had plummeted. The final straw came when he made lame excuses to duck out of joining me at my Grandparent's 50th Wedding Anniversary and had disappeared from the flat before I came back from having my hair and make up done!
So, a week on from that fateful day where I finally grew a pair and sent him packing, Rusty (my Dog) and I were on our own together and I was getting ready to start rebuilding my life after a total of 10 wasted months on that waste of space. I logged in to P.O.F merely to see if anyone worthwhile was kicking about for a nothing more than a chat... That was the afternoon when Cip messaged me, having seen something written on my profile that caught his eye... We quickly decided to talk on msn instead, and he told me that he had been sent to Scandanavia for work but was due to be coming home the next day. After a while, he invited me to go for a coffee and asked for my number to ring me when he got back.... There seemed to be something different about him that made me want to meet him, and I got butterflies waiting for him to call me when he landed.
We met up at a Costa Coffee in Aberdeen, and both chose the disgusting Orange flavour hot chocolate that was on offer. As we chatted away, I could not really make out how much he liked me. I liked him, but I didn't feel we'd gotten to know each other well enough to know if it was going to go any further. We parted company at a bus stop (which he waited at with me) with the invitation coming from him to go on a car run to Oban with a local group of car enthusiasts. I was a bit worried about leaving Rusty on his own for such a long time, so I said I'd think about it. We stayed in touch via msn and text and once I had plucked up the courage to tell him I would come to Oban, he told me he'd been asked to go off-shore again and would have to cancel! We agreed that we would try and meet up again once he was back (but I was secretly gutted!) Following that, we spoke on MSN one night before he went off-shore and realised we didn't have any plans for that evening, so we agreed to meet up to go to the cinema before he went away. It was at the cinema - (seeing Taken) that I started to get the feeling he liked me. We went back to his for some wine (my first try of Romanian wine) and sat speaking at his flat until 1 in the morning.
Eventually we agreed he should take me home as it was getting late (he hadn't had more than a glass). But when he walked me to the door, I got the feeling that he wanted to kiss me, but he didn't. I went upstairs and lay in bed and we continued to text. At somepoint, I said, maybe I shouldn't have left because we keep talking and he asked me if I wanted him to come back for me. He did, and when I got downstairs he found the courage that he didn't have before and kissed me. We went back to his and talked more and then I stayed at his, with nothing more happening than being cuddled up next to each other.
The next day he dropped me home, and promised he would be in touch. He emailed me every day, sometimes more than once while he was away, and from the moment he came back, we were inseperable (apart from when he went off-shore). He brought me flowers all the time, just because..... We soon went on our first run to Oban ourselves for the day and it poured the whole way there and back... Soon after we took our first overnight trip to Glasgow and Stirling, and not long after that, we spent the weekend on the Isle of Skye at the end of November.
Although we'd known after about 3 weeks of being together that we were in love, it was that weekend in Skye that really consolidated things for both of us, and although he went home to Romania for Christmas, I joined him on the 27th December for New Year 2009. At a friend's wedding in Feb 2010, Cip told me that he loved me enough and liked me enough to want to marry me, but he wanted us to be together for longer before that happened.
Sure enough, the following weekend, he asked me to move in with him once we found a flat big enough for us to live in together. That happened in June 2009. Exactly one year later, we moved into our first house and we have been there for over a year now already! Cip proposed on our 2nd anniversary, on the 5th of October, while we were in Barcelona, at the park at the top of the cable car that runs from Park Montjuic to the harbour. (He should never have told me after 5 months together he planned to marry me, cos all it made me do was wait for it to happen!)
It will be our 3rd anniversary in October and it will be less than one year until our wedding :) Since I've met Cip, I have travelled so much more, and experienced so much more from life than I probably ever would have on my own, or with anyone else. He has his moments, but he is generally very patient, kind and caring and I cannot wait to see more of the world with him. It might be a cliche, but he has become my best friend, and not just my fiance. We've had our ups and downs like any other couple, and I still have issues with my confidence, even now. But he tries his best to make me feel special and moves heaven and earth to make sure we have the things we need or want. He just sold his own car, to buy one for me so that I can learn to drive... No-one's ever done anything so nice for me before.. He is supportive when I need it from him, and I love him so much for it.... :)
xxx