What Makes a Man Risk all for Love?

Ok, so we all know I am such a sucker for a great love story, and while browsing MSN yesterday I stumbled across this one. I absolutely love everything about this story. Just the complete leap of faith this man is taking!

What Makes a Man Risk All for Love?

Glamour's dating columnist "Jake" says goodbye to this column — so he can follow his heart. Why? Let him explain.

After two years I'm hanging up my hat as Jake, and next month someone new will become your pull-no-punches reporter on the male mind. Why? Because, for me, Jake should be a typical single man looking for love. And I'm not really that guy anymore. I've found the love of my life, and hopefully by the time you read this, I will be halfway across the globe with her.

For those of you who haven't been following our saga, I met the woman I call Claudia last year, and we shared a connection I'd never experienced before. It went beyond attraction; we simply "got" each other. Yes, I'd been in love before, but I'd never had this. Then, four months in, she got an un-turn-downable job offer to do a project that would send her around the world. My world hasn't been the same since.

We very rationally broke up, deciding that our still-new relationship would likely not survive a year and a half apart. (OK, full disclosure: I would have tried to make it work if she'd even hinted that she wanted to; she didn't.) Instead, we dusted off some vague clichés and agreed we'd "live our lives" and "see what happened." I haven't forgotten something she told me at our last dinner together. Looking sadly at me, she said, "I thought I had a good feel for the different types of guys out there. I didn't know you were on the menu." We decided not to make that night a sleepover so the morning would be easier. I didn't know how much I'd regret giving up my last chance to hold her in my arms.

After she left I figured that eventually, although it would probably take a long time, I'd move on. Instead, my love grew, leaving no room to really consider another woman. Which is why over the past few months, my columns have been devoid of stories about meeting prospects and dating. All spring and summer, it was just me and my never-ending Claudia thoughts.

That all changed last week. I woke up to a sunny morning and one thought: I truly love this woman. More than that, I realized that whether in school, sports or my career, anything I'd ever wanted I'd had to pursue. Yet I'd never gone after a woman. No matter how amazing a girlfriend was, as soon as there were petty differences or bad timing, I accepted that "it wasn't meant to be" (another dusty cliché). When Claudia left, I went cold turkey — no texts, no Skype, no Facebook. Well, not anymore. I sent her a tentative e-mail that day and got back an enthusiastic reply. That was followed by a phone call that felt as comfortable as if we'd spoken the day before. Why, I wondered, had it taken me so long to reach out? The next step seems obvious — I need face-to-face time with her.

The mind-set shift has left me a little rocked — until this I didn't even believe The One could exist outside a Matrix movie — but I have to find out how Claudia feels. Will she be happy to see me? I hope. Surprised? I'm sure, since I've only hinted that I want to visit. Will she even be alone? Yikes.

Regardless of what happens, I have to just go for it. Writing this column and reading letters you've sent helped me realize that. There was the e-mail from Amoura in Georgia, telling me she'd never have found happiness with her man if she hadn't stopped being "so planned." Melanie in Wisconsin wrote, "When you find your true love … things change." But no one got to me more than Sabrina in Philly, who said, "Losing someone you love feels like half of you is missing."

I listened to all of you, and to my own feelings, which is why I'm boarding a plane with enough socks, underwear and T-shirts for a month, plus a bundle of nerves big enough for forever. Wish me luck.