Heart to Heart

I started teaching at Bow High School in the fall of 2009 and Bob was one of the first people I met.
He is the AV and tech guy, so I knew we'd be working together when it came time for my concerts. We got along right from the start and often hung out in my office, just chatting and laughing. He has a great sense of humor and we just clicked, though at that time I was thinking of him as just a friend. The more time we spent together, the more we just liked hanging out. By mid-October I found myself making excuses to go to his office and finding ways that I could see him throughout the day. At that point I realized that I really liked him and I thought he might like me too, but I wasn't sure. He was actually going in for open heart surgery at the beginning of November and he decided to take a leap and ask me out 2 days before his surgery. We went out to dinner and talked for hours. He told me how much he liked me and how he had liked me for months. He had been asking around to other teachers at school to find out if I was married or if I had a boyfriend - he was very relieved when he found out neither was true. His surgery was a huge success and hearing his voice when he called me from the hospital was the best thing I've ever heard. I always tell him that they opened up his heart so I could climb in. We got engaged at the end of March and our wedding is October 2, 2010 in New Hampshire.

Photo Okayed - Matchmaking with a Happily Ever After Ending

One day a proposal came to my father from the prospective suitable boy's maternal uncle.  Our family was known to them.  After the initial proposal, the uncle and the prospective boy's father came to discuss the proposal with my father one evening.  Maa made necessary preparations to receive the important guests.

During the meeting the suitability of the boy was discussed which included his education, which was pretty impressive, his profession and family.   The uncle then asked baba about me.  Both seemed to be satisfied and agreed to progress.  Photographs were exchanged.  The boy's photo was shown to me and my opinion was sought.  I saw the face of a reasonably personable young man and decided he would do. I guess the young man also thought the same, for it was rumored his telegram to his parents read 'Photo Okayed'. 

Close Your Eyes And Defy Gravity

Sometimes when love comes along, you just have to have a little faith...faith in your friends, faith in the guy, and faith that everything will work out. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and just close your eyes....and defy gravity.

 
The story of how we met began in November of 2007.  My best friend suggested that I go to her company Christmas party with a coworker she wanted me to meet.  I have never been the type of person eager to be set up, so I was happy to tell her that I had plans for that same day.  Time passed, and my family and I paid a visit to this same best friend on New Year's Eve.  She made mention of this coworker again.  Once again, I blew off the idea of getting set up.



Flash forward to April of 2008.


 
My  friends and I found ourselves  at Sea World for the day.  For dinner, we decided to eat at a local Korean BBQ restaurant.  When we got to the restaurant, my friend told me that we needed to leave one extra seat empty.  Apparently, "the coworker" was meeting us there.  I didn't want to sit next to him, so I made another friend sit next to me.  I didn't know the guy, there was no way he was going to sit next to me while I ate! Knowing he was coming made me so nervous.  Instead of looking for what to order, I spent most of the time watching the door, trying to figure out which guy was going to walk through and come straight to our table.  It felt like an eternity for him to arrive.  It seemed like at the very moment I decided to look away from the door was the very moment he decided to walk in.


He introduced himself to the group, sat across from me, and we all had a nice dinner.  There was something about him that seemed different from every other guy I had met.  I don't know if it was "sparks" or if it was "love at first sight."  All I know was that this first meeting was definitely not going to be the last.  He made me feel comfortable.  He was easy to talk to and joke around with.  I even ended up sharing some of my rice with him.  He was that kind of guy that made you feel like you had known him forever.


We left dinner that night, but we didn't exchange contact information.  We just ended the night with a "nice to meet you" and "good-bye."


A few days later, my best friend gave me his cell phone number because she wanted me to ask him for help on something.  We've never stopped texting each other since.


Our first date was in April at Disneyland.  We got married the following October and are now happily together with a new family.

http://artsyprincess.wordpress.com

The Swallows Return to Capistrano

Anyone in my family could tell you that I have a terrible memory for dates. My husband often teases me that I will someday forget our wedding anniversary. One date I always remember, though, is the birthday of my father-in-law, Bill. He was born on March 19th; the day the swallows return to Capistrano.

