How did you meet your spouse/SO?

[Midori]

This may have been covered, but I'm too lazy to look too hard for it. Everyone loves a good "how we met" story, right? What's yours?

I'll go first, since that's only fair. I met my husband at church. It was one of those fairly small, tight-knit churches where matchmaking is a holy pastime, so when I started going I was immediately presented with the eligible bachelors. I had recently graduated, moved to a new state (in which I knew no one), started my first job, and broken up with my boyfriend (great guy, but couldn't picture being with him for life, so I was wasting our time). I was not looking for another relationship, but hey, when you see a good thing, you can't pass it up. A lot of the church members were kind of "refuges" from other denominations and from other states, so it was like an instant pseudo-family that all went out to eat together each Sunday lunch. At this lunch crowd I met Mr. Midori, and he dazzled me with his gentlemanly concern for others, deeply-held convictions, fabulous housekeeping manners, and fancy Ph.D. We went out for dinner in January, a couple months after we met, then he flew down to FL to meet my parents in February, I went to meet his family in NC in April, we were engaged the next weekend, and married July 4. Four years, two kids, and a cross-country move later, I would do it all over again.

[Maister]

We met at a high school debate tournament and were on opposing teams. I was second negative and she was first affirmative (topic: Resolved: That the federal government should initiate and enforce safety guarantees on consumer goods.) She claims she intentionally threw the round to get back at her coach for deciding not to let her go to the State tournament because she wasn't a senior, but in any event the fact remains I won the debate. It was both the first and last time I ever beat her in an argument.

[Planit]

Mrs. Planit walked into the planning office where I worked with an address discrepancy on the townhome she was buying - I always joke that I gave her my address. We didn't start dating until about 4 months later and we've been together 15 years now. The police chief in that town knew her from years past and actually told her she should not go out with me - he was trying to play big brother to her.

[WSU MUP Student]

In 2005, my best friend was dating my future wife's friend. Over the course of a few weekends, I kept being at the same parties and gatherings as her but mainly minded my own business and then the friend asked if his girlfriend could give her my telephone number (she had requested it) and I said sure. She called me up and she invited me out on a date. We really hit it off right away, moved in together about 18 months later and were married a year later.

[ursus]

I met my wife at the MDA summer camp (Jerry's Kids, you know?) when we were both 16. We were rooming across the hall from each other at a small college in Southern Utah during the camp. I still remember looking through my open dorm door and seeing her through hers and saying "Hi". We became part of a group of friends from the camp that stayed together for years. We dated a little bit, wrote to each other (pre-email) while I was a Mormon missionary in South America and a year after I came home we were married. It was the letters that clinched it. I'm much better on paper than live.



(PS great stories, guys. Fun to hear this kind of stuff...)

[WSU MUP Student]

An addendum to mine:

Though I had never met my future wife until early 2005, my mom's best friend lives next door to her parents and her mother would occasionally play bridge with my mom and the neighbor. Small world.

[luckless pedestrian]

In the fall of 1984, I met my hubby on the steps of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse Unviersity by a mutual friend - (thinking now we should have gotten married there but we got married in the Church of my youth)

Right after meeting me, he went back to his house he shared with a bunch of guys and said he met the girl he was going to marry and he bet a gallon of gin he would marry me when they gave him crap -

I was dating someone else when I met him but thought he was a nice guy - after my boyfriend and I broke up 6 months later, he and I went on our first date and 2 years later we got married (May of 1987)

for a year we were long distance too in a pre email world and I wish I had kept our letters back and forth

at our engagement party, a host of gallons of gin kept being placed on the table and that's when I heard the story

[Gotta Speakup]

We met 29 years ago in a class in grad school. One smile and I was hooked for life.

[Seabishop]

We worked at a department store together in college. We became good friends first and went out a lot before we starting "dating." 18 years later the department store is more and more decrepit and it will be kind of sad when it's eventually torn down even though the planner in me knows its a great redevelopment site.

