Facebook/Heidi Alice Savitt
New Chapter in Newcastle
Like most teenagers, by the time it was time for Heidi Parker to start applying to colleges, she was more than ready to start the next exciting chapter of her life. She had applied to a few schools, and ultimately settled on attending Newcastle University in England.
It was not like Heidi was not close with her family. She considered her mother to be one of her best friends. But after spending her whole life so far living with her parents in her hometown 130 miles away from the university, it was time for a change. She never would have guessed that her new living situation in 2011 would lead her to meet the love of her life, and, later, to discover a truly jaw-dropping revelation about his past through an decades-old photo album.
Heidi’s New Living Situation Was Not What She Expected
At Newcastle University, it was not a requirement for all new students to live on campus. Craving a totally new experience than what she was used to, Heidi decided to get a spot in one of the student living apartments with a few roommates. After searching around the school, Heidi and her future roommates thought they had found the perfect place.
After a little while living with her roommates, she realized that the seemingly perfect home was not exactly what she was looking for. With a new school year coming up, Heidi realized she wanted to try out living alone in an apartment closer to campus. She scoured the Internet for a new home, without knowing that in some way, the hunt would lead to more than just a new living space.
Life In Heidi’s New Studio
Heidi realized that she could definitely afford to live alone once she did research and jumped at the opportunity. She ultimately settled on a cozy studio nearby campus. Once settling upon her new place, Heidi had to move out of her old room and into her new home.
On the way out, Heidi met her outgoing home’s new tenants to pass off her keys. In a rush, she handed the new tenants her keys, flashed them a quick smile, and ran off to keep moving and decorating her new studio apartment. As she watched her old home disappear in the rearview mirror, she thought she had put her days in that home behind her. But she would be back sooner than expected.
Heidi Receives An Unexpected Message
Heidi was settling into her new studio apartment easily enough. Everything was going according to plan, but the same could not be said for everyone. Back in her old apartment, the new tenants were apparently having some issues. That’s when Heidi received an unexpected message on Facebook from a guy named Ed.
“[Ed] didn’t know how to use the washing machine in the student flat,” Heidi later said in an interview. “He found a post with my name on it, realized I had lived there the year before and decided I could help.” Heidi tried to describe the process over a Facebook message, but it proved to be more complicated to explain. So, she decided to just go over in person to show him.
The Man On The Other Side Of The Message
Heidi later admitted there was probably another reason she agreed to go to Ed’s home, later telling LadBible that it was “basically because he was hot.” Regardless of her reasoning, she made her way over to her old flat to show apartment how to use the washing machine. It seemed that until now, Ed had apparently also lived with his parents for a little too long.
Heidi showed Ed exactly how the machine worked and stuck around until he was able to do the whole process himself. It seemed that her work there was done. But just as she was about to leave, Ed stopped Heidi and said he had something to ask her.
Ed Pops The Question
Before Heidi left, Ed worked up the courage to ask her on a date to a cafe close by. It seems that Heidi’s washing-machine-related house call paid off, and she was at least getting a free coffee and hopefully a good time out of it.
While Heidi had hoped that Ed would ask her on a date, she was still taken by surprise when he actually asked. “I thought he was gorgeous, I thought he was actually amazing,” Heidi said. “All I can remember thinking is ‘wow, he is hot.” On their coffee date, Heidi quickly learned that she was attracted to more than just his looks.
A Love Story Begins, Or So They Thought
Heidi learned that the new tenant of her old apartment was named Ed Savitt, and he was also attending Newcastle University to study business and psychology. Looking toward the future, he was hoping to open up his own store one day. But on this particular day, Heidi had also caught Ed’s eye. And just like that, Ed and Heidi’s entire college experience completely changed.
Heidi would later say that the two “hit it off pretty much instantly.” Soon after their first date, the two were inseparable and stayed a pair throughout college. The college sweethearts thought they knew everything about each other, but they would soon find out they were wrong.
Life After College
College was quickly ending, and these two college sweethearts had to figure out their post-grad lives together. They agreed that both of them would move to London, although they did not immediately move in together. Instead, Heidi focused on her new, high-powered PR job, while Ed focused on fulfilling his dream of opening up a coffee shop on the south side of town.
Eventually, the couple decided to move in together. After that, things started moving pretty quickly, and progressively got more serious. Together, they thought was time to finally have their families meet each other. They hoped the meeting would be a big step in their relationship, but they had no idea just how big of a turning point it would have.
The Big Meeting Of The Mothers
Considering that it had been four years since Heidi and Ed started dating, they set a time for their respective mothers to meet. But just because it was the right time did not mean that neither of them were nervous. Introducing two families can be intimidating, and they had no idea that this wouldn’t be any ordinary family introduction.