It seems fitting that Bill's birth date is renowned for this famous migration. Bill grew up the youngest of five in Southern California. His ancestry goes back to the Basque Country, and his grandfather, Domingo Amestoy, who landed in San Francisco, traveled by foot down to Los Angeles,and allegedly shot a bear along the way. He became one of the area's early ranch settlers.

The Amestoy family prospered and lived at  Rancho Los Encinos, in the San Fernando Valley.
Bill grew up loving the beautiful California landscape and later reminisced over the enormous flocks of birds that would blacken the sky as they migrated south.

When World War II broke out everything changed. Bill enlisted in the Marines and was sent off to fight in the Pacific. His horrific war experiences matched those of many young men, and after years of intense island fighting, he was sent home to recover from shock,stress, and break down.

SoRo Romance

We met on a Friday night in the middle of spring (we’d actually met before that and said “hello” but she doesn’t remember). It was the last day of law school exams. All over, small parties had erupted in different homes. Everyone was dealing with the sudden combination of exhaustion, relief, and elation. I was happy to be done with exams and even happier that I had three weeks of nothing to do.



Just as all roads in the ancient world led to Rome, all parties in SoRo lead to Crossroads. Crossroads is a large bar/space that serves several different purposes as the primary spot in a tiny New England town filled with liberal law students and life-long residents. It’s a dive bar with cheap beer, it’s a giant outdoor patio and horseshoe pit, it’s a back room with pool tables, and on a night when the  entire law school is hanging out and celebrating, it’s a dance hall; the whole place was thumpin’.


I arrived with about a dozen friends from an earlier house party. It was late, but not late for a Friday night. I bought a beer and worked my way through the crowd, trying to say hello to people who were graduating or heading off for the summer. After a little while, I noticed this girl on the dance floor. She had arrived earlier with friends, and was celebrating her last exam of her first year. I watched as she moved around laughing and smiling; she seemed to know everyone and everyone seemed to love her. Unfortunately my friend, Chris, also spotted her and was pretty confident about his chances. So we made a bet over whether Chris would get a kiss by the end of the night. Chris figured that he wouldn't have a problem because, even though she had been dancing with some other guys, she seemed willing to dance with him and he had faith in his own persistence. Sadly (and unexpectedly) for Chris, I hadn't yet begun to talk with the cute blonde girl; it’s like making a bet on the likelihood that the Yankees will win a game, only to discover later that you’d been talking with Derek Jeter.


I began dancing, trying to surreptitiously edge my way towards my objective, who was grooving like whoa to the music. I arranged an introduction. We started to dance, and dance and dance. It got later and later: midnight and beyond. Her friends started leaving. She suggested I go with them, so we head to the big gazebo on town green. Everyone always wants to keep on spending just a little more time out in the nice early summer weather. We talked and talked discussing all sorts of things, and the night grew deeper. After a bit, it got a little cooler and we went over to her car to get her jacket. At the car, we kissed, and upon leaning against the car, released the emergency brake. The car began to roll downhill towards the green. At that exact moment, her friend wandered by, and we had to scramble to keep the car from rolling over the friend and onto the green. We kept the car (and friend) from catastrophe and I walked her back to where she was staying. I got her phone number, which I promptly lost, but saved myself by emailing her two days later.

Chris bought me a drink the next night.

Wrong Place...Right Time

I never thought I'd meet my fiance in a girl's bathroom.

My future husband Jai spent his teen years in the resort town of Seaside, Oregon, then moved to Arizona for a decade. In 2002, he decided to move back to the Oregon coast to be near family. One of the things he had missed about living in Seaside was the Kajukenbo martial arts school where he had trained for some time and earned a brown belt. I had begun training at that same dojo two years prior, and attended classes three nights a week.

Once Jai moved back to Oregon, he registered for the class right away so he could resume his martial arts training. On his first night back at the dojo, he stood in the lobby waiting for the men's room to vacate so that he could change into his Karate gi (uniform). The instructor of the class, whom we address as "Sifu (teacher)", asked Jai why he was standing around.

