One common motif so far is "We didn't like each other at first." A few different couples (including my grandparents) met once and didn't hit it off, and only came around later.

My mom's parents met as a result of the Army. They were set up on a blind date and didn't get along at all. Later, she was working for a union newspaper and was assigned to do a story on soldiers at Fort Monmouth in NJ. My grandfather had been posted there, and she wouldn't have been able to leave the base without a chaperone. She sucked up her distaste and gave him a call, since he was the only person she knew there. They sat up all night talking in a diner, and that's how they began.

My mom and dad also met as a result of the Army. He too was posted to Fort Monmouth, pre-Viet Nam. My mom had grown up there. They met at a 60s guitar-playin' coffeehouse in Red Bank, hanging out in a big group of soldiers and local gals, and then my dad started dropping in on my mom at her job at a diner called the Bow Knot. One day they got to talking at length and my mom forgot her work, and let a milkshake machine overflow or something like that. It's a cute story. They dated for two months, and then my dad got his orders to ship out to Fort Polk to mobilize for Viet Nam. In the face of war and risk to life and everything, they just decided to get married. They're still happily together.

These are always beautiful stories, by the way, and I recommend asking people you know. They're always happy to talk about it, in my experience, and it puts people in a nice space to remember those things - especially if they've been together 30, 40 years and don't think about it too much anymore.

Well, me and Der Pipster met when we both worked at a bookstore in a suburban strip mall. I had been working there a year and ran the computer section. She was brand new. I was immediately dazzled by her smile and open, friendly manner and decided to chase her and with the help of my trusty butterfly net, we've been together ever since. Okay, kidding about that last part. There was a poet reading that night who was the father of a friend of hers or something and I stuck around to hear him, so we could go grab coffee at the diner afterwards. The poet had the same name as a 1960's baseball star who once said of astroturf "If a horse can't eat it, I don't want to play on it." I told the poet this and he seemed unimpressed.

Anyway, we went to the diner and had coffee and fries and we were instantly comfortable with eachother. Later that night, after driving around awhile, I kissed her. A month later she came by my parents house dangling keys to an apartment. and the rest is history. or quantum physics.

We got engaged the day before our first date.

You wouldn't believe the rest if I told you.

*bookmarks thread to contribute to after work*

bunnyfire - out with it!

My wife Renee and I were taking the same college class--a seminar in Latin American history. I was attracted to Renee but intimidated by her striking beauty, the fact that she was a couple years older, and her two kids. One day her 7-year-old daughter Rachael was home from school for some reason so Renee brought her to class. The professor was leading a discussion about various forced labor systems of the 17th century, and poor bored Rachael was fidgeting and looking around the room.

Whenever she looked at me, I would make a face or stick my tongue out. She would pull on her mom's sleeve and point at me, but of course I was studiously taking notes by then. Whenever her mom turned away, I stuck my tongue out again.

Renee asked me before the next class if I had made faces at her daughter, and I promised to tell her over a cup of coffee after class. The rest is history--12 years of it so far.

My grandparents met on a blind date. My grandmother's best friend was dating a guy named Ralph, and his best friend (also named) Ralph was single. My grandmother's friend dragged her out on a double date (a couple hour drive, if I remember correctly), and she and Ralph really hit it off. In the car on the way home, my grandmother turned to her friend and said "That's the man I'm going to marry." That Christmas, he proposed. They were married for 62 years.

(side note: according to my mom, she asked her dad (my italian born nonno) about this type of thing, and he responded 'Loove? what love? we needed land.' Talk about generation gaps)

I got my first computer when I was 11.
Now, 26 years later the marriage is still going on strong. She's a temperamental mistress, but I love her.

My parents' story is very similar to speck's grandparents.

After her first year at college, my mom was dating -- was "pinned to" -- some boy. She went home for the summer. Her best friend, Ruth, was dating Bob. Bob was my dad's best friend. Even though my mom was "pinned," Ruth convinced her to go on a double date with my dad and them.

They saw each other every night that summer and got married the next June, just after my dad graduated from Purdue. Two days later, they moved to Texas, where my dad had gotten a job.

Been married for 43 years now.

My parents were set up by his sister. She knew my mother's mother from church, and wanted her brother to have a date while he was home from his military tour overseas. My mom was the only available sister. They went to see "The Pink Panther" and Mom made him Stouffer's Lasagna. They had a long distance romance, and my Mother turned down several proposals before she said yes. When they got married, they hadn't been in the same physical place for more than 10 days.

Oh, I forgot part of the story. Ruth and Bob got married the winter after my parents' first blind double date because Ruth had gotten pregnant. They were married for almost 40 years, but they divorced a couple years back. Sad. She lives in LA and is my surrogate California auntie. She's still my mom's best friend.

She hit me on the head with a wooden club, dragged me to her cave and made me her sex slave.