[btrage]

Junior year of college I moved into an on campus apartment with 3 guys. My future wife was living in the apartment next to us. We met that first week of school and I liked her as a person, but she was coming off a break-up from a pretty serious relationship so I considered her off limits. Besides, I was still pretty immature at the time, having just turned 21, and she was definitely at a more mature place in her life.

Later that fall, me, one of my roommates and her went on a day trip to Chicago. That was the first time I remember thinking "Wow, this girl is actually pretty cool". However, as things often turn out, her and my roommate ending up dating one another. I was a little taken aback by what she saw in him, as he was even less mature than I was. But he also came from a wealthy family, drove a BMW, wasn't horrible looking, and was an overall decent guy.

As the months went on, their relationship didn't really progress. In fact, during this time, my future wife often spent more time with me and one of my good friends, than with the roommate boyfriend. We became very good friends during this time, and unbeknownst to me, the seeds of our future relationship had been planted.

Early that next year, my future wife started spending more and more time at our apartment. I would help her study in our living room. One night, and to this day I don't remember who made the first move, we started holding hands on the couch. That was it. Something so simple. But she got up to leave, and neither of us mentioned it. I wasn't sure what to think. I mean, she was dating my roommate, and I generally like the guy. She continued to spend more time at our apartment and at this point I knew that I really did like her as more than a friend. I could sense that she liked me but maybe didn't know what to do about it because of the situation. And I wasn't sure what she saw in me to be honest.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and my future wife went to Florida on Spring Break. I stayed at school and decided I was going to make the opening salvo towards a future relationship with her. I sent her an email and told her to listen to a song. OK, here comes the corniness alert - Ursus, you should love this. I told her to listen to the Backstreet Boys, All I Have to Give. It described perfectly how I felt about her relationship with my roommate and what I felt about our situation.

My email worked, and over the next couple of months, we began dating. The beginning months of our relationship were very difficult. Dealing with my roommate. Dealing with her roommate who liked me (and who I sort of led on, but that's a whole different story). But 9 months later we were engaged. 2 years after we started dating we got married. I think how we became a couple has actually served us well. I always told her that if we could get through what we did our first few months, we would have it made. It hasn't been easy, but I love our story.

[luckless pedestrian]

that is awesome btrage - that would make a great play

[ursus]

btrage, extra super juicy points for adding a dash of Boy Band to what was already hopelessly romantic. Long live the New Romantics!

[WSU MUP Student]

Junior year of college I moved into an on campus apartment with 3 guys... I told her to listen to the Backstreet Boys, All I Have to Give. It described perfectly how I felt about her relationship with my roommate and what I felt about our situation.

Ahhhh.... the '90s!

[JDeps]

I met my wife through a mutual friend while in my senior year at college in Boston. I was a planning major and she was a nursing major, and although both programs were in the same building on campus, we never met until our friend introduced us as we were commuting to school one morning. After we met, I found every excuse I could to just happen to be in the lobby of the building so that I could casually bump into her as she walked in each morning. It took me about two months to get the courage to ask her out, but when she said "Yes" I walked on air for the rest of the week! Our first date was at a party at my friend's house and I was convinced that she had had a horrible time and that she would never want to go out with me again, but about a week later, she asked me to a nursing club dance. I was a year ahead of her, so we dated until she graduated and passed her nursing boards. While celebrating her success on the boards, I proposed and we have been married for almost 30 years now. The best thing that ever happened to me!

[Hink]

We "met" under terms relating to a relationship in college. She was on the girls cross country team and I was on the guys. For some reason the teams didn't really do much together. All the girls on the team were gorgeous, but the guys team never talked or even made an effort. She always sat in the same seat in the dining hall studying. So one day I asked if she wanted to get dinner. We dated on and off (more of an open dating type of thing) for a year, and then went exclusive my sophomore and her junior year. We dated for two years and I asked her to marry me at the door of her coaches office, which is where I first saw her on campus. 7 year later, 3 kids, and a whole lot of life, we are still together.

Back track to high school though and we actually met my freshman year. She was the best girl and I was the best guy runner in our region. We both stood next to each other on the podium in multiple meets. I have photos and videos of us standing together in high school. It is funny to try and remember what I thought about her in high school. My memory was that she was goofy. I was right.

