{"id":9948,"date":"2026-01-04T14:53:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T14:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/?p=9948"},"modified":"2026-01-04T14:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T14:54:25","slug":"im-mesmerized-by-your-blue-eyes-i-laughed-it-felt-as-if-we-knew-each-other-100-years-widow-shocked-to-find-love-after-loss-in-stranger-on-a-lake-is-now-pregnan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/?p=9948","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I\u2019m mesmerized by your blue eyes.\u2019 I laughed. It felt as if we knew each other 100 years.\u2019: Widow shocked to find love after loss in stranger on a lake, is now pregnant and \u2018forever grateful to be loved by two amazing men\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAt the age of 28, I reluctantly gained the title widow after losing my husband to a long and hard-fought battle with cancer. Something nobody plans for or wishes for anybody. I found myself floundering, completely lost and wondering how to continue with my life. This is far from what I had envisioned for my life.<\/p>\n

The days following my late husband Kyle\u2019s funeral was such a blur. It felt as it I was a numb zombie, just letting the hours pass by, hoping the pain would go away. The days prior were filled with a constant flow of people, from friends to family bringing food and hugs. I felt the love continuously but after they left, it was different. I knew life went on, but I didn\u2019t expect it to happen so fast. Going home to a house that once housed two of us now felt cold and lonely. The walls were still filled with our wedding photos, the closet still full of his clothes and his deodorant was still in the medicine cabinet where he left it last. It felt as if he was just on a trip and would be back in a few days \u2013 reality was, he would never be back.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Moving on with my life is something I have avoided in a lot of ways. For the months following Kyle\u2019s death, I kept myself extremely busy. I did a lot of things I couldn\u2019t do over the past four years while Kyle was sick. I spent a ton of time traveling the world, often being gone 1-2 weeks out of the month. I spent a lot of time at the gym, a great stress reliever. And I spent time creating and building a nonprofit centered on giving back to others going through cancer. I kept myself busy so I wouldn\u2019t be able to feel and deal with the heartache that lied within. I was a tornado spinning out of control internally, but on the outside, I did a good job of hiding what was going on. I remember spending countless nights crying myself to sleep and asking God, \u2018Why me?\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As time went on, I worked hard on finding me again. I surrounded myself with people who made me better and whole again. I\u2019m thankful my friends and family loved me through all the highs and lows. Grief is weird, not only does it come and go but it also makes you a different person for a period. It aged me in a lot of ways but it also helped me heal. My mom always told me, \u2018Kayla there is no book on this stuff, just take one day at time.\u2019 Her advice was one hundred percent true and something I still must remind myself of at times.<\/p>\n

Dating. Where I do I begin? It scared the crap out of me. I couldn\u2019t fathom opening my heart up to someone, after it had been broken just a few short months before. Not to mention \u2013 I hadn\u2019t dated since I was 16. I had no clue what I was doing. And if you are not familiar with the dating world nowadays\u2026 let me enlighten you. It is all done through social media \u2013 whether an app or dating website, that\u2019s the way. I refused for a long a time, I had no interest in telling complete strangers my life story, until one day, I finally got the courage. I made a profile on Bumble, an app where you fill out a short profile with a few photos and then swipe if you are interested in someone based upon that. I lasted a whole day. I hated it. It was like judging a book by it\u2019s cover. It wasn\u2019t for me, so I deleted it. Instead, I was determined I would find someone the old-fashioned way, whether it was at a bar or randomly in the airport. I had trust in the hands I had up above. Besides, I had in my head that I needed a year to find myself before I would be ready to move on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A few weeks before Kyle\u2019s first heaven anniversary, it was my second favorite holiday, July 4th. My parents live on a lake in northern Minnesota, so I spent a week enjoying the sun and water. Pelican Lake is unique because it has a giant island in the middle that hundreds of people anchor at each weekend. My family friend Brittany and I packed up the pontoon and set out to enjoy the day on lake, soaking up the sun. Both being single, we couldn\u2019t help but notice this pontoon full of buff, cute guys next to us. I was on the hunt for Brittany to find a man \u2013 little did I know what would happen next.<\/p>\n