Well, it wasn't exactly like that, but close enough to the truth in terms of how romantic it was (or wasn't). We met in school (university, in fact) and it took us about a year and a half to notice each other. And then it took us another six months to find out that we really like each other and let the other person know that the feeling's mutual -- mostly, I think, because I can be awfully shy.

She was the one who called me on a date first (without my even realizing that it was a date). She was also the one who kissed me first and for a few seconds, I didn't even know how to react (I knew I wanted to kiss her, but I didn't know how). And then, the next morning, she flew away for half a year.

Wait. Daniel, you need to finish the story! She flew away and then what?!

I got my first computer when I was 11.
Now, 26 years later the marriage is still going on strong. She's a temperamental mistress, but I love her.

I have it on good authority, that she hooks up online. Dial-up, broadband, even the occasion LAN orgy.

Sorry you had to find out this way, dude.

I don't think so. I asked her, and she said ...

"1001101 0101010110 00010111001 001010010101101 101010101010!"

which seems very reasonable.

my great grandparents met during a street brawl. this took place in philly and there seemed to be a catholics vs protestants fight. my great grandfather was on the catholic side, my great grandmother was on the protestant. he ended up accidentally punching her during the brawl. he felt so bad that he took care of her, brought her to her home, and they "hit" it off. they were married for about 50 years I believe.

My boy and I met in college. Pretty boring - we were good friends, he was shy, I kissed him, and now we've been together for 4 and a half years.

My parents met in college, too, in the computer lab. My mom says, she knew the minute she saw my father that she would marry him (too bad he had a girlfriend at the time!). Does it ever work out this way any more - this concept of love at first sight?

(my parents will be celebrating their 30th next year!)

This should be fun…

I had just returned to the U.S. from two years living abroad and I had no job, no place of my own, and was living day-to-day off my last couple paychecks, which were being direct deposited to my U.K. bank account. I had no idea how much money was in there. Every time I would take my Barclay card to the ATM I’d pray to the Gods that I’d hear that little gear-turning noise that meant money was going to come out and I’d be in beers and fast food for another day. My watering hole of choice was a complete dive, but it was convenient because it was only stumbling distance away from my buddy’s front porch, where I was crashing at the time. The ATM was kind to me that day, so I was perched at the bar that night with the other lost souls sipping at my mini-pitcher of draft beer. I couldn’t believe it when she walked in the bar, lighting up the place, which just did not attract that type of clientele. But there she was with a couple of her co-workers from the office down the street. I stared at her reflection in the bar mirror, trying not to be too obvious. For some reason I just could not work up the nerve to approach her, so eventually I asked one of my charismatic barfly buddies to approach her for me. As childish and wimpy as this tactic was, it actually worked. We chatted over a couple drinks and exchanged numbers at the end of the night.

During our conversation I learned that she was from out of town and in my city for training for her job. I offered to do the gentlemanly thing and show her around the town. The next day we went on our first date, which was to an arts festival.

As fate would have it, before I left the country I had a travel article published about the very city she was from in a trade journal. As I had all my worldly possessions stashed in the trunk of my sister’s loaned Pontiac 6000, I was able to show her the clips of the article on our fist date. Hell, I had to find SOME way to impress her, which is difficult to do while being jobless and homeless.

That week she returned to her city, which was about a 4-hour drive from mine. She invited me to come visit her the next week, and of course I jumped at the chance. While visiting we took a walk in one of the hipster neighborhoods. Among the record stores and coffee shops was a comic book store. “Aha! Another chance to impress,” I thought. (Stop laughing everyone). You see, a couple years earlier, I had been in a comic book. Well, actually, a “graphic novel.” The artist had a photo-realistic style so you could tell it was me (and my name was credited in the back), so my twisted reasoning was that this would somehow impress my date and make her want to have my children. We actually found the issue in the comic book store, but honestly, I think the store clerk was more impressed than my wife.

My lame attempts aside, something must have worked, and she motivated me to pick myself up and get a job and a place to live. We were married less than a year later and we’ve been together 9 years now.

My parents knew each other in high school, but my mother always felt like an outcast there and my father was one of the Golden Boy jocks, so she didn't hang around him much.

He went off to college, and was home for Christmas break. He saw her at church, and invited her to a Christmas party at his parents' house. She was dismayed to arrive and discover that she was not, as she had expected, his date.

He subsequently broke up with that girlfriend, and at some point, again at church when he was on break (maybe the same break?), my mother asked him to teach her how to drive the stick-shift car she had just bought. That was their first date, and she used to claim that she bought a car she couldn't drive on purpose just so that she had a reason to ask my father out.

(An unfortunate side effect of this story is that I never learned to drive a stick shift. Too much pressure in asking someone to teach me!)

Does it ever work out this way any more - this concept of love at first sight?

I feel like I "know" I'm going to marry every single cute guy I date. And talk to. And see walking down the street. So I imagine, when the time comes that I get hitched, I can say I always knew he was the one ;-)

Sybil and I got together because I used behavioral psychology on her.

