I met my husband buying salmon one night after work. We’ve been together for 12 years.

• Kat Milner, 58, moved from the USA to Australia to be with her now husband.
• Their first phone call lasted 2.5 hours, and their first date lasted 7.5 hours.
• She says her story gives hope to those looking for love after their mid-40s.

This story is based on a conversation with Kat Milner, 58. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I first met Paul when I was living in Massachusetts; I'd been touring as a technical producer with a theater show. I'd been living with a friend, and I popped to the local fishery to buy salmon so I could cook us dinner.

Paul looked at me across the fish counter with these big, brown, beautiful eyes. He smiled his beautiful smile, and as I heard that Australian accent, I knew I was screwed.

We discussed how long he'd been in the US. He responded: "Oh, that'd take an entire evening and a large bottle of wine." I said, "OK, I've got time."

I was then 45 years old and divorced. I thought, why not?

He lost my number, but the connection was instant

Our epic date almost never happened. I'd given him my card with my number on it, then never heard from him. It turns out that he'd immediately lost my card.

A few days later, a friend who played in a band stopped by the fishery to invite me. He couldn't come — he had his son that night — but he apologized and begged me for another card. Before I left the building, he'd texted me. It said: "See, I now have your number in my phone!"

Sure enough, that weekend, in September 2012, we set up a phone call for Saturday. It actually lasted 2.5 hours. We set our first in-person date for the following Monday, when we were both available for coffee during the day.

That coffee date lasted for 7.5 hours. The only reason it didn't last longer is that he had to go to his shift at the fishmonger's. He was working very hard with two jobs. His other job was overnight at a gas station. It's hard to live on minimum wage in the US.

We both arrived at the Starbucks at the same time. I went to hug him, and he actually kissed me, but it felt natural rather than creepy. There was this amazing chemistry happening.

After four months of dating, we knew we were meant to be together. Paul said his 9-year-old son, whom he hadn't yet told about me, asked his dad: "What's going on? Why are you so happy lately?" That's when he said he knew.

He proposed 16 months after we met

There were bumps in the road. In February 2013, I took a contract job on a cruise ship for almost eight months as part of the theatre production crew for their shows. I really needed the work, and had agreed to it before we met. It was a long separation right during our honeymoon period as a couple. I really hoped, and believed, we would last. But I didn't see him for the whole eight months. I was on cruises around the Caribbean, Mexico, Europe, Canada, and Alaska. I'd go from one ship to another.

The day after I got off the cruise ship and came home to him, in October 2013, he took me back to that same Starbucks where we had our first date. In front of everyone in the Starbucks, he proposed to me. I, of course, said yes. It was 16 months to the day we met; we got married in November 2013.

The small ceremony was mostly my friends, because Paul didn't know many people in the US. They commented that you could've gotten high from the feeling of love in the room.

I moved to Australia

Further bumps lay ahead. Ten days after the wedding, Paul had to return to his native Australia, while I remained in the US and worked on getting my visa. I didn't know it then, but I wouldn't see him again for another year. I'd hoped my visa would arrive sooner, and I was desperate not to miss our first wedding anniversary. As it turned out, I arrived in Australia 10 days before the anniversary.

When I arrived in 2014, it was an experience of getting used to each other again. I was settling into a new country where they drive on the left, and I had to make a whole new group of friends.

Now I wake up grateful every day. I haven't been back to the US since I moved here 11 years ago. I haven't wanted to.

This month, we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary.

After I moved to another city for my first marriage, I vowed I wouldn't do it again. But if your heart truly feels this is your person, trust that. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I've been on both sides of that. The risk is always worth taking.