Love story: Kerri and Papul Greisheimer of Wantagh

Kerri Greisheimer of Wantagh tells about her long wait to meet Mr. Right, her husband, Paul.

Like most women, I wanted to get married and have a family. But more than 20 years after high school graduation, I still hadn't found my husband. When my beautiful nieces and nephew would ask, "Why aren't you married, Aunt Kerri?" I'd say, "The right man hasn't shown up yet."

One evening in July 2006, I was visiting my parents' house in Baldwin, and my brother asked me to baby-sit. My dad said, "Kerri, don't baby-sit. You need to take a break. Go out and have fun!" Thank goodness I listened to my dad.

I went to our cabana at Malibu Beach Town Park in Lido Beach with some friends for the day. They planned to go to The Fishery in East Rockaway, a restaurant with an outdoor bar and live music, and asked me to go along. I was hesitant because I didn't have a change of clothes but thought, "I don't have to baby-sit, why not?" and put a pair of sweatpants over my bathing suit.

At the restaurant, I ran into a casual acquaintance from Baldwin who introduced me to his friend, Paul.

Paul asked for my phone number, and I went home that night thinking: This is different. Is this that feeling I've been waiting for my whole life? I hope he calls me. He did, and we met for lunch on our first date.

We fell in love, and two months after we met we were at a wedding in Florida and told each other that we loved each other. This was unbelievable to me.

Paul is divorced and has two children, twins, who were 15 at the time. His children are very important to him, and he was eager for me to meet them. I did soon after we started dating, and now I love them like they are my own.

Then, my dad became sick, and we knew the outcome would not be good. He was in the hospital when Paul proposed to me on Christmas Eve 2008 in front of my mom and the rest of my family.

We went to see my dad on Christmas Day to share the exciting news. My dad was very happy that his only daughter was going to be married and to someone we both loved dearly. He passed away that February.

Paul and I married on Oct. 10, 2009, at the Sheraton Sand Key Hotel in Clearwater Beach, Fla. There was a huge rainbow in the sky during the ceremony.

Paul is a Nassau County police officer. I teach fourth grade in Oceanside and was recently hired to teach a master's program at Adelphi University.