After 2 Divorces From Men, I Married My Best Friend

Sherron Sloss-Lewis is an influencer, LGBTQ advocate and mother who shares tips for women over 50 and snapshots of her life with wife Patricia Lynn Lewis on Instagram . After one of her posts went viral, TODAY.com reached out to learn more about her untraditional path to happiness.

In 2014, I was a twice-divorced mom of three, ready to put myself back out there.

I was straight my entire life. I had never been attracted to women. But after two divorces from men, I made the decision that I was going to be open to love, however that looked.

When I started dating women , I struggled with my salvation because I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and I grew up in the church. As I was out experimenting, I didn't know if what I was doing was going to be pleasing to God. So I conferred with the minister of my church and he helped me walk through that. Once I felt comfortable, then it was full steam ahead.

When I joined Match.com, I was trying to find my person. I came across Patricia's profile and I was immediately taken with her looks. I was like, "Oh, wow, she's pretty," and I later found out that she thought the same thing about me.

She told me that she said to herself, "Oh, she's super fine." But after taking a closer look at my profile, she realized that she knew me through one of our mutual friends even though we lived in different states.

When people hear this story, they say, "This was meant to be, because this is insane."

Turns out, she knew my ex — because they had dated, too. Small world. Patricia had also been married before — also to a man — and divorced.

Initially, I think we both thought that if we'd dated the same person, then this couldn't possibly work. It was too weird. But once we chatted a little bit online, I realized just how easygoing things were with Patricia.

The first time she called me, we talked on the phone for three hours, and the conversation was just easy. It was laid-back. We laughed a ton, which is super important to both of us.

We ended up in a long-distance relationship , as I lived in Nashville at the time and Patricia was in Maryland. But after one year, I decided to move in with her, along with my daughter, who was going to be a junior in high school.

The lifestyle in Maryland was different than what I was accustomed to, so it was tough for me at first. But I knew I had to be there, because I had a strong gut feeling that Patricia was my person.

I just knew that she was the one so much so that I ended up buying a one-year anniversary card after the first weekend we shared together, when I was still in Nashville. I put it under my mattress for an entire year. Then, a little before I moved in with her, I gave her the card. I was certain.

We lived together for two years before we got married at the Salamander Resort in Middleburg, Virginia, in December 2017.

Patricia and I both have kids from previous marriages, so during our wedding, her son walked her down the aisle and my two sons walked me down the aisle. It was beautiful. It was just magical.

When I moved to Maryland, I was bored at home because I didn't work — Patricia is the breadwinner — so I decided to become an influencer. I started posting pictures of Patricia and me online. Most of my posts are about lifestyle and fashion, but I started putting Patricia in there just a little bit, to feel the temperature out — most of my followers are straight, so I didn't know how they would react.

Then it just went crazy. People were so warm and welcoming. At first they said, "Oh my God, you're gay! Oh my God, your wife!" It just blew up.

Of course, there are always trolls who have terrible things to say, but my community has been nothing but supportive.

I remember getting a comment from someone who said, "Such a waste of an egg," or something like that, because we were two women together and they thought we didn't have any offspring. And we're like, "Sir, we have four kids between us."

Lately, there have been more negative comments saying, "You knew you were gay. Why did you even do that to the men?" But I was never in the closet during my past marriages. I was straight, strictly heterosexual.

The difference in my marriage with Patricia versus the ones with my ex-husbands is that we are a true partnership. We work together really well as a team. We're great communicators, and we talk about everything. We do not go to bed angry. Ever. In my previous marriages, communication was a problem.

Patricia and I are both emotional beings, which can sometimes make things harder, but we give each other space and grace and time, and we try to anticipate each other's needs.

I never thought my life would pan out this way. If someone had said to me 25 years ago that I'd be married to another woman, I wouldn't have believed them. It just goes to show you that you don't know how your life is going to be. You can have all these plans and goals but you honestly just don't know where you're going to end up.

But, as for me, I'm glad I'm exactly where I am.