They did everything they could to prepare beforehand – they picked their favorite restaurant and made a dinner reservation. When the big day arrived, Ed’s mother, Fiona, and Heidi’s mother, Kay, joined the college sweethearts for the fated meeting. The two mothers hit it off pretty quickly as they started swapping stories. But there was one story in particular that would stand out to everyone for an shocking reason.
Stories Of Their Pasts Start To Come Out
During the course of the dinner, Ed and Heidi’s mothers exchanged pleasantries and spoke of many of the typical subjects that new acquaintances share. Coincidentally, or so it seemed, the more the two women share, the more they realized how similar their families were to one another.
Both Ed and Heidi’s families loved to sail, and often planned vacations around their shared passion. They had both traveled along the Mediterranean on holidays with the whole family. Ultimately, both mothers were happy that their children had invited them to this meal, but neither had any idea that their children had not informed them of one major piece of information.
A Big Announcement
While Ed and Heidi’s mothers were busy chatting, most people would think that their banter would actually help calm the couple’s nerves. So when everything was going well, why exactly were they both still so anxious? Well, that’s because they had a pretty big announcement to make and were likely somewhat nervous about the reaction they’d get.
Ed and Heidi interrupted their mothers’ bonding to tell them the exciting news, they were going to get married! As anyone could imagine, Kay and Fiona could barely contain their excitement. But still, somehow, the engagement would still not be the most incredible revelation shared that day about the college sweethearts.
The Story that Would Change Their Story
Both of the mothers could not believe it. Their babies were getting married! If the childhood stories were not already enough before, more and more kept coming after the big announcement. Heidi’s mom, Kay, decided that all this love made her want to share one of her favorite vacation stories: when Heidi met her first boyfriend.
Kay explained that when Heidi was six years old, they took a trip to Turkey. Heidi quickly met a little boy and would not leave his side. The two spent the entire vacation holding hands. Kay decided to change the subject out of fear of making things awkward. Besides, there was an engagement to focus on. Little did they know at the time, though, how that seemingly innocuous account mentioned in passing would come back to change the course of Ed and Heidi’s relationship.
The Families Say Their Goodbyes, But One Thing Lingers
The conversation between the couple and their mothers quickly changed to other subjects. Heidi and Ed told their mothers that they had planned to get married by the end of the year, and no one at the table could stop smiling.
While the conversation could go on for hours more, the four decided to wrap up their dinner. After all, it seemed that they would have the rest of their lives to share more memories. There was an overwhelming amount of love surrounding them. But for Heidi’s mother, Kay, there was another overwhelming feeling that she just could not shake.
Spring Cleaning Leads To An Inconceivable Discovery
It had been two weeks since Kay had dinner with her daughter and future son-in-law, but Kay could not stop thinking about the story of Heidi’s childhood sweetheart that she had told during the meal. She moved on anyway, and decided to focus on the future. Undoubtedly, there was a lot to focus on with a wedding coming up.
With all of the plans and events surrounding the upcoming nuptials, Kay figured she would have to clear some space to keep presents and supplies in her attic. She got to work cleaning up the space. But deep down, she was hoping she would find something had been thinking about up there. Then, there it was, sitting in the corner.
Kay Finds Exactly What She Was Looking For
When Kay saw her old photo albums stacked in the corner of the attic, she knew that she just needed to calm her nagging curiosity. She scanned through the dusty stacks of albums and found what she was looking for: an album that said Gumbet, July 1997 on the cover.
Kay had not taken the chance to go through the two-decade-old photo album in a long time. So she could not be quite sure that this photo album would have exactly what she was looking for. But, she quickly flipped through the pages, and when she reached the one she was hoping to find, she froze.
The Long-Lost Little Blond Boy
Kay had skipping through smiling family photos and beautiful landscape portraits from the trip to find this particular photo from about 20 years ago that kept becoming her ever since the meeting with Ed and his mother. Right in front of her was her daughter Heidi standing with her first-ever boyfriend.
The blond mystery boy was exactly how she remembered him. He was flashing a shy smile under his bowl cut, standing next to Heidi just as they had for the entire trip. In truth, Kay was looking for this boy for one particular reason. When she saw the little boy in the old photo album, she was speechless, and knew right away that her suspicions were likely correct.
Who Was He Really?
As Kay looked at the old photo album, she did not know if this was just about the craziest thing she had ever seen, or if she was just going crazy. She was pretty sure she was correct about her nagging suspicion, but she needed to find out for sure.
