Happy Post-Valentine’s Day! If you’re in need of a good love story, or in need of PBS credits, look no further than February’s blog contest.
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks is one of the most widely read books on our site, with 1,426 reviews. Many Nicholas Sparks fans say it is the prolific romance author’s best and most touching work. Any one of the thousands of members who have read the book can readily explain the novel’s appeal. It’s a story about real, powerful love that endures over a lifetime, and it’s an intimate invitation to share the likable couple’s journey. A true tale of devotion like this is a welcome reminder of how wonderful life can be when you’ve given your heart to another.
Available to order on PaperBackSwap today!
Since Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, we’d like to invite you, our readers, to submit your love stories to the PBS Blog. You can tell us how you met, what made you fall head-over-heels, or what has kept the flame alive. If your anecdote involves Valentine’s Day, that’s even more fitting! Just let us in on any influential details that made your journey as a couple special and worth retelling as “your love story”.
Get your submissions in by February 25th in a comment to this post. We’ll choose the top five stories and post them on February 28th. Then, PBS members will have four days to vote for the best one. The winner will be announced on March 4th and that lucky lovebird will receive ten credits!
Please keep the stories to no more than 300 words. Though you may be madly in love, you don’t need to include every single detail about your other half! Let’s face it; if it’s that interesting, it’s probably fiction.
Now that you know the details, it’s time to start writing! If you aren’t sure how to begin, think of The Notebook to give you an idea. If you haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for? Order it from the site as a Valentine’s day treat, sure to lift even the weariest of hearts!
Tags: Book Recommendations, Book Suggestions, contest, Contests, entries, Free Credits, Genres, holiday, Members, Romance, submissions, Valentine's Day
It all started with a wish. Matt longed for Mrs. Right. After a rough and unhappy first marrriage, but being open to the hope that love will happen, he made a wish and it down on a piece of paper and buried it under the moonlight on New Years eve, 1998. A very spiritual person told him if he made a wish and buried it that within a one year period it would come true. Meanwhile Rachel (me) was a divorced mom of three looking for Mr Right but afraid she would never find him and about to give up. I had admired my friend Drew’s Native American hand crafted staff he had with a crystal on it, and he said his buddy Matt made it. I said “cool I’d like to meet him i make Native American Mandellas and crafts too”. In 1999 Drew Started bringing Matt to my house and we would all hang out as friends. They say love finds you when you least expect it. I found Matt to be a very “nice guy” and an intellectual, but didn’t see it as a love connection, because he wasn’t my usual “type”. My friend Kathy kept saying that she could see me and Matt together, but i brushed it off. I didnt realize i had started to have feelings for him until one day when i was playing a game with my daughter and had to answer the question, “spell the person’s name you have a crush on backwards” and the first thing that came to mind was T T A M. After that i decided to invite Matt over for New Years Eve 1999. We and a couple of friends made wishes at midnight with a candle (matt and i wished for true love we later admitted to each other) after that we watched a silly show on tv and Matt held my hand for the first time, and we have been together ever since that night! Around Valentines day that year, Matt said to me “your my wish girl” and i asked him what he meant. He said,”i wished for you” and then he told me the story of writing his wish down on paper for his perfect mate, (he specifically asked for a tall woman with dark curly hair, whose eyes turn from blue to grey to green, who has children) this absolutely describes me! and a year from the date he buried his wish is the first night our friendship turned to love, sealed with a kiss. Our beautiful son was concieved on Valentines day, we were married In may 2000, and my husband adopted my other children. Matt is my best friend, my love, my soulmate. The strange thing is we probably could have met years ago, there are so many coincidences….we went to the same school, had the same friend, went to the same parties we found out later….but for some reason never met back then. We just needed the time to be right….and a little magic….
Well here it goes my story might not be the fairy tale that most may have but rather the truth to how we met and formed our bond.
Me & my husband met in Jr. High School at the age of 13… I was a very shy, and timid girl who came from a very strict and abusive upbringing. He used to pick on me & tease me through-out Jr. High school but somehow he always seemed to find a way to walk me home or sit by me in class sometimes pushing others out of their seat just to sit next to me. He was weird! In the beginning of 9th grade “high-school” I finally got a boyfriend and was going out with his friend (ironic huh) for only a short time approximately two weeks. You see he never asked me out after all the stuff he did he only picked on me and followed me lol. One afternoon I got a call from a weird male stating that my boyfriend does not want to see me anymore and is breaking up with me. Just like that…Long story short I found out later in the years it was my husband who threatened his friend who was sitting right next to him the whole time and it was my husband’s voice on the phone that afternoon pretending to be some weirdo.
Still he did not ask me out my first & only boyfriend dumped me after only two weeks at the command of his friend (my now husband). About a few months later he finally gets the courage to ask me out we start dating & later on in the years we have two girls. Now they are 15 & 17. Because of the laws back then we had to wait to get married until we were eighteen we got married by court in a spane of thirty minutes. I know but hey we did what we could. (We remarried in church when we were older and had money to do so)
Back to the Story ~
There is another kicker in our relationship approximately four years after we got together I find out that his friends made a bet for $20.00 that he would not last with me because I was shy and tended to stay to myself. Well my husband took the deal and told them “he will take the shyness out of me.”
To this day almost twenty years past I am no longer shy and he has stolen my heart. We both were virgins when we met and have been together since then. Many people throughout the years being that family or friends has stated that we won’t last because we met so young and started out so young.
Don’t get me wrong we have struggled through thick & thin, good & bad, through having children at the age of 16, to being homeless and in & out of work. We now own our second home and our oldest daughter is going to graduate this years with honors.
We learned that love TRUE LOVE exists if you really work at it, communicate, bend and give a little, 50/50 and most of all never give up. True love is when you know deep down in your heart you will do anything you can for your partner no matter what situation you are in, true love is when you are comfortable with your mate no matter how either of you look good or bad, sick or healthy.
I loved him when we were struggling and living in a shelter homeless, I loved him when we were stranded and lived in our car and had nothing but the clothes on our backs. Both of us have grown together and have matured and become successful in our carreers but that took time, sweat, & tears.
I truly love my husband & I know he loves me too!
Together Forever ~ True Love & Destiny ~ That’s What We Are ~
🙂
My husband and I are in our seventies. We have been married nine years. We were college sweethearts, engaged and he had given me a ring. I decided to take a year off from college and teach. Back then you could teach in Alabama without a degree. He finished work for his degree and graduated in January of the year I was teaching. We had started growing apart before I started teaching, so after he graduated, I gave the ring back to him and we went our separate ways. However, he was the love of my life and I never really stopped loving him. I finished my degree in the summer following the year I taught. I got a teaching job and got married, he got married and we began to raise families and pursue careers. We both lived in the same town and never ever did we cross paths.
His wife died and I was divorced. One day while driving to a mall, I passed his house, saw him out in his garden and decided to stop for a visit. We chatted for a while and I continued on my way. We said we would get together for lunch sometime. The spark was still there and I invited him to lunch. We started seeing each other and after a period of about five years we were married. He had given the ring to his mother, who in turn gave it to his oldest daughter. A few weeks after we were married she visited us from California. While we were alone, she pulled me aside and said “I want you to have the ring.” Needless to say, I was dumbfounded, but gladly accepted the ring.
We are truly soul mates and I firmly believe that we were meant to be together. It seems that we just picked up where we left off when we parted ways in college. Our life together is fabulous. He is my caregiver, my soul mate, my spiritual mentor, my lover, my friend and companion every day of the world. I have a wonderful, rich life.
My husband, Steve and I were in love and knew we would get married before we ever went on an official date. We met because my ex-best friend wanted me to meet the man she was going to marry. I met him, and we became friends. In fact, he became friends with my whole family. Steve and my ex best friend got married and moved to Austin, but we stayed friends. About 9 years later, they got divorced because he found out his wife was meeting other men on the internet. While he was going through the divorce and after, Steve was feeling lonely and started spending a lot of time with my family and I. Our friendship deepened. Steve went to Texas regarding custody of his son. My other friend. Maggie and I thought he was mad at us because even though we knew that his ex was meeting other men on the internet, we didn’t want to testify. While he was in Texas, Steve called my Dad and told my Dad to tell me he (Steve) wasn’t mad at me, he loved me. I couldn’t stop thinking about that. When Steve called me I asked what did he mean he loved me, did he love me like a friend or did he love me love me. Well, of course, he didn’t want to admit he loved me if I didn’t love him because he didn’t want to ruin our friendship so he was evasive. However, over the course of our conversation, we realized we both had stronger feelings for each other than we ever realized before. A few weeks later, Steve came down and surprised me (he was living in Massachusetts then and I was living in New Jersey), and we went on our first official date. Less than 9 months later we were engaged and less than a year after that we were married. Now, over 11 years and two little girls later we are still together and still happy.
My husband and have been married for 30 years! We have 6 children the oldest being 30, and the youngest 7. Our granddaughters are actually older than our baby. I was 16 and hubs was 18 when we married. It wasn’t an easy road to travel at times, but I couldn’t picture my life without him by my side. We met while in High School obviously, and I couldn’t stand him, he was such a flirt and my friend said don’t bother with him. Well that didn’t last at all and we’ve been together ever since. He is the most loving sweet man and I couldn’t ask for a better person to share my life with. I know that he loves me more than anything in this world and that is truly one of the most comforting things a woman can have. He is my friend, my heart, he is always making me laugh and I him, me cause I tend to be a bit like Lucy! I look forward to the day when the two of us can travel together and discover new places. After six kids, three still under 13 it can be exhausting, but he says one of em is bound to take care of us when we get old.
