You never know who you’re going to meet.

It’s not a sexy story but it has a happy ending.

I believe it was kismet that dizzyguy and I started swinging because we ended up meeting a couple that would change our lives. They were the second couple we agreed to meet up with and we did so at a bar. They were both attractive, she was around my age and he was a bit older. My husband had recently been laid off from his well paying job and had to take a lesser job where he didn’t use his skills and expertise. We had just bought our first home and were trying to figure out what direction to go in.

So we meet this couple… I’ll call them Bob and Sue. Dizzyguy and Bob get to talking and find out that they’re both in the same profession. Bob happened to be employed at the best company to work for if you’re in my husband’s profession. Back then, the only way someone like dizzyguy could even have a chance of being hired was if someone already employed there wrote a letter of recommendation. Dizzyguy told Bob all about his experience and the unfortunate job he had to take after being laid off. Bob graciously offered to write a letter of recommendation for him, even though he’d just met us.

It wasn’t too long after that, dizzyguy got a call from the company and the next step in the hiring process was to take a test. When he arrived to take the test he saw a guy he knew that had gotten laid off from the same company as he did. The test covered a lot of theory that he hadn’t used in the field all the years he’d been working in it but he scored pretty well. A little while after taking the test the manager called and gave dizzyguy his score. He said that he really wanted to hire him but there was only one spot and someone else had scored just a little higher so they would have to hire the other guy. But he also said that dizzyguy was next in line, as soon as there was another opening. Turns out that the guy who got the job was the one dizzyguy knew from his old job. I was pretty bitter about it and he was disappointed but happy for the guy.

We waited and waited and heard nothing. Over a year went by and dizzyguy was still working the crappy job. We were doing OK financially because I was working as well but we really started questioning why we were continuing to live in that state. We weren’t from there and never really warmed up to the place. We stayed because of our jobs and we owned a home. Eventually, we gave up on him ever getting hired by that great company and we decided to put the house on the market. We planned to move back closer to where I’m originally from. The house got listed on a Sunday and we had an offer that Friday for exactly our asking price. We couldn’t believe our good luck and the closing process moved along fairly quick. Then we packed up and moved. We look back and realize how fortunate we really were to have sold when we did. It wasn’t too long after that, the bottom fell out of the housing market. That state had gotten hit particularly hard and we’re convinced that if we hadn’t been able to sell when we did, we’d be stuck there.

We hadn’t been relocated more than a month when out of the blue, dizzyguy gets that call we had waited so long for. That great company wanted to hire him. We were beside ourselves with joy but there was a catch… we would have to move back to the state we had just moved away from. Oh, the irony. We heard through the grapevine that the manager was on the fence about hiring dizzyguy because he was worried about us not being able to relocate. Dizzyguy called the manager and said there was absolutely no reason for concern and that we were ready to pick up and move on a moments notice. This must have convinced the manager because he offered dizzyguy the job.

That meant we were putting about 90% of our stuff in storage and taking the rest back to the state we’d just moved away from. We went from owning our own home to renting a little one bedroom apartment. Which was fine because we couldn’t afford much. The new job dizzyguy was taking was only part time. Yes we jumped through all those hoops over a part time job. At the time, it was the only way you could get into the company. You started part time and waited for a full time spot to open up… and that’s what we did. Dizzyguy put his name on the list for a full time spot in the city where we really wanted to live and then we just waited… not knowing when or if a full time spot would ever become available. He was about 9 months into working this part time job when the manager told him that the company was cutting his spot and there was no other openings anywhere that he could take and he was going to be laid off. Seriously. Laid off again… and after jumping through all those hoops, moving back and forth and all. We were devastated.

We lived with that black cloud hanging over our heads for a couple more months not knowing what the hell we were going to do when just before… I mean, right up to the last possible minute, a full time opening became available in the city we wanted to live in and dizzyguy got it. We’ve had a lot of bad luck in our lives but this is one time I can count my blessings. Things really did work out for us in the end. We moved back to the city where we wanted to be, bought some land and built a house. Dizzyguy now works for the company in his field that offers the highest pay and best benefits. We’re finally doing alright and I feel like we worked hard to get here and made some sacrifices that a lot of other people wouldn’t have made… but we did it and it paid off.

So, we’re living our lives when one day, out of nowhere a guy (I’ll call him John) that dizzyguy worked with up north when he was part time, called and left a voicemail that said something like “hey man, call me back as soon as you get this. It’s important!” Dizzyguy was under the impression that it must be urgent and that it had to do with work. Now, I need to backtrack just a bit and tell you a very important thing about John. He was very open with dizzyguy about the fact that he and his wife were swingers. Of course, dizzyguy never offered up any information about us so, John never knew that we had been swingers too. Now back to this phone call… dizzyguy calls John back and asks, “what’s up?” John says, “Hey, how did you say you met Bob?”. Dizzyguy couldn’t contain his amusement and had a good chuckle. He knew it was only a matter of time until John stumbled across Bob and Sue’s profile on that popular swingers website. He gave the standard answer and told John that we met through mutual friends. John, not buying it said, “Did you know he has a profile on this swinger’s site?” Laughing, dizzyguy told him, “I can neither confirm nor deny.”. And right then John knew exactly how we’d met Bob and Sue. He got really excited and asked, “so you mean you’ve been with her?” (her, meaning Sue). Again, all dizzyguy would say is, “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

And so looking back on all that’s happened, I can’t help but think that we were meant to start swinging and it was fate that we would meet Bob and Sue. Because, our lives are so good now thanks in large part to the job dizzyguy wouldn’t have if it weren’t for Bob. We don’t keep in touch with them anymore. You know how it goes when you move away and get caught up living your life… people kind of drift apart. But I think of them every now and then and I thank the powers that be that we met them. Never mind the context under which we met. It goes to show, you just never really know who you’re going to meet.