"The men's room is occupied, I'm just waiting for it to open so I can change," he replied.

Happy Anniversary!

Being a collector of romantic "how we met" stories, I have to admit that my own chance meeting with my future husband is one of my favorites:)

We've been through many ups and downs together, but together we are...after 33 years...and he's still my best friend.

During my senior year of college I had an internship working at the State Department of Agriculture in our tiny capital city. I had made one of those last minute housing arrangements and planned to live with my roommate's sister's boyfriend. The situation became more complicated when they broke-up the night before I arrived. The ex was still happy to have me stay,and greeted me with the announcement that we would be attending a very special event.


He and a large group of friends had just returned from a weekend road trip to the Jersey Shore.One of the friends had the brilliant idea of carrying a tape recorder so that the event could forever be preserved for group memory.On this night they were all assembling at the local hangout to hear the tape played back.We arrived to a full house and I squeezed into a booth to listen to a hilarious series of interviews and narrations chronicling this historic odyssey to the shore.I quickly noticed that I was one "middle man" away from a very cute guy.

If I could only lose the guy in the middle, I could make my move.Finally as the tape came to an end, the beer that had been drunk prevailed and "middle man" wanted out.The cute guy was even cuter close up. I decided to make a move. I put my hand on cute guy's leg and said,
"I hope you're a lady's man, because I'm a man's lady." (true...we both actually remember that:)
I fell in love, he did, too and the conversation began that night is still going on.

My Mom and Dad

The first time I posed the question, "So how did you meet anyway?" the subject naturally enough, was my mother. We were in the kitchen and she was ironing a never ending pile of cotton shirts. She put down the iron and with a wry smile on her face told the story of how she met my father.

My mother was a nurse working in Providence, RI during World War II. The war had just ended and her former roommate, Virginia, was in town to show off her blossoming family. As their afternoon visit wound down, Virginia's brother, along with a group of friends, started to head out the door. Never one to waste the still rationed gasoline, my future grandmother added several items to his agenda along with, "Why don't you drop Virginia's friend off while you're out?".

Several blocks later, not wanting to impose on anyone, my shy mother hopped out at the next stop sign and walked home. My father, hoping to get an opportunity to "chat up" my mother, was dismayed to find her gone.

He went to his sister to ask about my mother's dating status and was given the not too truthful reply, "She's practically engaged." Having lost too many years to service in the Pacific, and never one to waste any time, my dad made his move and the rest is family history, our beginning.

When I See Your Smile

I would say all couples have their own love stories; the story of how they met, how they started liking each other, and how they ended up in the altar. Ours was nothing unusual except that I met my wife when we were 10 years old.

Yup, you read it right. We were only 10 years old when we first met. That was in school.

We were both transferees from different private schools. Our parents both decided to move us to a public school where tuition fees are less. And so we met, on the first day of that school year. We were in fourth grade.

I couldn’t remember much but all I knew was I liked her already. I tried to be close to her so we ended up as very good friends. Our classmates started to tease us, and as a school-aged boy, I would feel embarrassed. But then we remained good friends and would end up sharing school stuff like notebooks and crayons.

The following year, we started a project called “Friends Comics”. I would draw some cartoons on folded A4s, and she would do the same. We stapled our work together, and our “comics” was born. I think we can call this our first “baby”. It was a weekly thing and our classmates (even our teachers) would pass the comics along until everybody has read it. I designated myself as the “editor” and she was the “assistant editor.”

Closed for Renovations

The first time we met, Alvin was recovering from a failed relationship and I was closed for renovations, not exactly the most ideal of beginnings.

Rewind to the year before. We were each in our own long-term relationships. Mine ended abruptly when my boyfriend died of a sudden heart attack one afternoon in April. His ended with a painful but inevitable break-up late the same year.

It was understandable then, that when we met over dinner arranged by a mutual friend, romance was the farthest from everyone’s mind. To be completely honest though, the fact that he was very cute didn’t escape my attention.