My husband and I have been married for 10 years and have two beautiful daughters, but when we first met I never thought we would be where we are today. He just started working for the company I was working and I remember the very first thing I ever said to him was during his first night, during a conversation he asked, “Am I too old?”, to which I responded, “For me…..yes” and walked away. We worked together for several months and I would BEG my boss to not put us on the schedule together because I thought he was arrogant. However, after a few months when we worked together he would tell me about the things he did over the weekend and there was one woman at work who would come to talk to him and I realized I was getting jealous and I couldn’t understand why this bothered me so much but realized that I had grown fond of this man. After a few more weeks of flirting, we left work one night and was talking out by his car. I then decided to make the first move and put my hands on either side of him and said “Are you going to kiss me or what?” And the rest, they say, is history.
Once upon a time there was a rather lonely school librarian who lived in a small Pennsylvania town where too many trucks sported a gun rack for her taste. Figuring she’d never find a husband in “redneck-town”, she kept herself occupied taking a variety of graduate classes each summer break. But after a decade on the job, she’d earned the right to take a one year sabbatical leave. Where to go? What to do? Why not earn a real master’s degree in library science so she could work in any kind of library she wanted? The summer of 1990 saw her moving away to “college town” and settling into a little apartment with her sweet cat, Buddy. Although she still focused on her studies, she couldn’t help checking out her male classmates. And it turned out, there was one male classmate checking her out, too. Thank God they were both single and ready to start a life together at the ripe old age of 32. Well, that seemed like a late start at the time. Eighteen years later, these married librarians enjoy their comfy Florida home full of books, 2 Kindles, and a small menagerie of rescued dogs and cats. They smile across the table as they sit at their local bookstore on the weekends sipping a coffee milkshake. Mr. and Mrs. Librarian, a perfectly matched set, are sharing a love that will last a lifetime.
Perfect timing in celebration of our 30th anniversary and Valentine’s Day…
I’ll admit it. My mother picked him out for me. Really. She and I bowled on different company teams at the same bowling alley. One night she called me over to introduce me to a gentleman seated next to her. Coincidentally, he worked for the same utility company I did, but was there as a substitute bowler. After a little motherly nudge, Bill and I began getting acquainted.
I never could bowl. Getting my score above 90 was an occasion for celebration. Don’t remember my pitiful score that night, but, upset and embarrassed, I drove home in shame. Not one to pass on using such an occasion to drown my sorrow in food, I stopped on the way and bought a half-gallon of ice cream. Pralines and Cream. Just me, a couch, a spoon, and a sad, sad TV movie of love and loss.
However, love was not lost because the very next day that same good lookin’, jovial gent called for a lunch date. To this day, we laugh at the memory of his reaching across the table to hold my hand and my panic as I slowly withdrew mine. On our first evening date, I discovered he really knew how to impress a girl: In his huge, copper-colored 4-door Ford pickup with camper and tool bins, he escorted me and a 6-pack to a drive-in to watch “Used Cars” and “Hollywood Knights.”
Now I ask you…
Regardless, we found much in common, fell in love, and he became a willing, diligent second father to my daughter. We ended up in north Idaho where we built our own log cabin on 10 beautiful acres with horses, dogs, and a mule…what we both had always dreamed of
We met when we were 13 years old. We were in middle school and he had recently moved in, down the street from my house. I was a bit of a tomboy as a child and we immediately became friends. We hung out all the time, doing homework together, hiking in the woods behind our homes, playing basketball, watching movies. At the time we were best friends. He was always very attractive and I watched him date various girls as I remained his friend.
By the time we were high school I finally looked like a woman and he grew into well toned, muscular man. We were still best friends and he still had his constant stream of admirers but something had changed. Now I began receiving a new type of attention from males. (I know… the joys of adolescence). I wasn’t particularly interested in anyone, until one day my friend Eric asked to take me to dinner. It was my first official date, and I was excited. I wore make-up (a rarity at the time) and took time to straighten and smooth my hair. We went to a restaurant that was a common hang-out in my small town. As Eric and I sat down, I saw him. He sitting with his most recent girlfriend. The way I was seated he had a full complete view of me. I waved to him and went on with my date. I had a nice time, but the entire night I could feel him staring at me. Finally I heard his girlfriend yell something at him and storm out of the restaurant. He quickly followed after her.
When I got home from my date I happily walked inside and changed into sweats, ready to read until I feel asleep. I sat down in my window seat and before I even opened my book, I saw him in my backyard. He was sitting on a boulder that over looked the pond. I went outside to see him and tell him about my night. I climbed silently onto the rock next to him. He didn’t look at me, but instead said, “You looked beautiful tonight.” He said it with complete sincerity and a hint of regret in his voice. I was surprised at how happy that statement made me. I realized I wanted him to think I was beautiful. I smiled at him. He reached over and pushed my hair behind my ear (every 16 year-old girls dream move) and lightly kissed my lips. That did it. We started dating and haven’t been separated since. We’ve been together for 10 years. Through high school, college and now as I’m working towards a doctorate degree he is still with me, supporting me. Still my best friend and still looks at me with that same wonder I saw that night by the pond. Although we’re not married and we don’t have children we know we will someday. We plan to marry in 2015, on our 14 year anniversary.
I met my “true love” while we were doing musical theater shows in High School. I liked him a lot, but he was one of the “cool” kids and I definately was NOT! We both went to different Catholic High Schools and only saw each other through the rehearsal and performance processes. In our last 2 years, we both got leads in the shows and got to know each other as friends. We did a community theater show the summer after we graduated and got closer again. He even took me home to meet his mother (tho’ he was dating someone else pretty seriously). 4 days before I left to go away to college he showed up at my house very late in the night and we sat and talked for 3 hours about everything. My mom actually had to get up out of bed to tell him to go home. He came back the next 3 nights and we just clicked. Later on he told me that he wasn’t going to see me before I went away, but a close friend of his told him that if he liked me that much he would be a fool not to try.
He came out to visit me at college and we had some killer long distance phone bills. He even took classes and tested to be accepted at school with me. However, his mom was furious that he would leave a good job to go to college and then she became very ill. He stayed in his job to please her, but she never got over her mad or better and died shortly thereafter. I transferred to a closer school and we got engaged and married and are celebrating our 35 year together this August.
I still perform in theater and my hubby prefers to work behind the scenes now. We are blessed with 2 beautiful and talented daughters and I have had the pleasure of performing with them and watching them perform. They still get a kick out of telling their friends how their parents met while doing shows in high school!!
We have had many ups and downs and shared a lot (we are even both cancer survivors), but through it all we both know how deep is our love and committment to the other person. Each day we have together is a gift.
My husband and I met while working together in 1997. We were friends for years. Then, as my parents kicked me out of the house, he had an apartment that he let me share with him. Living together made us grow closer to where we were dating. We got married and have 2 beautiful daughters. He’s a truck driver and for the first 3 years we only saw each other 2 or 3 days a week. Then, he took a job to where he was home more, but now, his job went through a merger and he’s moved to Nashville. Our oldest is in school and we are waiting until the end of the school before me and the girls go. Use to it was a little easy being apart, but this time around, it’s been hard. But we are a strong family and we will make it through and be even stronger as a family and in our relationship.
It was my friend Kathi’s birthday. She called me up to invite me along for dinner to celebrate. Her dad was treating. “Okay,” I said. A girl’s gotta eat. Little did I know that this was a sneaky plot to fix me up with her cousin, Steve. He was SO not my type and geographically undesirable. He lived 60 miles away, was about 4 inches shorter than me, drank too much and I could tell he would tell a girl anything she wanted to hear. Kathi tried for weeks to get me to go out with him again. I finally had to tell her point blank that I couldn’t be less interested.
A few months later, she called me up again to invite me to breakfast and Sunday football at a local pub. “Okay,” I said. A girl’s gotta eat. She said that Steve has a new girlfriend and is bringing her along. I had to meet the lady this treasure snagged. When I arrived, Steve was sitting at a table with 9 (count ’em) 9 women. I had to assume the strawberry blonde making out with Steve had to me his new girlfriend. This was Anne.
At the far end of the table, surrounded by Anne’s friends was Ken, Steve’s brother. Anne was determined to fix Ken up with one of her best friends. He had the look of a rabbit that wandered into a cougar’s den. It was comical.
The group decided to do a little bar hoping and eventually Ken made his way over to me. He was quiet and friendly. Not my type either, but when he asked me out to dinner, I said, “Okay.” Hey, a girl’s gotta eat. At the end of our first date, he made another date. Each time we saw each other, he would make the next date. “I plan to keep you so busy, you won’t have time for other men.” I liked that. He did not assume I was sitting around waiting for Prince Charming.
I thought for sure that Ken would eventually dump me. Most of the men I met were threatended by a woman that made money and owned their own home. But Ken was very steady. I realized I was in love when he brought me a cup of coffee with just the right amount of cream and sugar. Just the way I like it.
After six months he proposed. Were married a year after that.
