My grandma dated a guy (we’ll call him D) in high school (or college, I don’t remember which) for several years. She was also very good friends with D’s best friend (L). Well, both D and L ended up getting deployed, and when they came back she started dating L instead. She married L shortly after , and D was L’s best man at the wedding. D told them both that he was fine with it, that they were made for each other, but that someday she would be his again. D had to move across the country, and over time they lost touch. My grandma and L had 3 kids (including my mom), and then L died years before I was born.

A few years ago my grandmother reunited with D unexpectedly (maybe at a school reunion), and found out that he was a widower, with a couple of kids. They dated for a while, and got married. They are still married, and I see D as the grandfather I never had. It is too funny that he was right about what he said at the wedding, that one day he would indeed get her back! I don’t tell the story nearly as well as they do, but it is really cute.