[mike gurnee]

I dated her sister.

[Rygor]

I had just been in Arizona for a few months and had done a lot of dating in that time (and post-divorce from my first wife). I was active in a local young professionals Meetup group (check out Meetup.com if you haven't heard of it). On it you create a profile and then you can then RSVP for different meetups events that members set up. Well, I had RSVP's for this little event at a local bar in Tempe where a couple live bands were going to be playing on a Wednesday night. I noticed that there was a new member I hadn't seen before who had RSVP'd too, and so I checked out her profile and her pictures and descriptions immediately caught my eye. I went to the bar (the Sail Inn) and hung out with some people I knew there, played pool, and waited for new girl to arrive. Well, she did, and when I saw her I thought she looked even more beautiful in person than in her pictures. As I was playing pool I remember our eyes meeting from across the bar, and I knew I had to go talk to her. As soon as I went over to her and spoke to her I could tell we had an instant connection. We talked the rest of the night and I asked her if she wanted to join me for another Meetup the following night where we were going to do a full moon hike to the top of Camelback Mountain. She did agree to do it and we hugged as we parted at the end of the night.

The next day I asked her if she wanted to come by my apt. and then we could drive to Camelback together. Did I mention that that night before when we met was her very first day in Arizona? She had just arrived hours before from LA where she had been living. Looking back she said she had just grown sick of LA and also was drawn to Arizona to be closer to her mom and also for reasons she could not explain. I like to think it was so we could meet that night. Anyway, we went to Camelback and hiked it together all the way up and down. We talked the entire time and found out just how much we really had in common. I asked her if she wanted to come with me to Sedona as I had planned to join the Meetup group for a planned Sedona weekend getaway where we had all rented cabins. It turned out that the organizer said that one person had dropped out so there was one available spot. Perfect. It was fate. Again, I told her I'd be willing to give her a ride and she agreed. On the way up I remember we just talked aboiut everything. She asked me a lot of questions, seemingly probing for as much information as possible from me and seemingly trying to flirt with me as much as possible. The tension was building. When we got to Sedona (she had never seen it) she was stunned by the natural beauty of the place and I think the emotions made her unable to hold it in any longer. I was driving and she just grabbed my hand and held it. Then she told me she had strong feeling for me and couldn't hide it anymore. I told her I felt exactly the same way. When we arrived at our cabins we were staying in I stopped the car and we had our first kiss. The rest of the weekend was pure bliss that I will never forget, and the bliss has continued as long as we've been together.

[btrage]

I had just been in Arizona for a few months and had done a lot of dating in that time (and post-divorce from my first wife). I was active in a local young professionals Meetup group (check out Meetup.com if you haven't heard of it). On it you create a profile and then you can then RSVP for different meetups events that members set up. Well, I had RSVP's for this little event at a local bar in Tempe where a couple live bands were going to be playing on a Wednesday night. I noticed that there was a new member I hadn't seen before who had RSVP'd too, and so I checked out her profile and her pictures and descriptions immediately caught my eye. I went to the bar (the Sail Inn) and hung out with some people I knew there, played pool, and waited for new girl to arrive. Well, she did, and when I saw her I thought she looked even more beautiful in person than in her pictures. As I was playing pool I remember our eyes meeting from across the bar, and I knew I had to go talk to her. As soon as I went over to her and spoke to her I could tell we had an instant connection. We talked the rest of the night and I asked her if she wanted to join me for another Meetup the following night where we were going to do a full moon hike to the top of Camelback Mountain. She did agree to do it and we hugged as we parted at the end of the night.