There was no burning raging romance. No drama. No symphony playing in the background. Just a mutual love and respect that I know will last forever. I love Ken with all my heart.
We celebrate Valentine’s Day at home with a premium bottle of wine and a pizza. That’s all we need.
Our first meeting and marriage was arranged in more ways than one; first by the Divine and next by an old friend of the family who had known me since I was four years old. He had teenagers who cross country ski raced with one at the Jr. National ski racer level. They got to know their coach who was a 31 year old single man. I was at a point in my life when I had lost a certain amount of confidence in myself and my choices for long-lasting romance. I had appealed to my higher power (God) to make the choice for me. I put myself at His mercy and within His grace. Five months later our friend had called my father and asked his permission for introduce me to my soon-to-be husband. After some trial and error at getting in touch with the two of us, we were invited to meet at our friend’s house one evening. As the November evening wore on and the mystery man did not appear, I felt I must leave. I started my car and came back inside to warm up. Pretty soon the guy finally stopped by. We talked for three hours, and I totally forgot about my car running outside so that it just about burned up. I knew when he walked in the room that night there was something very special about him. On our first date I taught this ski coach how to snowboard. I was impressed with his willingness to humble himself so on a first date. More importantly, this guy really cared about me; like no one ever had before. He treated my like a queen in a very kingly way. He never disrespected himself. We talked of our faith and belief systems on our second date and discovered we had both been praying for each other for about six months before knowing one another. I was at this time preparing for an international trip that would take me to a place in the world where there was much danger and unrest during the Gulf War. I was determined to go and talked with him about this in the middle of January after knowing each other since Thanksgiving. He said “I hope I haven’t met the girl of my dreams just to watch her run off half-way around the world and never come back.” I said, “You put a ring on my finger and I won’t leave.” I had been in long time relationships before where men had asked for my hand and never produced a ring. Well, to make a long story short, within a few days I had a ring on my finger. We set our wedding date for June 8, 1991. Unbeknownst to us at the time, this was the very date of our introducer’s wedding. Now, twenty years and five sons later, we are still the love of each other’s lives.
I met my one true love in High School. I was a somewhat shy, geek taking AP Classes, Latin and Orchestra and he was a regular guy who fate placed behind me in an AP Class (one he had been mistakenly placed in and decide to give a try). They say opposites attract so maybe we had no choice but to fall in love. We started out talking and ended up going to prom together. He was my first real kiss and he is my only love.
We dated our senior year and throughout most of college. This included a year of writing sometimes sweet and sometimes steamy letters back and forth while I was away. That was until he decided he had to go find himself. We met 17 years ago and I love him as much today and as did on prom night.
My love story does not involve a husband, or a boyfriend like most of the love stories that have been posted. My true love story started in June of 2009 when I arrived in a small country named Haiti. Most of you have heard of it now, but then, no one knew where Haiti was, including me. I had signed up for a mission trip to a country I knew nothing about and didn’t even know where it was located. I know, crazy, right? Well, that is what God had led me to. I was living such a comfortable life that God needed me to step out of my comfort zone to grow closer to Him. I had just graduated college and was planning to apply for a job when I arrived back home. Little did I know, all of my plans were about to change.
When I arrived there I knew that this place was special and that this would not be my only trip there. I spent ten days there with my group and everyday a I was being reassured that I was going to be coming back. You see, we had taken a trip to a Children’s Home and in a matter of minutes of being there God had shown me why he sent me to a country that I didn’t know. I had found my home and my one true love.
I immediately fell in love with the 90 some children that lived there and knew that God needed me there. By time I got home, the process was already started. I spent a few months preparing and raising money until in September of 2009 I was on my way back to Haiti to work at the Children’s Home.
My duties there were unknown to me but I knew that I was needed. I planned to become a sister to these children but mainly the boys. My calling was to work with the 40 some boys that lived there at the time. These are the children that had stolen my heart. I wanted to teach them English and play with them but mostly, I wanted to teach them about Jesus! Little did I know they would teach me so much more! This Children’s Home became my family. The kids became my brothers and sisters and the staff became my best friends. Haiti and these kids had become my true love!
We went through many things together, including the earthquake and our love has only grown stronger. They taught me many things while I was there, such as about their culture, their language but most importantly about myself and God. I had been a Christian for years but until meeting these people, I did not understand fully what it meant to be one. I know now what love really means and will always have the Haitian people to thank for that. Well, and ultimately God for showing it to me through them.
I am now back in the States but I am unsure for how long. My heart has been breaking since I returned and I long to go back to my family! Things have changed at the mission and it has been hard but I know God has a plan and until I can return to Haiti I know that my true loves will be there with beautiful brown eyes and brown skin waiting! Mwen sonje Ayiti anpil! (I miss Haiti very much!) You know they do say that distance will make the heart grow fonder. Well, I have news for you. There is a lot of distance between me and my kids and I have never been more fond of anyone or any place than I am right now, sitting at this computer, crying and sharing my true love story with you all!
God bless you all and I hope that every person reading these stories has the opportunity to find their true love in life, be it a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, or 90 little children!
Romeo(s) and Juliet(s)
Literature’s celebrity couple of “love at first sight” –
The story of my husband and me…hmmmm…not quite.
What was the moment those lovers met? Shakespeare expounds.
Lines of “true beauty” and “two blushing pilgrims” resound.
Smooth-talking Romeo swept Juliet off her feet!!!!
(Rosalind was the party girl he intended to meet).
Their eternal legacy was love (unintended)
that, through their tragic dying, their families mended.
My Romeo’s Matt. He hardly ever reads books,
but he’s captured my heart with sweetness, charm, and good looks.
We’re newlyweds, so now we hate to be apart,
but our story’s not so romantic from the start.
The moment we met? Sadly, my memory remains mute
except that he played the trumpet and I played the flute.
Music brought us together. We met at rehearsal
for Moravian College Wind Ensemble.
Alas, I don’t remember our first glance or talks,
but soon we were laughing, winking, and taking long walks.
We fell in love on the band’s spring break trip to Germany
where on the bus my Romeo somehow always sat by me.
We wed in October after nearly nine years of fun
and went to Hawaii for more fun in the sun.
Shakespeare’s couple may live forever in poetry
by my Romeo’s eternal love is the one for me.
The moment we met may be lost forever in time
but our beautiful present and future will live on in rhyme.
The summer after I graduated high school, some friends and I vacationed to Cozumel, Mexico for our last hoorah together before going off to college. The weather was perfect, the experiences great, and two nights before our departure back to the states we went out dancing. It was there that I saw him. It was one of those cliché moments that can only be described by saying that our eyes met and I just knew. Love at first sight. We simultaneously walked toward each other, introduced ourselves and spent the remaining two days of our vacation together. Coincidence that our departures were on the same day and we were staying at the same resort? With vacation over, reality hit: I was going to college in California and him in Texas. We stayed in contact knowing that, even though we might meet extraordinary people in the meantime, one day we would see each other again. Even if we couldn’t be together, it would be great to see the other once more. Over the next few years we both had long term relationships (one of mine lasting 4 years) and school and life kept us from reconnecting.
Finally we had the opportunity to see each other again. This past October I flew out to Texas, knowing I was going to see a man I had only ever seen for 2 days, and this was over 5 years ago. I was afraid I had built up an image of this perfect guy, which no way could be lived up to or what if my judgment when I was 18 was way off?
It was perfect. We only had 3 days together, but we knew we had something amazing. So, he flew me out once more for New Year, making our total in person days together a whopping 14. I know I have found the love of my life and can’t wait for him to visit in 2 weeks! I finish grad school in May and will be moving to Texas over the summer.
The summer after I graduated high school, some friends and I vacationed to Cozumel, Mexico for our last hoorah together before going off to college. The weather was perfect, the experiences great, and two nights before our departure back to the states we went out dancing. It was there that I saw him. It was a moment that can only be described by saying that our eyes met and I just knew. Love at first sight. We simultaneously walked toward each other, introduced ourselves and spent the remaining two days of our vacation together. Coincidence that our departures were on the same day and we were staying at the same resort? With vacation over, reality hit: I was going to college in California and him in Texas. We stayed in contact knowing that, even though we might meet extraordinary people in the meantime, one day we would see each other again. Even if we couldn’t be together, it would be great to see the other once more. Over the next few years we both had long term relationships (one of mine lasting 4 years) and school and life kept us from reconnecting.
Finally we had the opportunity to see each other again. This past October I flew out to Texas, knowing I was going to see a man I had only ever seen for 2 days, and this was over 5 years ago. I was afraid I had built up an image of this perfect guy, which no way could be lived up to or what if my judgment when I was 18 was way off?
It was perfect. We only had 3 days together, but we knew we had something amazing. So, he flew me out for a week around New Year, making our total in person days together a whopping 13. I know I have found the love of my life and can’t wait for him to visit in 2 weeks! I finish grad school in May and a move to Texas is in order.
My English Prince- I wasn’t looking for anyone.I was nineteen years old and I did not like him at all.He was a big flirt with all the girls and as far as me,no life was just fine.Something about him charmed me and disgusted me in the same way and don’t ask me why.I have no idea.We have a Nine year difference in our age,however I believe to be the more mature out of us both.He was a young minded jerk,loud and yet for some reason myself was being drawn to him against my better judgment.He was clearly an idiot and I felt like a fool for falling for someone who would probably break my heart. He was from England and yes he could talk the talk,walk it out and drop hearts.I wondered if my heart was on the list of those to drop.In less than a month he proposed to me and everyone thought we were crazy.I had not turned twenty yet.The month after my 20th birthday I married the most wonderful man and this year in June we celebrate our 24th anniversary! Many people thought we would never make it because our personalities were so different.We have had our bumps in the road,but I love him more than life itself!
