The pain of your first heartbreak tends to linger for quite a long time. Some people vow to never date again and some people vow to stay single until they get back together with their first love. This man made a vow that last for 50 long years.
The day that she broke up with him she handed him a Christmas gift. Even though Christmas was right around the corner, he vowed to never take the wrapping off of the present. It’s 50 years later and we’re about to find out if he ever opened it.
He was 17 years old and a senior at George S. Henry Secondary School in Toronto, Canada, when he met his first girlfriend. Soon enough, he was in love with her. Vicki Allen was her name, and like most high school flings, they spent enough time together for him to be hurt when Vicki ended things. The loss of a first love really is the worst.
Feeling the pain of heartbreak, he vowed to never open the present. Well, at least not until they were together again. That’s when he would finally agree to open it. But that never happened. Over time, the man forgot about the gift, until Christmas day every single year.
Eventually, the two lost touch and moved on with their lives. Forgetting their young romance, they both married other people, but Adrian Pearce has held on to the gift for all of these years. But Adrian, who was now a married father of two, continued to put the gift under the tree each Christmas.
Adrian’s wife dealt with the gift for a while, but considering how awkward it was for her, she banned it from being underneath her Christmas tree. Even the kids were pestering him to open the gift. “After my family opened their gifts at Christmas, there was still one Christmas gift left and it’s the gift this girl Vicki had given me. I told my family I’m never going to open that present,” explained Adrian.
Adrian may have stopped putting the gift under the tree, but he continued to look at it when Christmas approached every year. “I kept it initially because I guess I had hopes that we would get back together and open it together. Now it’s just become a habit after 47 years of looking at it and having the pleasure of not opening it,” said Adrian.
Honestly, what did he expect? Once he told people that he was holding on to the gift for almost five decades they were obviously going to be curious as to what was inside of it. Would he open it? Would the curiosity be fed?
One day, Adrian decided to post a picture of the present on Facebook along with the story of his first romance. For some reason, it gained way more attention than Adrian ever thought it would get. People wanted to know what was inside of the gift! “Maybe I don’t want to know what’s inside it. It’s more exciting right now not opening the thing,” said Adrian.
Once he saw the attention his post was receiving, Adrian decided to look for his ex-girlfriend on the internet. Throughout his search, he found plenty of possible numbers. He even called one of the women who had the same name in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. But the woman was 91 years old and obviously not who he was looking for.
Eventually, he dialed the right number. “I was almost shaking I was so nervous,” he said. He attempted to call Vicki two times, but no one answered. Luckily, the third time’s a charm and she finally answered. The old flings caught up for a while on the phone and they thought of an interesting way to finally open the gift.
Imagine how anxious Adrian must have felt when Vicki finally answered the phone. After almost 50 years, they were actually talking to each other on the phone. How did Vicki feel about the phone call? And more importantly, how did Adrian’s wife feel about it?
Vicki and Adrian made the decision to open the gift 48 years later at a fundraiser for the Christmas Bureau of Edmonton. The Bureau raises money for families in need, but there was a twist. Since Adrian made the vow to not open the gift, and he wasn’t changing his mind, how would they open the gift?
Obviously, Vicki was going to have to open it. She traveled to the city on Thursday to open the gift for Adrian. In a packed cafe northwest of the city, Adrian stood on stage next to Vicki, with his wife watching in the audience. Vicki had given him the gift so long ago that she no longer remembered what she had given him. All of a sudden, she exclaimed, “Oh no! I can’t give that to him!”
Vicki had bought Adrian a book called, “Love Is: New Ways to Spot That Certain Feeling.” Vicki admitted in an interview that the gift was a bit inappropriate. “I do not recall buying the book, I do not recall wrapping the book, and certainly don’t recall the book itself. In hindsight it couldn’t have been more inappropriate under the circumstances, it couldn’t have been less careless of his feelings and it just goes to show how ignorant a 15-year-old can be,” she explained.
Vicki’s reason for not wanting to give Adrian the gift was also explained in an interview. “Well yes it is a bit of a surprise and yet I know the backstory that on the day that Victoria was buying this gift for me she fell for the other guy, so she figured she’d got the present for Adrian so I might as well just give it to him.”
As it turns out, while Vicki was shopping for the gift, she met a different boy and he kissed her right then and there. “It wouldn’t have been so bad, but I kissed him back,” said Victoria. She knew that the relationship would be over as soon as Adrian found out about the kiss, so she broke up with him. “It was a very innocent relationship. We were in high school. I didn’t know he felt as intensely as he did,” stated Vicki.
Adrian was asked how he ended up finding Vicki, and he had a lot to say about that matter. “It took quite a long time to establish a relationship again, I had to prove to her who I was and she had to prove to me that she was who she said she was,” he answered. There was only one way that they could accomplish that.
“There were three woman who said they were her and we had to check them out because I asked them very specific questions about something we might have done on a date, two of them didn’t answer this one did and then we connected by telephone and as soon as I heard her voice and her kinda mannerisms I was pretty sure it was her.”
“Are you surprised that Adrian kept this present, putting under the tree year after year?” A reporter asked Vicki. “Surprised is a bit of an understatement. Shocked! When I first heard about it I was astounded that anybody would hold a grudge that long or possibly remember me that long, or even be able to stand the temptation that long.”
Since Adrian found Vicki he decided to write a book about the whole thing. Vicki and Adrian’s wife even contributed to the book. “I think it’s absolutely fantastic that we’re friends. My wife is friends with Vicki. We’re in a fantastic place where all you can feel is love,” Adrian said to the audience. But there are many people out there who wonder how Adrian’s wife really feels.
Adrian continued to place the old gift under the tree every year because the mystery was fun for him. When his daughter wanted to open the present when she was five, his wife finally had enough. “She said, ‘Daddy, when you die, I’ll be able to open it then, right?’ I told him he could keep it, but we just didn’t want the gift out in public. I’m pretty secure in our relationship. I’ve never been jealous,” she explained.
It’s clear that Adrian takes all of his vows very seriously. He may have held that gift for all of those years, but when he said “I do” to his wife, he meant it. She knew that no matter what, her and Adrian’s loving relationship wasn’t going anywhere. What a truly beautiful thing!
All of this came out because of a mutual friend that they had in high school. The man sent Vicki a link to one of the articles that were written about it. Vicki “liked” one of the Facebook posts and Adrian figured out who she was. They got in touch with one another, and soon enough, Adrian and his wife were invited to meet Vicki! The world can’t get much smaller than that!
What an unbelievable story! After almost 50 years, the young couple reconnected with one another. What’s even crazier is that Adrian’s wife was not only cool with the whole thing, but she also became friends with Vicki! How would you feel about it? Would you be okay with your husband holding on to an unopened gift from an ex-girlfriend?