Everything seemed to go right that night. The food was good, conversation was great; we were laughing the entire time. Looking back, I still marvel at how easy and comfortable things felt; it was like the whole group just clicked.

For the next few months, we all hung out as a group, which was fun because Alvin and I got to know each other in a very relaxed, no-expectations kind of way. It was a lively blur of movie nights, group dates and long conversations.

5 months after we met, we became a couple. 2 and a half years later we got engaged, and early last year, we were married.

Alvin is an easy person to love. He puts up with my every-other-week mid-life crisis, he watches whatever movie I want to watch, he listens when I rant. Also, he cooks and has saved me from starvation countless times.

Ours has always been an easygoing relationship. We talk, we tease, we laugh.

I think the fact that we've both been in long-term relationships in the past and that we've both known pain, albeit different kinds, play a big part in how we are with each other. Simply put, we have learned to distinguish the essentials from the non-essentials.

Everything else we take one day at a time.

http://thejonastory.wordpress.com/ 

Go Navy!

 My husband Kevin was in the Royal Navy and in early 1978 he wrote to our local newspaper asking for pen pals. I had always enjoyed writing, so I sent a letter. We carried on exchanging letters and getting to know each other.

Toward the end of the year he came home on leave, and asked if we could meet. As I was only just 20 my dad made him come to the house, we hit it off straight away.

Within a month he asked me to marry him. 

We were engaged by January 1979 and married that July.

Lots of people said we were mad and it would never last.

On the 7th of July this year we had our 33nd anniversary and we are still happy and together.

 We also have two great kids now 25 and 29.

http://www.jollyjillys.blogspot.com/

Having The Time Of My Life

This is the story of how I met my husband, he has a whole different story, but, well, that’s a different story altogether. After 21 years of marriage, WE,have established that I am almost always right.

I was 16 and living in Guatemala, my father was stationed there with the American Embassy, and I was having, much like the popular movie of that time, having the time of my life. I was a singer in a 80’s pop foursome, and because of a Guatemalan law, incoming International concerts had to have local act open for them, which was our group.  That meant playing for crowds of thousands of people and boy was it FUN! The largest concert we ever played was a converted bull-fighting ring, and it was a logistical nightmare. The security company decided to bring in some large local College boys, think College Hunks hauling Junk types, and they served as the VIP Security and Security for the different Pop Groups.

I was back stage and had thrown up I was so nervous, there was almost 10,000 spectators, suddenly behind me was man acquaintance and his friend, a drop dead gorgeous hunk of a man. My brain processed there was a beautiful man talking to me, but my nervousness overrode my brain and I did not say much. As they walked away I heard him and our mutual friend talking about me and then he said“She has a rocking body.” As a former fat kid, that was it, I was in love.

Holiday Happiness

The holiday season is certainly very special for us! Met at Christmas, engaged on Thanksgiving, and getting married New Years Day! :)

"Mike and I met during Christmas at my aunt’s house in Florida. He was my cousin’s best friend and I was instantly smitten. He was so different than anyone I’d  ever met. He was hilarious, sarcastic, extremely intelligent, and had the most amazing stormy blue eyes you’ve ever seen. He chased me around my aunt’s back yard with markers—I guess that meant he liked me, too. After the holidays, I went back to Alabama with my family, but he never left my mind. That was in 1998, and I was 11.

We saw each other every other Christmas for the next few years—only 4 times between 1998 and 2003. We spent the time between, chatting on Instant Messenger, sending ridiculously long emails, and occasionally  talking on the phone. We never fully came out and said that we liked each other, but it was obvious. We’d go months without speaking, and then pick up right where we left off. Despite the distance, there was something that just kept drawing us back to each other. The last time we came to Florida for the holidays was in 2005. I was so excited to see him. I had just turned 18, I had grown up a little, and I just knew that if he was there that Christmas, I would finally tell him how I felt after all those years. He didn’t show. I was 16 the last time I saw him.

When I was 19, I moved to Florida with my boyfriend at the time, Jason, so he could pursue his education. I hate to admit this, but as soon as my then-boyfriend decided to move to Florida, Mike crossed my mind.