One fine sunny day a girl (me) was sitting outside flirting with a couple of army boys she was doing guard duty with. Mr. Boy comes walking along with a six pack of Vernors. (A ginger ale mostly found in Michigan.)
“Vernors!” she exclaims.
He stops in his tracks and grins. “You must be from Michigan,” he says. “You want one?” And then hands her one.
Mr. Boy continues on his way and the girl continues flirting with the army boys.
The boy and the girl continue with their lives. She starts a relationship with a boy who doesn’t treat her right and he starts several relationships only to end them knowing that these girls are not for him.
Two years after that meeting over Vernors, the girl gets stationed at her new station. She moves into room 103 at one of the barracks buildings. She is lonely and doesn’t know anyone. She meets everyone in her hall except for the one who lives in room 102, the room across from hers.
The boy in room 102 is on leave in Michigan with his family and returns from leave a couple of weeks later to find that he has a new neighbor.
The boy and the girl hit it off right away. They’re both shy and sweet with each other and there is lots of smiling and laughing between them. They bond over movies and spend most of their free time together.
One day the boy comes home from the store happy because he found a pop from home.
“Vernors,” he says holding it up happily.
“You know,” she says. “There was this boy at my tech school that got me hooked on Vernors. I used to drink it all the time.” And she starts to tell this boy the story of meeting the other boy from Michigan who gave her first can of Vernors.
He finishes the story for her and she looks at him in amazement.
“That was me that gave you the Vernors,” he said. “I thought you looked familiar.”
Over the next year, the boy and girl traveled all over the south together, falling in love in places like Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Chattanooga, Tennessee and of course those Georgia barracks where they shared their first kiss and many late night conversations.
When the boy finally proposed to her it was on bended knee at the top of Rock City in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She said yes and they were married five months later in the beautiful and scenic Bozeman, Montana where they toasted with Vernors instead of Champagne.
Seven years later we are still madly in love and every time we drink a Vernors we can’t help but toast our blessings in love and in each other. God has blessed us with two handsome boys and each other. We fit each other more perfectly than I ever thought possible.
One night during my first year at college, I was sitting with a friend talking while we waited for another friend to meet us. We were sitting by the front desk of the dorm. A guy came up to the girl working the front desk and talked quietly with her. My friend kept telling me the guy was staring at me. I wasn’t paying much attention to him one way or the other and assured her if he was looking at anyone it was her because guys were always looking at her. After he left, the girl who worked the front desk who I knew from a few classes, said he wanted to meet me. I said you mean he wants to meet her pointing to my friend. She said “No, he wants to meet you.” I said “No, way.” He was here studying from overseas and the group he was with were known to be a little on the wild side. She told me he was not like the other guys and actually on the shy side like me. She finally convinced me that all I had to do was meet him. The following evening our “meeting” turned into dinner. He was sweet, polite, not the wild guy I had anticipated and we had a really nice time. I had only known him a few days when I got sick. He showed up at my house with blue flowers. Although I don’t remember telling him my favorite color, he remembered and thought they would make me feel better. While the other guys he was studying with were going through girls like a box of Kleenex, we stayed together. Everybody kept telling us, it would never last. They kept saying we were too young, our backgrounds were too different, and tons of silly reasons why we shouldn’t be together. We married a little over a year later. I had just turned 20. We finished school, my husband went to grad school and a few years after that we had our first child. We just recently celebrated our 25th anniversary. Not too long ago we went back to the restaurant where we had our first date. Only this time, we had a much bigger table with 4 kids in tow. At one point, through all the talking and noise, my husband gave me a look and I knew that like me, he was remembering our first time at the restaurant. Maybe, in 25 more years we will be able to go back again and take our grandkids. Who knows? All I know is I am glad I listened to my heart and not my so called friends and am still married to my best friend.
The first time I really noticed my future husband was in fourth grade even though we started school together in kindergarten. It happened in the school yard one day when my friend and I were walking by some kids sitting on the ground and playing with their Star Wars action figures. Bobby and Todd were two of them, doing what little kids did back in the late 70’s….bringing their Han Solos and R2D2s to life, sound effects and all. They had no clue that they were being watched by a couple of girls. As soon as Bobby noticed that I was watching, he instantly turned into one of the Three Stooges and pushed his crouching friend over on his side. He then quickly acted out like his feet were doing a “burn-out” and spun dirt all over his little friend. This was completely hilarious to me and I started cracking-up laughing. My friend yanked me back to reality, saying, “Stop laughing at him! Bobby is sooo stupid!”.
Little did I know that Bobby was concealing a secret crush on me. Years later I would find out that he always said to himself that I would be his someday!
Fast forward about 4 years….we are in 8th grade and my best friend (same one from back in 4th grade, Tanya) and Bobby’s best friend Steve are seeing each other. Tanya and I are babysitting and afterward Steve and Bobby come by to see us. As we are leaving they all hop on their bicycles and I’m the only one that doesn’t have a bike. Bobby takes the opportunity and asks me if I would like to ride on his handlebars. I accept his offer even though it was only a 1/2 of a block away from my house! I just wanted to be close to him (he was kinda cute after all). Five minutes after they dropped Tanya and I off at my house, the phone rang. It was Steve…he wanted Tanya to ask me if I would go out with Bobby. I said yes and the rest is history! We became inseparable after that.
Interesting Sidenote: I found out later that Bobby had been harboring feelings for me for a long time, and a month before he wrote me a letter declaring his feelings for me and gave the letter to a really good friend to give to me. I never received the letter, instead it apparently got passed around to everyone else but me. Meanwhile, Bobby is thinking that I got the letter and my non-response was a rejection of him. He was totally heart-broken and was never going to ask me out. It was his best friend Steve who called in spite of Bobby’s protests not to ask me because he thought he’d already struck out with me.
We have just celebrated 27 years of being together and we are only 40 years old. I can’t imagine my life without him, we are perfect complements to each other. Now instead of riding on the handle bars of his bicycle I’m riding on the back of his Harley! Bobby and Annette forever!!!! February 9, 1984
My husband and I met 25 years ago, when I was at college and he had just graduated from college. I knew I was in love with him the first time he met my parents. I was nervous about their first meeting because my father was a very conservative man, and David was not the kind of man I usually dated. When I called him to say my parents and I were on our way over, I said jokingly, “Put a bag over your head or something to spruce yourself up.”
A few minutes later my parents and I knocked at David’s door. There was a slight delay, then he opened the door–with, you guessed it, a paper bag over his head! My parents laughed so hard they nearly fell down right there in the hallway, and the ice was broken. I thought, “I love this man.” And I still do.
The day i actually saw her was in 4th grade. The day i talked to her was the day she hit me in the back of the head with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I had to get my hair cut. I came into school one day and it was a normal day until it was time to go home. There were so many kids on our bus(most of which got off and on at the same place i did) I was sitting in the back all by my lonesome, then she came along. there was no where else for her to sit so out of the kindness of my heart(despite the fact i absolutely hated her at the time>.>) i let her sit next to me. We exchanged a few word and before we knew it we were talking like we knew each other for years. Now its been almost 10 years since we met and 8 since we’ve loved each other. and still do. Shes a beautiful women. Shes always been there for me and i to her. I cant say its been a complete good experience, because everyone has their fights and so have we. And even after that i still love. she asks me all the time what i see in her. shes not normal. she doesnt deserve me. i deserve better. and every time she goes on these tangents i just look at her and smile slightly and tel her the truth. “You not perfect. neither am i. nobody is but thats what makes you perfect for me…” i sneak a kiss to throw her off guard and she looks at me with her beautiful blue eyes and says” I hate it when you do that..” i just smile and hold her tight. tell her i love her and kiss her her goodnight. bottom line really we’re not perfect and i love it she loves me for who i am. not what i do or where. just me and thats perfectly fine. ^.^
An abusive relationship left me scarred. I trusted no men, and didn’t even date for nearly ten years, raising my daughter on my own. The only exception to that rule was my best friend, Jason. He listened to every nightmare story that I told about my ex-husband. He was there for every milestone my daughter hit from her first tooth to her first day of kindergarten; she wouldn’t even walk in the school building without holding his hand. He was the only one that I trusted, that understood me, and that loved me and my daughter. I was never expecting that we would grow to love each other in another way.
I fought the feelings for years, not wanting to trust in a relationship ever again, even with the only man that I truly cared about. He loved me, but he waited. Until I finally, after years, sent him a text one night:
“Are we missing something here? Is there something here that we need to pay attention to?”
