At one point, Janice wanted to turn back as she felt awkward. However, just as she was about to leave, the footsteps she heard had already reached the door.

Prentiss couldn’t get the shocked expression off his face. He was stunned. The last person he was expecting to see at his doorstep was beautiful Janice.

Janice said she was sorry for arriving unannounced, however, Prentiss didn’t care as the girl he was dreaming about, the stunning cafeteria Janice, came to see him purely because she missed him. He was overwhelmed.

With no hesitation, he walked her in and introduced her to his mother and father. Prentiss recalled that the bonding with his mother was immediate and the two instantly clicked.

The four of them had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner together, and then it was time for Janice to return to college for the rest of the break. From that day onwards, things were not the same on campus.

They would rarely be seen not holding hands, strolling around like Cinderella and Prince Charming. Their eyes sparkled and shone, and everyone knew this was meant to be. What was the future holding for these two? Only time would tell.

Just as December kicked in, and before Christmas arrived, Prentiss asked Janice to marry him. It might have seemed too fast, however, Prentiss felt it was the right thing to do. He knew Janice was his girl from the moment he laid eyes on her.

The proposal was planned to be romantic and special, and with the help of his friends, Prentiss managed to pull off an evening to remember. Life couldn’t get better, however, things were about to change.

Janice didn’t take her time and immediately answered “yes”. There was no hesitation and Prentiss placed the golden band with the glittering diamond rock on her finger. They were young and in love and had their whole life in front of them.

While they were planning their wedding and the rest of their lives, they weren’t aware that soon they would be fighting for their existence and for their love.

Prentiss’s fraternity brothers and Janice’s sorority sisters were all overwhelmed. The local newspaper announcement regarding the engagement caught them by surprise but they were all happy and delighted for the two.

Janice’s friends were going on and on over the ring while the guys were thrilled by the way they revealed the news. One thing was missing from the announcement, and that was the planned wedding date.

Not everyone was so happy over the big news. Janice’s father was a simple middle-class blue-collar worker and he had an issue with Prentiss’s intellectual upper-class parents.

It wasn’t only that he disapproved of the match, but he also told Janice that if she doesn’t break up with Prentiss, he would stop paying her tuition fees. He was not going to allow this to happen. Janice’s mother thought otherwise.

Janice’s mother wanted to help Janice. She understood that her daughter was in love, and that love was stronger than anything else. Things were going to go a little too far.

She considered remortgaging their house so she could pay for Janice’s tuition fee. She (Janice’s mother) wanted to show Janice’s father that there was no room for threats and that Prentiss and Janice were going to get married.

Janice feared leaving school. Not only education was very important for her, but she was also terrified that Prentiss would not think as highly of her if she would drop out of school.

Adding on to that, she was worried that Prentiss’s eyes would begin to wander off until eventually getting caught by some other girl. Some other girl with a degree.

Unsurprisingly, Prentiss supported Janice. He assured her that her dropping out of college would mean nothing to him and in his eyes, she didn’t have to have a degree. Even his mother was being supportive and suggested they eloped.

It was January, and for Janice, it was decision time. Does she break up with Prentiss and finish school or does she drop out and live happily ever after with the man she loves?

The winter couldn’t have been colder. Heartbroken Janice gave back to Prentiss the beautiful engagement ring he gave her. He was devastated and didn’t believe his wounded heart could ever be repaired.

The days flew by, graduation was on their doorstep, and instead of becoming a world-famous biologist like she always wanted, Janice found herself running her family’s business in Reno, Nevada.

Prentiss eventually picked himself up and healed his broken heart. After Occidental College, the gates of Harvard were calling and he began studying law. He would then become one of the San Francisco Bay area’s most successful tax attorneys.

He married his next girlfriend, however, something inside wouldn’t set Janice free as he never truly got over her. If only he would have known that life’s path would bring the two back together again.

Although Janice wasn’t involved in the profession she wanted, she managed to become very successful and achieved great things by running the family business. She became an honorary member of the American Diving Association’s Hall of Fame. She too married her next love in life.

Funny enough, neither of the marriages worked out and both Prentiss and Janice got divorced. When it’s meant to be, no other will do. They were fortunate to meet their soul mates early in life, however, not fortunate enough to stop life’s barriers from calling the verdict.

As if the two were mystically connected, they both lost their dear mother at about the same time, and unplanned, they were both grieving their loss. This loss would soon bring them back together.

While each was going through their mother’s possession, they came across something that would eventually reunite them and end a five-decade period of being apart.

Prentiss was barely over grieving his mother. Not completely healed from the breakup with Janice that happened all those years ago, he suddenly pulled out an old piece of newspaper. It was yellow and flakey but was the most wonderful thing he could find.

When Janice was going through her late mother’s folders, she too found the same piece of old newspaper. She felt her heart pinch and she was overwhelmed by the findings. Prentiss was eager to try and contact Janice, but was Janice keen on meeting up with Prentiss after all those years?

San Francisco mainstay, Cliff House was where the two planned to meet. It was on June 20th, 2010, almost fifty years after they broke each other’s hearts. Their eyes met and the world froze.

It was like the old days in the cafeteria when they would stare at one another, not aware of what was going on around them. It was as if they were falling in love all over again.

Janice’s mother knew it and Prentiss’s mother knew it too. They belonged to each other. For what other reason would they keep that old newspaper announcement? Deep inside, Janice and Prentiss knew it too.

A little over six months and the couple were engaged again. They had to complete this chapter in their lives. Two lost souls had finally found each other, and they couldn’t ask for more.

They both wanted to honor their late mothers so they used the old announcements as part of their new engagement notice in the papers. They even married at the same place they initially intended two, for the sake of the good old days.

Old college friends attended their big day and the excitement and emotions were poring all over. This was the greatest day of their lives, and they were waiting for it for almost half a century.