The Loving Favor of My Father

It was fall of 1999. We were both students at Neumann College in Aston, Pennsylvania. Two different people from two different places who didn’t know each other. Todd, originally from Succasunna, New Jersey; me, from South Philadelphia. 

We met through a friend, of sorts—one of Todd’s friends that I knew from a school website—that I had never seen. I had met him online; his name was Harry, and he was also a student at Neumann. One night as I sat in the computer lab, Harry sent me an email: “Let’s meet up tonight.” I agreed and went to wait for the knock on my dorm room door.

The waiting drove me nuts. Finally, the knock came. I opened the door…and almost passed out. I couldn’t breathe. He was stunning.

Five minutes passed as I tried to chat and regain my composure. Then I learned the real truth; this wasn’t even Harry! It was his friend, Todd. Harry had gotten nervous about the meeting and sent Todd to meet me instead.

Funny how the cards are dealt in this game of love. As I first laid eyes on Todd, I knew.

This was the man I was going to marry.

We hit it off immediately. Todd was athletic and played soccer for the college; he was also very smart. Every summer we went our separate ways and returned to our different hometowns, but as soon as we saw each other the following fall, it was as if we had never left. We belonged together…and everybody knew it.

Todd eventually decided to transfer to West Chester University. I chose to stay at Neumann for another semester. As we juggled schools, my family moved from Pennsylvania to Turnersville, New Jersey. My mother and father had always dreamed of having our family there.

I soon followed, leaving Neumann to move back with my parents. I did not want to stay at Neumann without Todd, and I needed to get back to work. I moved back home, took a full-time job, and enjoyed being close to my parents, my sister, Linda, and my brother, Richard. 

It was there in November of 2001 that I made my life-changing discovery; Todd and I were pregnant. Debra Lynn, our beautiful blessing of a baby girl, was born August 10, 2002 in Turnersville. What a day it was when we welcomed her into our family! Todd transferred schools again, this time to William Patterson University, ultimately graduating and then returning to Turnersville to raise our daughter as a family.