He met me later that night. We started dating. And it was no time before he was asking my daughter permission to ask me to marry him. 🙂 I didn’t answer the first few minutes when he asked me. Only because I was too busy crying from being so happy. We trust each other, we have faith in each other, and he refuses to let me give up on myself. I still can’t believe that I am this happy, or even deserve it. But he reminds me every day that I am and that I do. 🙂
I met my husband in a religion class that I was not supposed to be in. I had given up on love at the age of 42. One day I was putting on my sweater and thought that I had hit him with my sleeve. I was so embarrassed and kept on apologizing! Finally, I got up the nerve to ask him for his email address so we could possibly talk outside of class. He not only gave me that but his home phone and cell phone!! We had both gotten out of bad relationships and were hurting. Three months after I ‘swatted’ him with my sweater, he asked me to marry him (actually it was Christmas Eve, just like my mom had told my husband to be, that my father had done with her!). After I stopped blubbering and said yes, my fiance told me that he had to come clean about something…I hadn’t even come close to swatting him with my sweater!! We have been married for 3 1/2 years and still act like newlyweds!
It began summer of 2001. A mutual friend’s home became the hot spot to hang out, bbq and drink a few beers while talking on the roof or covered patio. Even though we had seen each other a few times before, this was the first time we actually had a conversation. I was so attracted to him but didn’t say/do anything about it, rather enjoyed the company of him for weeks. I was sure he didn’t notice me in ‘that’ way. And if further proof was needed I got it the day we went to the grocery store. We were having yet another epic bbq and realized we were missing a couple key ingredients. I volunteered to run to the store and our friend volunteered Dave to accompany me. When we got to the store to fill the silence he pointed out nutritional facts of various items, considered soda options and debated the difference between catsup and ketchup. We laughed so hard and I decided then that he would become a close friend if nothing else. Returning from the store I learned his birthday was the following day when his best friend came running outside in a panic.
They were going to dinner to celebrate the following night and Dave’s ex from high school phoned and demanded to be included. Upon finding out that I had nothing of super importance going on our friend decided I would tag along and act as his new girlfriend!! What?! He didn’t want to deal with the ex, asked if I was up for it and we played along. It took me hours to get ready the following night you would have thought it was a real first date. In the car with him and friends he barely said two words to me and deflated I was reminded it wasn’t. At the restaurant/bar, the ex mostly avoided us and we were all able to have a fun night (with the exception of the laser daggers her eyes pointed at me). As the night progressed I think we both realized how real this was becoming. Our gazes would hold that extra moment, I became all too aware of his hand at my back and the way he leaned in to whisper a funny comment in my ear. By the end of the night, everyone that had ridden in the car with us surprisingly found other ways home. We parked and talked for hours during which all our fun secrets were revealed. How we both felt there was something there. How he told the exchange student staying with us he liked me and asked her not to tell assuming she would. Who knew girls actually could keep a secret?! His best friend figured out that he had feelings for me so he decided that the need for me to be his ‘pretend’ girlfriend was vital and earlier in the car he was quiet because he knew when he saw me how real he wanted it to be. Before we parted ways that night with a long hug and a gentle kiss on the forehead and cheek, he gave me the cutest stuffed dog that he picked up earlier in the day as a gift for me for being his pretend date for the night. (It now resides on our bedside table).
We easily fell into a great relationship from that moment on seeing each other as often as possible. That same year, Christmas night he proposed in front of my entire family. It was so beautiful and unexpected. He was so happy not only that I said yes, but that the ring fit. When he put the ring on my finger, in the silence you could hear him mutter with relief ‘Oh Thank God it fits’ and we all burst out in laughter.
We married in 2005 during a tear and laughter-filled service in a lovely backyard ceremony surrounded by family and friends.
Deeply in love we still look back and reminisce over our ‘pretend’ date.
My best friend Amy started dating her husband in October 2007, and when they started dating she and I checked out some of Jeff’s friends on Myspace and Justin was the first one we looked at because Justin is Jeff’s best friend. Both her and I said I needed to meet him at some point because he sounded like someone I would get along with REALLY well…in fact Amy’s words were he sounds just like you, Mel….plus I thought he was adorable!! 🙂 Well Justin did the same thing with my page and told Jeff he wanted to meet me too. Fast forward to January of 2008 when Jeff and Amy realize that we both wanted to meet each other and they decide to set us up on a double date with them. Well the next day we stated “talking” on myspace. That quickly graduated to texting relentelessly for the next few days until we decided to meet on our own before the double date.
We met at Applebees for lunch and then went bowling and it was AMAZING!! I had so much fun with him…although I was soooo nervous!!! 🙂
He then came down a couple of days later to spend the weekend with Jeff and the 4 of us had a blast hanging out. I knew I was falling but I was terrified of getting hurt again. The night before he left to go back home he and I stayed up talking for like 4 hours about everything. From that night on I knew he was the one I had spent my whole life dreaming of. It’s sappy I know but completely true…
We both knew almost immediately that this was IT. He unofficially asked me on March 9th 2008 to marry him, but the real proposal was yet to come….:)
Fast forward to March 31, 2008 where Jeff, Amy, Justin and I had tickets for the Cardinal’s opening day game. The 4 of us spent Sunday and Monday in St. Louis going to the zoo, Union Station, the Science Center and of course the game. It was a BLAST but little did I know what was coming….
After the game got rained out Justin said he had a surprise for me, so we go out to the Stan Musial statue in front of Busch Stadium and he tells me to close my eyes, when I opened them there he was in the pouring rain on the soaked concrete on one knee asking me to marry him. It was the best moment of my life!!!! My shy sweetheart proposed in front of a crowd of people…and were they cheering 🙂
We got married on August 28th 2008 with Jeff and Amy who married in February 2008 as our best man and matron of honor, and now are living happily ever after.
I Have been married twice before…both were disastrous, abusive marriages. When ex #2 informed me that I would “never find anyone else to take me and my 3 kids”…the statement was very hurtful and caused me to retaliate with “I’ll show you”!
I had seen many-a-talk show episode raving about (and cursing) internet dating sites, so I decided to post a personal ad online…just to prove MY point. I didn’t expect to actually FIND someone…after all, I had long ago vowed NEVER to fall in love again. Been there, done that and had the emotional and physical scars as reminders as to why I was never, EVER going to do THAT again!! You see, I had been madly, obsessively, detrimentally “IN LOVE” with ex #1…he beat me, raped me, and nearly killed me physically…and I was absolutely SURE that he HAD killed me emotionally…thus why I had spent the following 8 years in a loveless marriage. I married an old school “friend” thinking the relationship would be “safe”…it wasn’t, not for me, and not for my kids. When he figured out that I did not and WOULD not ever “love” him in the romantic sense he became enraged and took his frustration out on my children who then lied and swore he “never touched them”, not out of loyalty to him, but out of fear OF him. Then one day I walked in and caught this 430-pound-giant brutally beating my 60-pound son! I ran for the phone to call 911 but he jerked the phone out of the wall…I had to DO something to protect my child and get this monster out of my house! I begged him to leave, promising to get marriage counseling so that we could “work things out”. Realizing that he had finally crossed the line, he agreed and left…hurling his challenge on the way out the door that I better keep my promise to work things out because “no one else would ever want me…”
This brings us back to the personal ad…
Again, I was hurt, scared and VERY angry…not only over the abuse I had witnessed, but over the words he flung at me on his way out the door…what did he mean I wouldn’t be able to find anyone else? HA! I would she HIM! So, I placed the ad…just to prove I could find someone else If and WHEN I EVER decided to bring another man into our lives…the one thing I knew for certain was that ex #2 was NOT coming back! I would NOT give him the chance to EVER beat on my kids again…and I was ever more adamant now than I had been after my first marriage ended…I would never, EVER love ANY man EVER again. The first time had nearly killed me…the second marriage nearly killed my son and I hadn’t even “loved” that man in the “romantic” sense…no, I would not risk myself or my children a third time, it was just too dangerous…
But…just to prove a point, I checked to see if I had any responses to my ad the next morning…There wasn’t just one response, there were MANY…and over 30 of them seemed to be sincere (as opposed to the many who were just looking for a “good time”). A few piqued my interest, but only one REALLY caught my attention. It was from a blind man who responded to my ad with “I don’t know why I am bothering to write to you, you won’t write me back, I’m blind…” He bared his soul while at the same time tossing down the gauntlet, issuing the challenge for me to accept him…to love him…I didn’t want to…I swore I wouldn’t…I believed I COULDN’T…I was too damaged, too broken and too damn scared to EVER love anyone or to ever trust anyone ever again…wasn’t I??? For more than 8 years I had kept my heart locked up tight…no one but my children could reach inside and touch it…so how was it that this blind man found a crack to squeeze in past all of my defenses? And with just a short, brutally, desperately honest e-mail message? I tried to put the message out of my mind…tried to lock the man behind it out of my heart and way far away from my soul. He couldn’t hurt me if I didn’t let him in…if I just didn’t read the message again…if I kept my willpower in check and didn’t respond…didn’t reach out and grasp the hand that he so timidly held out to me in cyberspace in offer of friendship and possibly more, if only I could see past his disability and take it…
“Disability”…Blindness…did he really think that being blind was such a terrible offense that it somehow made him unacceptable…unwantable…unlovable??? I mean…what is blindness next to someone with a truly broken heart? I was the “disabled” one. My heart wasn’t just “broken”, it didn’t work anymore…it couldn’t love anymore…Oh, it loved my kids, loved them more than life…but that was different…that wasn’t that part of my heart that was “disabled”…no, the disabled part was the part that allows us to love romantically…that allows us to trust someone with not just our belongings, or children…or bodies…but our souls…that was the broken, defective part of my heart. He shouldn’t be the one saying “I don’t know why I am writing to you, you won’t write me back…” I was the one who should be laying my soul bare and reaching out and expecting nothing but bitter rejection…not only was I broken, but I had (unknowingly) put my kids in harm’s way not once, but twice…both my ex’s had abused not only me, but my children (in my own defense, I threw both of them out as soon as I knew that they caused harm to one of my kids…they never got a second chance to hurt them again). Maybe ex #2 was right…I wouldn’t find anyone else…I didn’t deserve to be happy…to be loved…no, I wouldn’t respond to this vulnerable, hurting soul who was blindly reaching out to me across the Internet…I wouldn’t…I couldn’t….
