Contest Winner: When Kat Met John

Campbell Patch's "Share Your Love Story" contest kicked off Feb. 10, asking readers to tell us how they met their partners. The result: an amazing collection of love-filled narratives and vignettes. 

We received such great submissions that we decided to share all of them with our readers over the weekend. However, we could only choose one story as the winner of the dinner for two at a Campbell restaurant. So for this, we asked Vice Mayor Evan Low to do us the honor.

Here is what he had to say about the winning entry.

This is a heartwarming love story that shows that true love never dies. It can also serve as a reminder that our search for a loved one might not be that far away and that perhaps we should revisit our past.  

Persistence, fate, and that everlasting spark are forces to be reckoned with. We can all relate to that one special person in our past when we ask ourselves, "What if we gave it another shot?"

Kudos to Kat and John and best of wishes on your future together! Thanks for sharing and for giving other readers out there hope!

-Vice Mayor Evan Low, judge of "Share Your Love Story" contest 

Winner: Kat Marin

John and I met when we were just 17, we had one of those love at first sight type of loves.

Our relationship was quite a whirlwind romance, he was the bad boy, I was the rebellious good girl. Things happened and we went our separate ways, but life being what it is we were still connected through friends, so we were never far from each other’s minds.

Seven years later in 1996 we reunited and tried to give it a second try, but I had a very young daughter and he just wasn't ready for a "ready-made" family. Time passed but John was never out of my heart, I always wondered about him and how he was and if he was happy. Then about three years ago out-of-the-blue, he contacted me through a mutual acquaintance and we started talking.

Then after talking for almost three hours on Halloween, the conversation became more serious and feelings were discussed. We both admitted that we had never stopped loving each other and we wanted to give it one more try.

Well, the third time is a charm, with years of maturity under our belts we have been hopelessly in love since that day. We are now engaged and he lives with me and my two children, who he loves as if they were his own.