I knew I would finally be in his home state, closer to him than I’d ever been. Needless to say, my relationship with Jason didn’t work out for a number of reasons. I moved in with my mom in South Florida where I did a combination of sulking and stalking Mike's MySpace page. After a few weeks, I got up the courage to email him. I never expected to get a response—we hadn’t spoken in a year and a half, nor seen each other for almost 4 years. He responded. We (again) emailed and spoke on the phone for a few weeks until we decided to finally meet up.

When we reunited, it was magical. Fireworks. One day turned into three, and we both just knew. This was it. This is what everyone talks about, hopes for. This is why fate kept bringing us back together no matter how much the cards weren’t in our favor. And finally, after almost 10 years, on that weekend, fate managed to set everything up perfectly, flawlessly. On the way home after that weekend, I called my friend, and the first thing I said was, “Oh my god, I’m going to marry him!”

Worth Her Weight In Gold

 In December 1948, winter break was approaching and Miriam Wetzel, a sophomore at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, needed a ride home to Akron.  

After asking around among her friends and acquaintances, someone informed her that a senior named Gerald “Jug” Ridinger was driving to Hudson that weekend to be in a wedding.



He was taking two bridesmaids and another girl home to the same area. (Remember, at this time the interstate highway system we know today didn't exist.)

Miriam soon approached Jug and asked if he had room for another passenger.  Before he answered, he stepped back, looked her up and down and said, “How much do you weigh?”

Apparently Miriam’s weight made the cut.  She joined the three other girls in Jug’s car on the trip to northeast Ohio that weekend and remembers having some great laughs along the way.  To keep the conversations going, Jug, who had been a Marine in WWII, told stories about the war to entertain the passengers.

Miriam and Jug started dating when classes at Otterbein began again in January. Their first date was Miriam’s 19th birthday. If Jug had known she was so young, he might not have asked her out, but on their third date, he said, “I want to marry you.”  That’s the closest resemblance to a proposal that Miriam ever received. As they continued to date and grow closer, it became obvious to both of them that marriage was in their future.

On June 16, 1951, the Saturday following Miriam’s college graduation ceremony, Miriam and Jug were married.

Sixty years later, after many good memories, laughs, family vacations and more, the couple remains happily married and looks forward to many more years together.  They recently traveled to the Pocono Mountains with their four children and their spouses, eight grandchildren and one great-grand-child for their every-five-year wedding anniversary trip and family photo.

Miriam and Jug remember their first trip together, more than sixty years ago.  Before Jug had reached any of his passengers’ homes, one of his tires went flat, the one on Miriam’s side of the car.

But luckily he decided to keep Miriam around anyway!

"Why, I've Met My European!"

My grandmother was one of few women attending university in the early 1920's and probably the only woman majoring in chemistry. As the only female in lab classes and lectures, she was surrounded by men and her mother, my great-grandmother, hoped this university experience would yield a prospective suitor. My grandmother though was not going to be distracted from her studies. She wanted to earn her degree, work, travel and perhaps find her future husband abroad, as she had always fantasized spending her life with a sophisticated European.

Nearly a decade later and well into her 30's, my grandmother was financially independent and had by now seen much of the world during her travels. Her family had long since given up on the idea that she would marry and have a family. Nonetheless, as my grandmother readied herself for a party one particular evening, she still held the faint hope that someday she would encounter the European she had dreamt about.

Two hours into the party and rather bored, she leaned to her friend and whispered that she was ready to leave. As she gathered her things, she heard several party-goers welcome another guest, when she turned to look to see who it was she met the gaze of a distinguished looking man about ten years her senior. They were soon introduced by the party's host and my grandmother returned her belongings and went to sit back down with her friend. Her friend, surprised at my grandmother's return, asked why the sudden change of attitude as my grandmother was not one to change her mind so quickly. My grandmother's response was quite simple: "Why I've met my European!"