I did…
And he did…
And we messaged back and forth feverishly for days…and then we traded phone numbers and we talked over the phone for hours at a time, burning through countless 1000 minute phone cards until we just couldn’t stand it anymore, we just HAD to meet in person…
That was 11 years ago now. We will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in April…and I am happy to say that “third times a charm”…I am deliriously, happily married…and my heart wasn’t broken after all…It just needed a blind man to look deep enough to find that tiny crack in the wall that I had erected around my heart and thought I had locked up and sealed against intrusion…and like the proverbial ‘princess in the tower’ he blindly rode in and saved my soul from its tortured, self-imposed loneliness…and though the road has had its bumps and turns, I know that my blind knight and I will truly live happily ever after…
My Love story began eight years ago. I always knew I would marry my best friend. Eight years ago, I returned to a bible college group that I had stopped going to for a while. John was quiet and sat in the corner. For many weeks, we mingled but never really talked. One night, for a reason I don’t even remember, we talked for four hours! We became fast friends and didn’t even consider a relantionship until one night he tried to set me up with a friend of ours. When I declined, he admitted he had feelings for me. He was and is my first kiss, first boyfriend.. first everything.
We married in 2005 and went through the normal first newlywed years except for one thing. My husband had been diagnosed with Poly-Cystic Kidney DIsease when he was 16. We both knew eventually he would need a kidney transplant but figured we had 10 more years to worry about it. About a year in a half into our marriage, he started kidney failure. There was a moment of panic on my part (more shock, really) then we started the process of getting on the transplant list, looking for possible donors and fundraising. He was put on dialysis for six months and through a miracle only crafted by God, we found a donor right away through a friends wife. She was the first person tested and she passed with flying colors. Two years ago, five days from now… he is officially two years successfully transplanted.
When we look back, we’ve always said, ” If we could make it through that, we can make it through anything.” We have a deep appreciation for each other and a bond that not many people go through.
Dan and I were engaged just a few weeks ago. For me, it was a childhood dream coming true.
Dan and I first met when we were 11. He was my first crush, my childhood “love.” Ours was also a summer romance; I saw him at my best friend’s cabin in Northern Michigan. During the school year, we’d write letters–a huge sacrifice for a preteen boy who hated to write.
One day, I stopped receiving letters from him. I wrote to him again, but never heard back. Of course, my now-12 year old heart was broken. I cried and listened to sad songs for a few weeks, but I eventually bounced back, as 12 year olds tend to do. I thought about him many times over the years, though, often wondering, “What happened to Danny?”
I found out about 20 years later, when we reconnected over Facebook. He was married with 2 kids, living in TN. (I was in FL by this time.) I was a bit disappointed that he was married, but I was glad to find him again after all this time. We kept in touch very casually over FB (commenting on the occasional status, etc) but never really “talked.”
After a year or so after finding each other on FB, Dan and his wife separated. I sent a joking message to him on FB that it sounds like he could use a vacation–in Florida, perhaps. He immediately sent me a chat message back, asking when he was coming down. We ended up chatting online that night for about 4 hours, just catching up on the last 20 years. Those online chats quickly progressed to nightly phone calls, always lasting at least an hour and quickly progressing to 3 or 4. We knew immmediately that our childhood spark most definitely translated to a very real adult connection. I felt comfortable talking to him right from the start, and he felt the same.
This was in November. In December, I spent a few days with him when I visited my family in Michigan, and it just confirmed what we both already knew–we were made for each other. About a month after I returned to Florida, he followed me down here. After a couple of weeks, he proposed.
We know our road won’t be easy. It’s breaking his heart to be away from his 2 children, although there’s a chance his ex could move down to Florida as well. If not, we’ll have to relocated together in Michigan. We also know that this all happened very quickly–too quickly, some would say. But at the same time, when you know, you know. I’d heard that phrase my whole life but never really understood it until now. We’re both 34, and we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that we finally found the person we were supposed to be with right from the start.
After 20 years of dating jerks and losers (I’ve never been married), it’s amazing to me that I ended up back with my childhood sweetheart, my very first love. We knew we had something special back then, but no one believed us. Now, after all this time, we’re in exactly the right place. And you know what? As much as I hate missing all those years with him, I’m also grateful for our time apart. After all, if I hadn’t gone out with so many wrong guys, I don’t think I would have appreciated how truly RIGHT Dan is for me.
It’s true! Love can be found online. Take for example Daniel and Rebekah. Each of them was looking for that one person to have and to hold. You know, the storybook romance but in the 21st century. Really the century doesn’t matter “woman needs man and man must have his mate”.
Daniel joined eHarmony in January but didn’t bother finishing his online profile until March. Rebekah signed on in March also with only enough in her account for a one month subscription. Only, they were matched not in March but in May! How did that happen? Well, it seems that eHarmony really does want to you to find the love of your life and since Rebekah was an AmeriCorps*VISTA they gave her an extra couple of months for free to find that special guy.
Now Rebekah was flattered that some of the matches she was sent wanted to get to know her more but there was a certain picture she kept coming back to. Daniel Webb needed to make the first move with her if she was going to respond though.
She had started communication with some of the matches on her own in the last few weeks of her subscription but this guy was different. She had that “I just know…” feeling
about him.
After being contacted by several women on the east coast and finding them
in an entirely different place in life, Daniel was beginning to think that this eHarmony thing would be another chapter in his rather lackluster love life.
So, Daniel sent Rebekah, along with a couple others a request for communication through eHarmony. Rebekah responded first however and started answering his questions and sending him a few of her own. Within the first two weeks Daniel made his first of many phone calls to Rebekah. That’s not to say he started making calls right
away as that first one was a bit tentative and rushed. Over the next few weeks though he would find out what Rebekah already knew. They were meant for each other.
As conversations grew out of what they had experienced and where they had common interests and goals they began to feel as though they had known each other as they had known themselves. Common themes of healthy food, education and faith became apparent in many of the multi-hour phone conversations.
A few weeks into increasingly personal dialog Rebekah came up with a fantastic idea to keep the doldrums from settling in on the burgeoning relationship. When some searching online turned up an e-book with a “1000 Questions for Couples” she downloaded it then and there. Are you noticing the internet connection here?
Anyway, this book carried them from similar food likes and dislikes into areas of ethics, morals, friendships and many of the most meaningful but often not discussed areas of everyday life. They were building more than a friendship. They were building a solid basis for communication.
That conversation lasted not quite four months before Daniel and Rebekah even had a
chance to meet face to face. The third week of September, Daniel flew from
Missoula to Philadelphia. Since several other family members have lived or met here it’s a rather become the City of “Our” Love. Rebekah remembers that day was filled with nervousness and excitement as she waited for her beau. Impulsively she wrapped her
arms around him the moment he walked through the door of her small apartment. Feeling as if she had been waiting since the moment she was born here he was, the love of her life.
The day previous to his arrival Daniel had sent an oddly numbered arrangement of 11 red roses. Included with the flowers was an equally cryptic note;
“The One is Coming”. Somehow Daniel managed to find a flower street vendor just before coming to see Rebekah and he was carrying “The One”. This one rose he was declaring his love but he was also saying as this one rose completes the dozen, so do we complete each other.
During the two weekends they had together Daniel set up a new Powerbook that he had purchased for Rebekah. His main goal with the laptop was to connect himself and his love again online but this time with the use of video chat. Using iChat they would daily have virtual visits. Speaking of visits, Rebekah’s dad and youngest sister had been out for a visit just prior to Daniel coming. Then Daniel’s parents stopped in Philly while visiting family inOctober.
It was during the time that Chris, Rebekah’s dad was visiting that he asked her one evening if there was anyone special in her life. She was fearful of her father’s response. She wonder what could be motivating his query. He shared that she was at that point in her life when perhaps she should be considering marriage.
With only slight hesitation Rebekah put it all out there with her disclosure that not only had she joined eHarmony but she had met “a guy”. Her father’s’ only caution was that they follow God’s leading. At the first introduction Rebekah was absolutely sure that Daniel was for her. Instinctively, Daniel followed his own doubtful thoughts until God spoke to him in the middle of the night to “pursue a relationship with Rebekah and don’t be afraid”.
Since he had never had a girlfriend this was entirely new territory. However, this lone fact made him even more interesting and attractive to Rebekah. As the day of her departing Philadelphia approached Daniel had begun to prepare. On several occasions he called Chris to ask for his blessing that Daniel might ask for Rebekah’s hand in marriage the very day that she arrived in Missoula. At first Chris avoided the question but in the end he gave his blessing.
On the same day she was to call Missoula her home, Daniel asked Rebekah to marry him. After both of them had waited what seemed like a lifetime this short courtship had brought them to the love that is held in marriage. Daniel’s parents had prayed 2004 would be the year he would find love and Rebekah’s parents confirmed it with their individual blessings, yet it was God who was to thank for this harmony between a man and woman.
