How We Met
Believing in MAGIC!
Freddi and Giff Wilkinson
A
s part of dating in the
21st century, it may be no
surprise that we met on
the Internet. We both had very
fulfilling retired lives, a wonderful
network of friends, lots of
travel and a full social calendar
and yet, we both yearned to share
our beautiful lives with someone
special. We had prior marriages
and learned a lot of good lessons
along the way.
We were both a bit weary of the
Internet dating process, meeting
up for coffee or a glass of wine,
going through exploratory
interviews, and then deciding on
whether or not to pursue the next
step.
We intuitively knew that with
some patience and persistence,
even after several years, it might
just pay off. As my friend has told
me many times, it’s a numbers
game, get out of your box and
take some chances ... and, don’t
be afraid to choose interesting
men that might not seem to be
your type at first glance. Be happy
inside yourself and eventually the
right person will appear. And so it
was for us.
One night, Freddi was cruising
through “Our Time” internet
profiles and Giff’s big warm smile
drew her to read about him.
By the end of the profile she
thought, “wow, he sounds like the
male version of me!”
So she sent Giff an email that
said, “we seem to share the same
values and have a lot of common
interests, take a peek at my
profile, and if you think we might
be a good match, I’d love to hear
from you.” Giff was intrigued by
her note! He got back to Freddi
later that day, telling her more
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Marin Arts & Culture
about himself and suggesting that
they meet.
“We met two days later at a small
quiet café on Sacramento Street
and learned that we lived less
than a mile from one another,
shopped at the same grocery
stores, worked out at the same
gym, and yet, never ran into
each other. We both had a good
chuckle about that! Giff started
asking me many rapid-fire deep &
personal questions. At first, I was
quite taken back, until I realized
that usually, I was the one asking
these questions, so I trusted my
gut and thought “let’s see where
this goes.”
We chatted for about an hour,
and Giff asked me to go sailing,
which I love! After three attempts
at finding a date that worked,
we settled on meeting again four
days later. I couldn’t go sailing on
his first requested date because
I was hosting a dinner party
for some very close friends that
day. We laughed a lot at that
first coffee date, and before we
departed, I took a leap of faith
and invited him to be my dinner
partner at my dinner party just
two days later.
Giff showed up at my door on
time, impeccably dressed, with
two bottles of scrumptious wine, a
gorgeous bouquet of flowers and
was the consummate partner and
host with me. He fit right in with
my friends radiating his warmth,
charm and great sense of humor.
We did go sailing on the Bay two
days later and, had the most
spectacular day (and sunset)
getting to know one another, and
we laughed a lot!
Two days later we had dinner
together, and three days later we
took a long ride up to Napa Valley
for a friend of Giff’s birthday
party. We chatted the entire trip
about our goals and dreams,
finances, sex, and more than
anything how much we started to
trust each other. And on that day,
by the time we got home, we fell
in love and knew we would be
together forever.
Trust is the foundation of who
we are as a couple and our
relationship has continued to
grow by leaps and bounds and the
“MAGIC,” as we call it, continues.”
Six months later Giff proposed in
one of my favorite places on the
planet, Western Australia. We
eloped and got married in the
gardens of Notre Dame in Paris
in July just before a month-long
Honeymoon trip to Africa.
Between us, we have three
amazing children and three
beautiful grandchildren who enjoy
being around one another and are
supportive of one another in our
newly formed blended family! We
live by our mantra every day of
being “100% authentic 100%
of the time”. Meaning be
open, honest and direct. Build
on that foundation of trust and
friendship.
We wake up every day with
so much gratitude and feel so
incredibly blessed and lucky that
the stars finally aligned and our
paths crossed.”