Kay was pretty certain that this little blond boy, who she remembered was named Ed, was the same Ed that was about to marry her daughter. It was almost too good to be true. The Ed that Kay had met a few days ago at the London restaurant looked different from the little boy in the old photo album. But she knew she had to make a call.
Confirming Kay’s Suspicions
Kay decided that the only way to solve this mystery was not to go to her daughter Heidi, but to go to someone who knew Ed when he was just six years old. She immediately turned to her new friend, Fiona. First, she texted Fiona a picture from her old photo album. Could Fiona settle the matter?
Fiona and Kay immediately got on the phone with each other. Fiona picked up and could barely control herself when she confirmed what Kay already suspected to be true. Heidi’s first boyfriend, Ed, was the same Ed that she was was about to marry by the end of the year! But the two knew they couldn’t keep this incredible discovery to themselves.
Mothers Bonding In Disbelief
“I was screaming, it was just unreal,” Kay would later say in an interview. “Of course, I sent it to Fiona.” Fiona was equally as taken aback by the unexpected revelation. “When Kay sent me the photo of a little boy called Ed I shrieked, ‘oh my goodness, that’s Ed!’ It was unbelievable,” Fiona said.
The two were in disbelief, and both clearly remembered the holiday vacation in question. Kay would later explain that “during that two-week holiday, [Ed and Heidi] held hands most of the time.” They knew they had to tell their children and see how they would react.
Telling The Couple About The Crazy Coincidence
Kay sent her daughter the photo from her old photo album and called Heidi right away. Heidi would later recall in an interview that “When my mum found the first photo of us she sent it to me and I was stunned. I actually had to lie down!”
As for Ed, Heidi said that he “was amazed too. We couldn’t believe it!” Heidi had no memory of the two-week vacation, or that she had met a boyfriend while she was there. But she had to hand it to her six-year-old self, she knew how to pick ’em! And then somehow the story got even more unbelievable.
More Searching, and More Memories
Once Kay had alerted Fiona, she could not help herself but to look through her own photo albums to find more evidence of her son’s first girlfriend and, soon-to-be wife. “Loads more photographs came out. None of us had any idea whatsoever that Heidi and Ed had met before university,” Fiona said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
The photos proved what Kay had said to be true. It was clear that as childhood sweethearts, the two were nearly inseparable. Together, the families found five more photos of the two together on holiday. “We sent it around to our family and friends and everyone was amazed,” Heidi said. The discovery changed Heidi and Ed’s timeline, and Heidi’s outlook on life.
Believing In Destiny
Heidi could not help but to think about one thing when she was receiving these mind blowing photos: fate. She would later tell the Daily Mail that she “didn’t believe in fate before finding that out, but there’s not arguing with it – we are clearly destined to be together.”
Kay thought that maybe deep down there was a “subconscious realization that they had shared that time together when they met as adults.” Regardless, this real-life fairy tale was true. And with the two set to be married by the end of the year, they knew they had to incorporate this news into their wedding somehow.
The Big News, and Now the Big Day
Heidi and Ed knew what they had to do. They could not get this incredible news and not use these old photos of them as six year olds in their wedding invitations. So the pictures of them from the old photo album were featured on the invites they sent hundreds of guests.
In August 2017, Ed and Heidi got married in a huge celebration in Derbyshire. The two could still say that they had experienced love at first sight, but now they knew that the first sight had happened way before either of them imagined. Heidi and Ed go to marry their first love in one of the craziest love stories. But they were not the only two bound to each other that day.
All In The Family
Even after the big wedding day, Kay recalled that back in Turkey in 1997, “it was not just Heidi and Ed who met on that holiday, but all of us.” Ed’s siblings and Heidi’s siblings had all met during the 1997 vacation. Some of the pictures their families found in those old photo albums showed all of the siblings hanging out together.
Becoming in-laws bonds two families. But since finding out about this unbelievable first meeting, the two families have become even more interconnected. Kay and Fiona have become best friends, along with their husbands. And since Ed and Heidi’s wedding, the two sets of parents have planned vacations together. The whole account made headlines in the media, and looking back, the couple can still hardly believe it.
Like A Real Life Fairy Tale
Heidi and Ed have been married for years, but still cannot believe the story behind their first and last love. In an interview, Heidi described her feelings about the entire situation, and a story that could have just gone forever unnoticed.
“We had been together for four years when we found out, so it’s mad to think that we might have never known. It’s crazy to think we could have gotten married, shared our lives together, but never found out about this,” Heidi said. “People keep telling us it must be fate, and that it’s like the plot of a movie.”
Sources: Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror, New York Post
This story was originally published on IcePop: How A 20-Year-Old Photo Album Confirmed This Mom’s Suspicions About Her Daughter’s College Sweetheart