Later Daniel’s father told Rebekah that he and his wife Karen were praying that 2004 (the year that me met) would be the year that Daniel would find someone. His dad almost suggested to his son that he join e-Harmony but Daniel beat him to it. Even though we are an e-Harmony couple, we ultimately thank the Lord for bringing us together. The Lord is the true matchmaker.
We just celebrated our 6th anniversary and took our belated honeymoon in Dec of 2010. We took a month off and travelled to Egypt, Israel and the Czech Republic. It was worth the wait.
My husband and I met on New Years Eve, 2004. The guy I was dating invited me to a party. My husband was home on leave, getting ready for his 2nd deployment to Iraq. My date ditched me at the party after a fight. The only person I knew was my date. My date came back a few hours later yelling at me. My husband stepped in and defended me, which lead to a ride home.
We didn’t reconnect again until late 2005, via myspace. We then lost track of each other and didn’t reconnect again until May of 2007. He was home, getting ready for his 3rd deployment to Iraq. We confessed a mutual crush on each other since the day we met, and have been together ever since. He proposed while on R and R in January 2008. We got married in December 2008. I fall more in love with him everyday. 🙂
I met my Fiancé the summer I was turning 13 years old. I was at the park kicking around a soccer ball with a good friend of mine and my little brother. We were playing around when a pretty girl comes running up to us while her two friends were giggling in the back round. She told me that one of her giggling friends thought I was cute and I came up with some lame excuse to give her my number. She was the one that I liked, the one who ran up to me, she had a fearless and in charge way about her. I never received that phone call, I never saw her again. The winter after my 14th birthday I was hanging out at my friend Mikes house. He had been dating a girl that I hadn’t met yet, and she was coming over to hang out. I hear a knock on the door and in walks the beautiful, fearless girl I had met at the park that day. When I saw my friend Mike throw his arm around her, I felt a pang in my stomach. Through her and Mikes relationship her and I turned into best friends. We were the only two out of our group of friends to go to the same high school. Every morning I would walk to her house, throw pebbles at her window and walk her to school. Every night we would go to that same park and lay down on the bridge to stare at the stars. I was even there for her through her break up with Mike. One night I was on my way over to her house, and I convinced my self to ask her out. We would go lay on the bridge and I would ask her out under the stars. When I got to her house, she came to the door and I saw a shadow moving behind her. “Do you mind if my friend comes along?” were the first words out of her mouth. I looked past her to see a guy from our high school. I said “Sure, why not?” I thought to myself “Why? Of course she has a boyfriend again, just when I get up the courage to ask her out.” So I kept my question to myself that night and my stay on the bridge was short. We remained friends but I held a sort of resentment to her after that. A few years later, we got into a pretty bad fight and stopped talking. She was in an abusive relationship and I went my own way. I thought about her often and we still had mutual friends. About four months later I talked to one of our mutual friends about her and basically told him about my feelings for her. He told me that she had finally ended the abusive relationship she was in and he brought her by the next night. She came running up to me and gave me a huge hug. “I’m so sorry.” She said and I forgave her. She told me that she had always loved me but for some reason with me she was too shy to say anything. I thought of that fearless girl and smiled. “You were my best friend and I didn’t want to loose you by telling you that I wanted to be with you if you in turn, didn’t want to be with me” She said. “But I do” I said. I told her how I had planned on asking her to go out with me that night on the bridge. “He wasn’t my Boyfriend!” She said giggling. “Well I guess everything happens for a reason” I said. We are now 24 and 25 years old and just had our first child, a beautiful baby girl, last March. We are best friends and have a love that is stronger than anything I have ever felt. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
A calculus class for graduate school dummies — that’s where we meet. He’s nice enough, but… I’m really not interested. Still, I say yes to dinner and a movie. He shows up with flowers and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. OK — slightly more interested — hey, they are really yummy cookies! Spend the next few years pulling all-nighters together and going for ice cream sundaes at 3am during grad school/law school. We take ballroom dance lessons — he’s a very good dancer. He is in love; I am…ambivalent. He’s nice enough, but…. I go to Africa for a couple years as a Peace Corps volunteer. I return. More dance lessons amidst rocky times, very rocky times. Eventually, he asks me to marry him — by holding up a sign at the airport when I return from a weekend trip. I panic — flee to the restroom instead of answering. He’s nice enough, but…. somehow I end up saying yes. Ambivalence has turned into love. Nine years after our first date we get married. Two kids and 22 years of marriage — he brings me coffee in bed, takes me out dancing, and still buys me flowers and chocolate. Yes, he’s nice enough…
I met him in a most extraordinary way, but neither he nor I were fully aware of just how much divine intervention had been involved until several years after the fact.
My “serious” college boyfriend had just broken up with me — by letter — the week before. I was heartbroken, and didn’t understand what had happened. (He was self-centered & abusive…but that’s another story.) He dumped me, unceremoniously, the month after he graduated from school. I was left behind, after a 3+ year relationship. And I was very, very depressed about what had gone before and what was to come the next year.
Back on campus, I had to find a a summer job, so off to the career center I went. As I walked across the campus, and up to the center on the third floor, I silently pleaded, “please, please angels, god, whoever…send me someone I need to meet. Someone who will be good for me…I feel so lonely and afraid. I’m tired of being afraid.”
I checked the bulletin board for jobs & wrote down a few. I then left, and decided to take the elevator back down to the shops on campus, to the basement level, 5 floors below. Not a decision to be undertaken lightly, as this elevator was known as the slowest, most inefficient on campus. It would be easier to walk. But I was tired. So I pressed the button. And waited. While I waited…two guys came and left without a word, and one odd guy kept popping in to the hallway to check on the elevator’s status from a doorway beyond — I didn’t know at the time, but from an office there. After making small talk with the in-and-out guy after the third pop-in, I said to him, “by the way, I’m Lynn.” Something I had NEVER done in my life. And, humiliatingly, he pretty much ignored this and left the hallway, not even waiting for the elevator any more, he went back to his office. The elevator came, and I boarded and went about my business, totally embarrassed.
Fast forward about 8 months. I strike up a chat with a different student on the campus network (before IRC or the net were popular in any meaningful way.) He invites me to dinner, we go out and we chat about campus, the city, the sights. No sparks, and nothing but a friendship comes of it. His roommate, however, sees us chatting and starts to ping me when he sees I’m online. We go back and forth in an odd game of “guess the song lyric” for two months. I’ve never met the guy, don’t have a clue who he is. But we have fun chatting online about songs. And that’s about it. “Roomie” and I have fun chatting at night while doing homework. He disappeared one day for a while, and when he came back, wrote that he’d had a family tragedy. Meanwhile, I’ve made arrangements to transfer to a different school, two thousand miles away. So he says, “let’s do lunch” and we do. Building on our song-lyric history, we realize we have lots to talk about. And we go to a boat show and then dinner. The night we went to dinner we met at 7 pm and parted at 4 am. After that, we were pretty inseparable, except we didn’t even exchange phone numbers for months. It was just…totally right in every way. No worries, no anxieties, no insecurities for either of us. It was as if we’d been together forever. I delayed transferring, based on this relationship. And after an amazing few months, I made him dinner & he said to me, over tomato soup (I couldn’t afford much), “There was this other Lynn I met once…” and he proceeded to tell me *the other perspective of the elevator day*. As in, the perspective of a guy who’d been at work and wanted to go get a snack. So he was waiting for the slow-as-ever elevator. And a girl introduces herself to him. He didn’t realize what had actually happened until he went back into the office and remarked, “a girl just introduced herself to me…” and his co-workers yelled at him to go back and TALK to me. But I had already gone. Neither he nor I realized at first that a year earlier, the day I pleaded with my guardian angels, god, whomever, to help me out of my depression, we’d already met when we went on our fateful lunch date.
Twenty two years later, I still thank my lucky stars and strongly believe that it wasn’t just chance that repeatedly threw us into the path of one another. I’m just glad we listened the second time.
Gentle Readers – We bonded over the written word. I met him at a college library.
He was the tall, handsome student who worked at the same part-time job. I didn’t think he would notice me although I certainly had noticed him because of his looks. I was the petite Asian-American girl who had her eyes on law school. One Saturday morning, the two of us were the only people working the morning shift at the library. He showed me a book that had just been returned by a medical student. It was about autopsies and I, like the typical college girl I was at the time, expressed how truly gross the pictures were. From there, we struck up a conversation that hasn’t ended even after two decades. I knew within three months of meeting him that he was the one for me. I wrote this in a diary I kept during that time. I haven’t felt that sure about anything else and I wish I could say I have some latent psychic abilities, but I just knew in my heart we would marry one day. I haven’t felt such an intense connection to anyone else and although I was young, I had several boyfriends before him so I wasn’t completely inexperienced with relationships. I could spend hours talking to him about anything and nothing without even noticing the time had passed. In fact, one day, we had a 45 minute talk during what was supposed to be a 15-minute break from our jobs. We were both reprimanded by our boss at the time, but I didn’t care. The talk was worth it.
