True Love Stories: Investment in friendship paid off

It was 21 years ago when I saw the love of my life for the first time. She was a new client and had come to my stock brokerage office in Los Angeles. She was wearing a tennis outfit and carried an armload of documents pertaining to her investments. It turned out our meeting wasn't all about business; I was smitten.

Although I sensed that Judy might feel the same, there were problems. Judy's husband had died in an automobile accident a few years earlier and she was still dealing with her loss. And because I was her stockbroker, my fiduciary relationship with her prohibited romantic involvement. And, there was the further complication that I was married to someone else at the time.

So Judy and I set our feelings aside. We developed a rewarding client/broker relationship over the next 16 years. We also became good friends. We called each other frequently and our conversations were both business and personal. We came to know much about each other, our families and histories, and we grew to enjoy a warm and close relationship.

Eventually Judy remarried (it was not successful) and I had divorced, but there seemed to be no opportunity for us to develop our relationship any further. However, a little over four years ago, we both found ourselves single and unencumbered. She lived in Gardnerville and I in Los Angeles, but I was considering retiring from my career, so I called to ask her out on a date - inviting her to spend a week with me cruising down the Amazon River.

Her response was immediate, emphatic and positive, and we had a wonderful trip. Soon after, I retired and moved to Gardnerville. We have been together ever since, and we were married at our home last year on the day after Thanksgiving.

David Smith

Gardnerville