My Black and White Movie

My fiance, Mark, and I met in November 2009 while I was living in New York City. He is in the Marines, and was in town commissioning the USS-NY. At the time a friend of mine was working for the owner of the bar,Coyote Ugly. I was out there with friends one night, and Mark came in with a lot of his buddies. Before I knew it, we were chatting it up and he asked if we could go to dinner before he left. He was only in town for a few days and I ended up being the  NYC tour guide for him and his friends for the rest of his stay. Over the next six months we stayed in touch through text messages and a few phone calls. Eventually, I moved to the same state that he lived in to spend time with my sister. Once we found out we were relatively close, he drove up and took me on our first date! We've been together ever since. :)


When I met him I knew he'd be the one that I married. I often referred to how we met as my "black and white movie." Before our first date my dad asked me why I was so nervous. My response was, "... because I feel like if I go on a date with him, he's going to be the last person I date!" I think after that my dad decided not to ask anymore personal questions. :)

Mark is now deployed and is set to return at the end of the year. We are so excited for that day to come and for the opportunity to spend our lives together!!

And....we got married!!!

And That's The Way It Is

This story starts back in the late 90’s. I was busy working, not really paying attention to the calendar. I was in my 30’s and spent most of my adult life workings in radio, TV and in my spare time working at the family farm in Cabot. Dating was not a priority. I guess I woke up one morning and said no-one is going to show up on my doorstep—so if I was ever going to get married I’d better work at this a bit. I began to date occasionally. This meant asking women out, and from time-to-time someone would suggest I date this or that person. Dating is a painful process. I am not good with rejection, so I was always fearful someone would not want to go out if I asked.  I did not ask many people out.

My fortunes changed drastically in the late summer of 1998. I was a member of a health club in Montpelier called First in Fitness. I would go there after work. I would quietly work my way to the treadmill each night. I always chose the room with the big screen TV so I could watch the news. Most nights it was on CNN, but on occasion someone would change it to Channel 3 and the local news. This was the station I worked for, so I could appear fluttering through the air most nights. One night around 6pm I was busy reading my People Magazine and watching the news out of the corner of my eye, and I appeared.

You Can't Be A Hitter If You Don't Come To The Plate

Before I begin, I should let you know that this whole story is completely from my point of view, which means that my wife has and will categorically deny everything I am about to write. Moreover, the story is also more of a "how I met my wife" more than "how we met," but I'm hoping that is all right. I apologize for the biographical material I include, but it is important to how I met my wife. In the end, I think it is a story worth telling because it involves a baseball metaphor, a little sympathy and it highlights the importance of persistence, something which we could all use from time to time. More importantly, though, it is a story that should give nerds everywhere a little hope. 

Boston to Berlin

I was teaching at a Boston high school in a job that was filled with long days and stress. Going out on a "school night" was never possible. This one night, though, I made an exception.


 Out with a friend for drinks and dancing to some 80's music, I saw this cute guy out on the floor with his friend. They were here on vacation from Germany.


We were the only four dancing, and he danced closer and closer. I needed to rush off to get enough sleep for the day ahead, but I promised to call him.

 He was surprised that I followed up, and the next night while snuggling and watching a movie he said smiling, "You're not just a guy for one night." The way he said it, with his charming German accent, made me fall for him right away.

I'd had a bad experience with a long distance relationship, and I was reluctant to have another,but he was always reassuring and coaxed me through the first few months.

A year later I made the move to Berlin.

Unforgettable You

Have you found the "right one" but feel that your 'how we met' story is the "wrong one"? 

I know you have been waiting for this. I've waited awhile to share this story with you, friends, because it's so freaking cute it might just make you gag. Grab a trash can, just in case, and here goes.

Once upon a time, on a sunny day with Carolina blue skies, "she" was walking along Franklin Street wearing a really fabulous outfit. She had on some really awesome Kate Spade heels, and one got caught in the sidewalk crack (don't you hate it when that happens?). As she struggled to free her shoe (it was really stuck and she was making quite a spectacle of herself), a handsome young man came by to assist her. He said "nice shoes" while really checking out her legs, and that's how "she" and "he" met.

Cute story, huh? Thanks. It's totally not true.