Dear Emily,

My mother and her best friend have known each other since nursery. They were so close they promised each other they’d marry off their firstborn once they were of age. Her friend had a boy, and she had me.

Our families were so close, we met all the time—attending birthdays, school plays, Christmases, out-of-town trips and even long weekends abroad. We knew each other so well that it was only natural that this boy and I rebelled. We sought out other people and started avoiding each other as we grew older.

I fell in love with a guy in college, as that boy did with someone he met in a party. I was sent abroad for language immersion in Paris, and to become independent, my parents said. The guy was already in the UK for a year in graduate school before I even heard he was abroad.

One weekend, my friends in Paris invited me to a birthday party in London. I had already broken up with my boyfriend then, and we all wanted to have fun for a while. Who should I meet but this guy I was being married off to since birth!

We hadn’t seen each other in years, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how distinguished-looking he had become. Growing up, I tried to avoid him for so long that I almost forgot how he looked. But he remembered me so well that he immediately gave me a hug. It was exciting to see an old friend.

We just jelled from that meeting on, as everyone had hoped, and it was magic! He went back to Paris with me to get my stuff, after he persuaded me to move in with him in London until he finished his course.

Our families went loco! They all came to our very small and intimate wedding a few months later. Moral of the story? I will never doubt my mother’s wisdom again. She knew best!

A fairy tale if there ever was one! You both clearly needed a huge time apart to see the whole picture that your mothers saw and knew from the start. I love it!

At the rate people are getting married without even knowing each other and disintegrating before the ink has even dried, your story is truly heartwarming and tells how the strong threads of lifetime relationships can endure.

You both were allowed to grow on your own, know yourselves a step at a time, without your characters being rammed down each other’s throats. You matured gracefully into adults ready at last to fall in love—with each other.

Yes, mothers actually know best, more than they’re credited for.

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