He caught my eye immediately from a distance, and as fate would have it, I knew someone he was with. The world is so small sometimes. It was as if we knew each other for a hundred years.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m mesmerized by your blue eyes,\u2019 he told me. I laughed, because I was mesmerized by his.<\/p>\n

Over the holiday, we saw each other a few times on the lake and met at one of the local bars. It seemed too good to be true. He was good looking, genuine, smart and everything was so easy. Exactly what I had prayed for a week prior.<\/p>\n

Never in a million years did I think I would find someone in the middle of one of Minnesota\u2019s 10,000 lakes. It wasn\u2019t fate, it was what I had asked for and it was if Mitch was sent to me from someone above. I had reservations and doubts, but I chose to take it one day at a time and let things come naturally. There was one big thing on my mind that I still hadn\u2019t overcome, saying those three little words. \u2018I love you.\u2019 I loved Kyle and will always love Kyle, but I could I possibly tell someone else that? What would they think? How would they react? Turns out, even though Mitch had never been married, he had too once loved someone who broke his heart. He didn\u2019t judge, he understood and respected my situation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy starting your life over in your late twenties. So much of your life has been lived and memories have been made that will always be there. And for me, I had already started a life that I thought was going to last forever, and now I had to start over making new memories and a new life. But starting over wasn\u2019t as scary as I thought it would be. It was exciting and it felt so good to be loved again. It\u2019s not all sunshine and rainbows, after all, I have a lot of baggage. However, Mitch is the most loving and understanding human being. I often think of how I would feel if I was in his shoes. I talk about Kyle often, and so do my family and friends. We laugh about memories and stupid things we did together, all of which don\u2019t include Mitch. We talk about a man that everyone loved and Mitch never met. For someone to be so accepting and willing to step into a role he didn\u2019t sign up for was enough for me to know that I loved him and could love someone again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When Mitch and I first started dating, a lot of people didn\u2019t know. In fact, I purposely kept it off social media for months. I didn\u2019t want to be judged. I knew there would be negative and positive comments made but I really didn\u2019t want to hear any of it. I was so worried that others would say it was \u2018too soon.\u2019 I went to great lengths of making sure people from our small town didn\u2019t see us together. I would pick restaurants off the beaten path and purposefully go to stores that were not my normal spots. I remember constantly looking behind me at our local mall, to make sure there was no one I knew. I couldn\u2019t get out of there fast enough. Why was I like that? In some ways, I felt like I was cheating on Kyle and I also felt that I didn\u2019t deserve to be happy. I had convinced myself that others wouldn\u2019t understand and would just judge \u2013 and then one day, it hit me. I had to come to terms with the fact Kyle wasn\u2019t coming back. I also had to accept the fact that it was okay to be happy with someone else and nobody else\u2019s opinion really mattered. The day I let everything go was the best feeling in the world. It allowed me to truly give myself to someone else and live a life I deserved once again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last year seemed to fly by. Mitch and I spent weekends at the lake, nights with friends, winter vacations in South Padre, Mexico, and Colorado. We had a ton of fun making memories and building a life together. Mitch from the beginning was genuine and accepting. He made me smile again and picked me up on the tough days. More than anything, he loves me for everything I am and everything I am not.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In June of this year, our life got a little more exciting \u2013 we found out we were expecting a child. When I took the pregnancy test, I cried. I was so happy but felt so guilty again. I felt guilty because I knew how much Kyle wanted to be a Dad, but he once again reminded me all was good in a different way. I am due just four days after mine and Kyle\u2019s wedding anniversary. A coincidence by no means in my opinion. I know he\u2019s smiling down \u2013 he had a part in that.<\/p>\n

Mitch and I couldn\u2019t be more excited to welcome a baby girl in February, an exciting and new adventure together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Moving forward with your life is scary after losing your best friend. It seems like you are letting go of everything that once was. Reality is, you aren\u2019t letting go because they will always be a part of your heart and memories. I believe nobody is meant to live their life alone. Find someone who accepts your past and loves you for who you are. After all, nobody chooses this life. I\u2019m living proof that love after loss is possible. I am blessed and forever grateful to be loved by two amazing men. Love and faith always prevails.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAt the age of 28, I reluctantly gained the title widow after losing my husband to a long and hard-fought battle with cancer. Something nobody<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9960,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9948\/revisions\/9960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}