A woman who reconnected with an ex-boyfriend on Facebook 27 years after they dated has revealed they are now husband and wife.
Americans have a pretty low opinion of social media. In a Pew Research Center survey 64 percent of adults said they felt social media had a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S.
But there are occasions when it can be a force for good, whether it be helping a dog get adopted or reuniting a baby with a lost toy.
Aimee Snyder, who currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky, knows only too well the way social media can change your life for the better.
It all started when Snyder found herself doing what countless others have done, scrolling through her social media feed.
“I was feeling a bit nostalgic and searching Facebook for people I knew. I found a girl who went to the same church I had as a kid.” Snyder told Newsweek.
Suddenly the name of a guy they had fought over years ago, a guy who became Snyder’s first boyfriend back in 1989, popped into her head: Chuck.
“We had met at church and knew each other for years before we started dating,” she said. “I don’t think I even registered on his radar until he accidentally knocked me out with a volleyball. He jumped up to power spike the volleyball and I decided to try to intercept it but took one step too far and intercepted it with my face.”
One explosive nosebleed later, Snyder found herself cleaning blood off herself in the basement of a fundamental Baptist church. Chuck came to see if she was OK and caught sight of Snyder in her bra, apologizing profusely of course. But a spark developed.
“We started hanging out all the time. He drew me pictures and wrote me letters. He’d drive to my school and come work out in the gym afterwards,” Snyder said.
Aimee and Chuck dated for several months, against the wishes of the church.
“They wanted him for the face of their youth group and didn’t want me in the picture because I’m a feminist like my mother before me,” she said. “The church leaders put pressure on our families to separate us.”
But they stayed together, with Aimee by Chuck’s side after he was involved in a serious car accident that left him in a coma for three days.
“I was the first person he recognized when he came out of it,” Snyder said. “That kind of put me on the outs with his mom. The parents decided to step between us. We tried circumventing them but it escalated.”
“We fell out of touch not long after that,” she said. “My parents and I had a fallout. I ended up a homeless emancipated teenager living in my car. Shortly afterwards, I got relocated to Florida and I lost him completely.”
That was how things stayed until that random day, 27 years later, when Aimee went looking for Chuck on Facebook. She found him and dropped him a message. He didn’t reply at first. Or for a couple of months in fact. But then they gradually began to converse.
“It was a tentative first chat,” Snyder said. “So much had happened in those years. I got fat, so I was afraid he wouldn’t like me. He lost his hair and was worried about the same.”
But those nerves soon gave way and the old feelings resurfaced.
“We hit it off like those lost years never happened,” Snyder said. “After months of chatting I flew up to Michigan to see him in person. He packed up his life and flew back to Florida with me. We’ve been together ever since.”
On February 22, 2022, Chuck and Aimee got married at Philippe Park at a prehistoric temple mound in Safety Harbor.
“He proposed by sticking a wedding veil on my head and taking a picture of me at a thrift shop when we were out shopping just to ‘see how I looked’ as a bride. Later that day he asked my stepdad if he could have my hand. It was so endearingly old fashioned,” Snyder said.
Snyder’s wedding gift harked back to their first fateful encounter.
“I gave him a custom-printed volleyball with that first date photo that says, ‘you had me at first Voit,’ which was the brand name of the volleyball that was printed backwards across my forehead the first time he noticed me.”
Reflecting on their unique journey, Snyder feels that ultimately being apart for so long was what made them able to be together now.
“I don’t think the timing was right the first time. We both had a lot of maturing to do. Number one was to get away from that religion. We both feel it stunted us in so many ways,” she said.
Snyder enjoyed the many years of freedom she had. She got to work with heavy metal bands and was never tied down by a husband or kids. Chuck couldn’t be more different but that’s why they work.
“He’s tamed my wilder impulses and I’ve dragged him out of his shell,” she said. “We are just opposite enough to be complementary and I think that might be the key.”
Snyder knows their situation is unique, but she would always encourage others to follow their heart, provided it’s a happy history rather than a sad one.
“Connecting with a long-lost love is fine as long as it was not because you left a bad relationship,” she said. “As long as there’s mutual respect, I say let love bloom.”
The post Woman Reconnects With Ex On Facebook After 27 Years, Now They’re Married appeared first on Newsweek.