For our first date, he took me to see Silence of the Lambs, a movie about a cannibalistic serial killer and another serial killer who skins his female victims. Interesting choice for two gentle, easy-going people, but considering we bonded over a graphic book about how to do autopsies, I suppose the movie choice wasn’t that weird. He took me to the wrong theater and when we finally arrived at the right place 20 miles away, the movie had already started. Afterwards, we went to eat and at the restaurant. I tried to be sexy by making bedroom eyes at him. Remember I was 19 years old. I thought I was doing a good job of it until he asked me what was wrong with my eyes – did I have something stuck in my eyelashes? Did I want to go to the bathroom to check my face? We have a good laugh over it now. College graduation, graduate school and law school came next for the both of us. We married several years after all of that was behind us, but in my heart I felt married to him from the time we talked about that autopsy book.
“Who would ever have thought a chance meeting at a part-time on-campus job would lead to the most significant person in my life? Saying “I love you” is inadequate to express what I feel for you.” That was a line in a letter my husband wrote to me this Valentine’s Day. He’s not a big reader like I am. His forte is computers and technology. He avoids the written word if he can help it so when he surprised me by writing a two-page, handwritten letter, I was blown away. He didn’t spend any money on me, but I didn’t care. That letter means more to me than chocolate, stuffed animals, and flowers.
If online matchmaking sites existed when we met in the 1990s, I know we wouldn’t have been paired together because we come from such wildly different backgrounds. Our upbringing, families, ethnic backgrounds, and religions are so dissimilar yet we’ve been very happily married for 11 years. Since we met over two decades ago, we’ve been inseparable. He’s an amazing father and a wonderful husband. He’s definitely a keeper.
My fiance and I met on the first day of classes at BGSU. I was the first one to class that day (yes, I am a nerd), and he was the second. I was feeling really shy, but I smiled at him, hoping to make a friend, and lo and behold, he smiled back. After this came about a week and a half to two weeks of flirting. But, he didn’t seem interested. So, I backed off.
One day, I woke up with a horribly sore neck. I could not turn it to the one side at all! He said that he had a heating pad in his dorm, and offered to try and loosen the knot in my neck for me. Well, he comes from a very small town in Ohio, and this type of contact with a girl was considered very personal and intimate. For me, it was nothing, since this kind of thing happened to friends all the time where I came from. So, figuring that I wasn’t interested in him, he backed off.
About a week later, I set him up with my best friend. This killed me, since I was really into him, and growing more so by the day. He and she seemed to hit it off however, so, I just dealt. Apparently, though, things were not as good as they seemed. She started messing around with other guys, and since he and I were still best friends, I was the one that he confided in. So, apparently he was talking to his mom one day about it, and she said how the person that you should be with is your best friend. It kind of hit him that she was right, and I was the one he wanted to be with… not his current gf.
He and I had both been having a rough time, and so we decided to skip classes one day, and go to the mall. He told me that he wanted to buy a “promise ring” for his current gf, and since she and I had the same size ring fingers, I should help him pick it out. Well, he tricked me into picking out my own ring, since they broke up a week later after she did more terrible things.
About two weeks after they broke up, he and I were watching a movie at his place, and ended up cuddling, and making out, and deciding that we were perfect for each other. Februrary 2, 2011 was our fifth anniversary, and we are getting married May 28, 2011. We are madly in love still, and always will be. <3
JoAnn C, your love story made me cry. But that is a good thing. Lesson learned: Never give up on love.Thank you for sharing.
I was working for TWA as a ground agent at O’Hare in Chicago. TWA at Midway was reducing their number of agents and subsequently those laid off came over to O’Hare. One of the “new” guys was a guy I just couldn’t get along with. We just seem to rub each other the wrong way.
However, it wasn’t too long and we were dating and still fighting, mostly over his drinking.
In 1970 we had been dating for about 3 months when the first gas shortage occurred. TWA cut back and I had just enough senority to work in San Francisco. Thinking I would be back the following summer, I moved out to California.
We tried to keep the relationship going, but the distance was too much, even with our flying priviliages.
I never moved back to Chicago. Instead I took the position of flight attendent with World Airways out of Oakland, CA. When I would get a long enough layover, Hugh and I always got together for a drink or dinner. One time, while on the bus to the hotel, I was thinking about calling him when it occurred to me that he wasn’t home. That he was in Ireland burying his dad. I freaked out when I got a hold of his roommate and found that is exactly where he was.
After quiting the airlines, I went back to school and got my degree in accounting. While working as an accountant at a casino in Lake Tahoe, my mother convinced me to fly back to Illinois for Christmas. It is the worst time of the year to travel. Sure enough snow closed had closed several airports the day I was to return. I ended up in St. Louis knowing Hugh was there and he could get me home, which he did.
I called him after I got home and invited him out for a visit. He finally visited that spring and we had a wonderful time. It had been 8 years since we had seen each other.
We talked every Saturaday night and finally agreed that I would move to St. Louis. I moved in November of 1989 and we were married May 1990, over 20 years ago.
Over the years we were apart if anyone asked about who I thought that I should have married, I always thought of him. We were apart from December 1970 until May of 1989 with exception to a few visits. How we found our way back to each other still puzzles me. We are best friends and our love still continues to grow.
My mom used to always tell me that you didn’t need a man to make you happy. When the prince won the princess or a couple passed by in the street laughing and holding hands she would always remind me. And later on when I was dating and someone would break my heart she would whisper it over and over while I cried my eyes out on the bathroom floor. I got to the point where I believed her. Then I met Ian and a new understanding washed over me. From the first moment I saw him in my college class I was lost both in his deep eyes and the sense of comfort I felt around him. He walked up to me and all I could do was stare at him while he introduced himself but when he asked me out a week later I was quick to jump at the opportunity. He took me to a restaurant on the water and then to a drive in movie, nothing special but the way he looked at me and the easy laughs that floated out of my mouth told me that this was one of the most important moments of my life.
It had been six months after our first date and we were sitting outside on his front porch when he took my hand. And then he said, “Not a minute goes by where I don’t long for you to be by my side. I love you Kelsey. With all my heart. When I think of you and the life we could share together nothing seems impossible. You are my sun, my air, and my love. Marry Me?” It was at that moment I knew I could never be happy without this man present in my life forever. I wanted to wake up with him every morning, fall asleep with him every night and spend the hours in between loving him every step of the way. And that’s what we have done, for 30 years. He treats me like a painter would treat his most prized painting or an author with his choice of words. The happiness that surrounds me is unreal and the love I have for him grows with each surprise, heartache, and breathtaking moment. I love Ian with every breath I take and I know my happiness is all credit to his love.
I was raised in a family that has always supported the military. My grandpa served during WWII, my dad and uncles served during Vietnam, and cousins and others served in various times and places. We were always taught to support the troops, no matter what one’s political beliefs may be.
So I was happy when I heard about a program called “A Cup of Joe for a Joe.” Green Beans Coffee is a place where the troops can go for coffee and a break everywhere from Iraq to Qatar to Afghanistan. For $2, one can send a cup of coffee and a message. So last April I signed up to send some. The troops are able to send a message back, and I quickly began to receive some. I loved hearing from so many how a simple cup of coffee had reminded them of home and brightened their day. One guy thanked me, and included his email address, saying he’d love to hear from me sometime. I thought, “This is some young kid who is homesick. I need to write him back.” So a couple days later I did, and he immediately responded.
We began exchanging emails, started communicating on Facebook, and before too long we were having long phone conversations. It was rather amazing how much we had in common. We are both in our 30s, both have similar upbringings and interests, and had even lived in the same city at the same time for a while about 10 years ago. We think we might have even met then at one point. Soon we were having long video chats as well, and knew this could be something special. We also knew we wanted to meet in person as soon as he returned from Iraq.
He was not supposed to return until November, but that got pushed up to August with the early withdrawals going on. He knew he’d have to be in San Diego for a couple months upon his return, so we made plans to meet there when he got back. He couldn’t call me the week before he left or tell me the exact day he’d be back, but he told me he’d call as soon as he could so we could finalize our plans. One Saturday in August I was home and my phone rang. When I picked it up and heard his voice I started to cry because I knew he was safe in the States. He said he’d just landed in Baltimore and would be there 24 hours before heading to San Diego. Then he asked if there might be any chance I could get to Baltimore that afternoon. A couple hours later I was at the airport waiting to board a plane. It’s probably the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life: threw a few things in a suitcase, sped to the airport, and jumped on a plane to fly to a city where I knew no one to meet a man who I’d never seen, but whose voice and emails and messages had made me love him.
It was only a 90 minute flight, but it felt like forever. I was nervous and excited and scared to death all at once. What if the deep connection we’d felt just didn’t translate to real life? But when I stepped off that plane, and he hugged me, I felt I was in exactly the right place in the world. It felt like I was in my own fairy-tale, and I’d have never believed it if it hadn’t happened to me.
In the past 6 months we have managed to carve out quite a bit of time together. Yes, it’s been hard. He’s still in the Navy, and 700 miles away from me now, and I have quite a demanding job as well. But every second we spend together is worth the effort, and every time I’m with him I love him more and marvel at how we are so lucky to have found each other. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I know there’s a reason that cup of coffee went to him. It was definitely the best $2 I’ve ever spent. 🙂
An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a colleague who has been doing a little
research on this. And he actually ordered me dinner because I discovered it for him…
lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!!
But yeah, thanx for spending some time to talk about this topic here on your blog.
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