The next day I asked her if she wanted to come by my apt. and then we could drive to Camelback together. Did I mention that that night before when we met was her very first day in Arizona? She had just arrived hours before from LA where she had been living. Looking back she said she had just grown sick of LA and also was drawn to Arizona to be closer to her mom and also for reasons she could not explain. I like to think it was so we could meet that night. Anyway, we went to Camelback and hiked it together all the way up and down. We talked the entire time and found out just how much we really had in common. I asked her if she wanted to come with me to Sedona as I had planned to join the Meetup group for a planned Sedona weekend getaway where we had all rented cabins. It turned out that the organizer said that one person had dropped out so there was one available spot. Perfect. It was fate. Again, I told her I'd be willing to give her a ride and she agreed. On the way up I remember we just talked aboiut everything. She asked me a lot of questions, seemingly probing for as much information as possible from me and seemingly trying to flirt with me as much as possible. The tension was building. When we got to Sedona (she had never seen it) she was stunned by the natural beauty of the place and I think the emotions made her unable to hold it in any longer. I was driving and she just grabbed my hand and held it. Then she told me she had strong feeling for me and couldn't hide it anymore. I told her I felt exactly the same way. When we arrived at our cabins we were staying in I stopped the car and we had our first kiss. The rest of the weekend was pure bliss that I will never forget, and the bliss has continued as long as we've been together.

Great story. Sometimes you just can't explain it. That's what makes it so great.

[ColoGI]

We went thru undergrad together. She was married at the time & she got to see my...erm...dating habits up close.

These are cool stories!

What about some more from the women?

[DetroitPlanner]

I met her on a Monday and my hear stood still. Da do run run run da do run run.

Come on, don't tell me you didn't think about posting this!

Actually I can look to another song to tell my story: U2: I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

[btrage]

btrage, extra super juicy points for adding a dash of Boy Band to what was already hopelessly romantic. Long live the New Romantics!

The New Romantics! I forgot about that!

[Zoning Goddess]

Most of y'all can just skip this one (because you've lived thru it once already!), but for the newer folks:

Richmond Jake and I met at the first FL laefest in Tallahassee during the summer of 2004. He had just moved to the panhandle, and I lived near Orlando. He got kinda flirty in posts and PMs over the winter. When a couple other Cyburbians and I were planning a second laefest in St Augustine the following spring, he PM'd an invitation to go out for a drink, and I said sure.

We dated long-distance for over 2 years, then planned for the kid and me to move up here, and shortly before the move, he said something along the lines of well why don't we get married. Three months later,we did. Our sixth anniversary is later this month, and we're going on a romantic little getaway.

[SW MI Planner]

Fresh out of grad school (2000) I moved to a small town for a job. A week after I started I went to a Chamber function and met various people, including the County ED guy. A week after that I met the guy I ended up marrying and had a baby with. After the divorce (06) I started hanging out more with people I knew through work (including ED guy). In one week I had three friends all want to hook me up three different guys. The one was a creeper, so no. The other was someone that used to live by me that I thought was cute but didn't really know. The other was ED guy (who was now a village manager) who I been hanging out with as a part of this group, but I was worried about ruining a friendship with him and the others if it didn't work out. So went out with the ex neighbor for about six months and still hung out with the group and now VM guy. About six months after the break up with the neighbor, we were all hanging out playing euchre and after four of us went out for drinks. Him and I started texting, hanging out, and ended up "hanging out" all summer. Neither of us were seeing anyone else but wouldn't really say we were dating. Stupid dating games. We broke up the end of the summer, he said I talked him into it. Which, I probably did. We still talked, mainly work related and did see each other at parties. One night a year later I texted him about something about work and we chatted back and forth and I said, hey, want to grab a drink? and we met up and ended up having dinner and drinks and talked for 5 hours. He then asked me out for the next week. That was 2.5 years ago, still together, and getting married next summer.

[terraplnr]

My freshman roommate and I became good friends and roomed together again sophomore year, and I met some of her high school friends. Winter of sophomore year she decided she wanted to set up one of her HS guy friends (one I hadn’t met) with one of us girls, and it came down to me and another friend. The other friend bowed out so I went on a blind double date with my roommate, one of her HS guy friends I knew, and the guy being set up (who was also the best friend of the one I knew). We went ice skating and hung out and had fun, and at the end he asked if I’d like go on a another date, and I said yes, and the rest was history. Unfortunately no drama or Backstreet Boys songs. I liked his nerdy but goofy personality (still do). We’ve had our share of drama since then but we’ve worked things out and are stronger than we’ve been in a long time.

[Veloise]

If it ever happens, I'll let all-y'all know all the details/