I'd seen her around work, and was interested in her, so I started drawing these and putting them up next to my cubicle as a "beacon" to attract her.

She didn't notice until I told her about them. Then she came over and looked at them, and was impressed. She asked me if I could give her a watercolor lesson, and I immediately--instantly--suggested the next night (a Friday) at seven o'clock.

She came over, and I walked her through this drawing. I tried to impress her by putting down a base of yellow, then dulling it down with purple.

Then we started talking, and I scooted my chair over closer to her, slowly, slowly, slowly, until our knees were touching. If she noticed, she didn't let it show. So I deliberately withdrew my knees by an inch, and we kept talking. A minute later, our knees were touching again. Her move, this time.

I met my partner when she applied for a job as my assistant. After the pool had been narrowed down to two applicants, they were both given a week of work as a trial (there was my love and a bleached-blonde bimbo who everyone suspected had bestowed some favours on my boss, who had the final say). As expected, the bimbo's complete lack of ability showed up and I had a new assistant that I had already fallen in love with. After some careful probing, I established that she was living with someone, so backed off.

At a graduation ceremony for the college we worked for, we ended up sitting at the same table having a drink after the ceremony and a bunch of students invited us to go to a nightclub with them, so off we went. We stayed there for a couple of hours, then went for a drive and ended up at Burleigh Headland, where we sat and talked until well after the sun came up over the ocean. I put my jacket over her shoulders because she was cold and told her I loved her. She didn't believe me.

Been together 11 years now, apart from a rough patch a couple of years ago. Does 11 years count as long-term? It doesn't seem like a long time.

I was a single mom dipping my toes back in the dating waters. He was an ad in the Personals column in the local paper. (I had an ad also, and met several nice (some not nice) guys but no one stuck out of the crowd) I left a message on his "mail box", and he called me back the next night. We talked until the battery on my cordless phone died. We talked every night for the next five nights before meeting in person at the mall, for lunch and a movie. (Monmouth Mall, Miko). I was nervous (I am curvy, and his preference was for slender girls). He was there first, and I can remember everything about how he looked, what he wore, everything. I introduced myself, he kissed me hello, and said "You said you were cute, but you never said you were beautiful." That was seven years ago this past July. We'll be married four years on September 22nd.

As for love at first sight...the day after we met, I called other men I was either seeing or talking to as a result of my personal ad and took myself off the market. I just knew.

redvixen - that's a really sweet story! Same for all the rest of you!

(I found out this weekend that a coworker of mine met his wife at a wedding! - she was a bridesmaid and he was the groomsman escorting her. That's pretty freaking romantic).

My parents have been married for over 42 years, and together for over 45. They met when they were both about 19 years old at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, on a double-date with other dates (i.e., dad with another girl, mom with another boy). My dad thought she was cute; mom thought he was obnoxious. Some time later (a few weeks, I think, maybe a bit longer), my dad was selling raffle tickets in the student union for something (the ski team, probably), and saw my mom across the room -- thinking how cute she looked in her yellow sweater set, he hollered "hey! Come here and buy a ticket!" Now my mom thought he was just awful, but reluctantly went over to buy a ticket. He asked her for a date, which she didn't want to accept but didn't know how to say no. So she sighed, said yes, and resigned herself to a bad time.

When he showed up at her door to pick her up, he asked her what she would like to do for the evening. My mom was floored -- no one had ever asked her preference for something. She had hoped to go to a dance that night, but since my dad had recently busted his knee skiing, she suggested seeing Breakfast at Tiffany's. Afterwards, they went out for blueberry pie, and they've been together ever since (and yes, "Moon River" is their song).

Thanks, MuddGirl, and my brother and his wife also met at the wedding of their best friends!

And great story, Scody. This thread was a great idea, Miko. We should do a redux around Valentines' Day.

(I found out this weekend that a coworker of mine met his wife at a wedding! - she was a bridesmaid and he was the groomsman escorting her. That's pretty freaking romantic).

This is my story. Mrs. Mitheral and I met because our respective best friends were engaged. We saw each other a couple times before their wedding at group outings (she was going to school out of country). She is one of the smartest persons I've ever met and so I intended to ask her out; I just wanted to wait until after the wedding (so as to avoid any potential awkwardness). At their wedding (we were MOH/BM) we kissed to give the bride and groom a break from the clinking. I asked her out the next day and we've been together for nine years, married in 2000 which makes it easy to remember which anniversary it is.

A funny side plot is the bride nagged me _incessantly_ for days prior to the wedding to ask my wife out and I kept brushing her off saying she should concentrate on her wedding. After the newlyweds left on their honeymoon the bride gets it in her mind that she has offended me by pressuring me. She stews on this for several days and then phones my MIL's place hoping to find out from my wife if I'm mad at her. My MIL answers and when the bride finds out my wife isn't in she poses her question to my MIL who laughs and says "she doesn't think so, after all they've been out 7 times in the last 6 days".