At the suggestion of one of our members (and after reading the Pioneer Women with her fantastic love story), let's hear each others! Please comment on YOUR love story. You can tell it any way you want...include whatever details you want to share....we just want to know more about one another! Can't wait to read everyone's tales...ahh the romance...so fun! Happy Friday ladies!
(Oh and since I have your attention, I am scheduling the book club meeting for June on next Wed, the 15th. Pretty sure I am the next to list choices, I'll get those up early next week so we can vote as well.)
Since yesterday was my anniversary and I loved The Pioneer Woman's book, I'll start. My love story is fairly simple, I guess. We met on match.com. After exchanging only a couple of emails, we met. My mom said she knew he was someone special because he's the first guy who I had nothing negative to say about after our first date. It didn't take me long to fall for him. We were engaged within a year and married six months after that.
ReplyDeleteMy engagement and wedding, though, weren't as simple.....we had talked about marriage for a while but never shopped for rings. He never even asked me what I liked. I remember going to a Christmas party, and on the way home he started asking me about some of the girls' rings and what I thought of each one. I went home very disappointed, thinking that he hadn't even started looking yet. The next Friday, I was supposed to "surprise" him with tickets to see A Christmas Carol. His mom had called me a few weeks earlier saying that she wanted to send us to the play after his last day of school for the semester. She wanted me to contact him that morning and tell him that I had plans for us that evening. I actually had to come home from work early that day because I had a migraine. I felt horrible, but I was trying to be brave for our night out. He kept saying that we didn't have to do anything, but I reminded him that it was HIS night. We went to dinner, I didn't eat a bite because I was so nauseated from the pain. I asked him if I could lie down in the car before the show, so we sat in the car while I took a little nap. I slept through almost the entire performance. He kept saying we could leave but I wouldn't let him. Before going home, he asked if we could stop and look at Christmas lights downtown since I'd been wanting to. We got out of the car, he told me he'd been lying to me, I got nervous wondering what he'd lied to me about, and then he let me know that he'd planned the evening, blah blah blah, he proposed!
The week of my wedding, I was sick. Very sick. With a stomach bug. (and girl issues that I won't go into....know what I mean?!) I don't know how many years it had been since I'd thrown up, but I made up for it that week. I missed out on all the fun last minute wedding things. The morning of my wedding was the first time I had eaten in days - thankfully I woke up feeling so much better. However, my sweet dad who had been helping take care of me and cleaning up after me that week caught it the morning of my wedding. He barely made it down the aisle with me, had to leave in the middle of the ceremony, and my brother had to take him home and put him to bed once the ceremony was over. He missed the entire reception. So did my brother.
What is with me and sickness at such important times in my life?!
OK, I shared too much. Now I'm curious to know about everyone else!
I posted the story of how J and I met on my blog, (http://wonderland-found.blogspot.com/p/our-story.html) so I won't re-post here because it's kind of long. But check it out, because I love telling people we met because I was bored. :-)
ReplyDeleteAfter we started dating, we dealt with a LOT of family friction because my parents didn't approve of Jonathan (despite not having met him). Once things finally smoothed over with them, we decided we would get married. Our only obstacle for getting engaged was the ring. I knew exactly what I wanted (yellow gold, marquis cut, not a solitaire but not gaudy - what can I say? I'm picky!) but it wasn't a popular design, so we couldn't find one I loved.
I didn't want a proposal without a ring, but we also know we wanted to get married in the fall, which was approaching. So, even without a formal engagement, my mom and I started making purchases and plans for the forthcoming wedding while J and I continued shopping for a ring.
I had spotted two rings I liked, but J wanted to chose himself and surprise me with an engagement. So I was waiting on pins and needles for the proposal. One night, we were going to our favorite fancy restaurant, and I was sure that would be the time. But desert came and went, and still no ring.
We went to a party next, and at one point, he took me outside away from the crowd. We sat on the porch and started chatting. Suddenly, J got really serious (which, if you knew him you'd know that that is 100% out of character). He started talking about how hard things had been and how many obstacles we'd overcome so far in our relationship, etc.
I immediately flashed to the thought "He's either about to propose or break up with me." Which led to thought of money already spent, which led to "Oh, my god. If he breaks up with me, my mom is going to KILL him!"
Obviously, I didn't get dumped, and he worked his thoughts around to a very sweet proposal!
Been fun to read your stories, it is nice to learn more about each other. (T-Sorry you were so sick, makes for a memorable story now...but at the time, I am sure it was anything but memorable. S-was laughing that you started to plan without the ring, places book up, we have to plan people!! :o))
ReplyDeleteMichael and I also met online (so funny, three for three on the stories here!!). I had been in Houston for about a year, was looking to date people and since I did not really know that many folks down here, I thought, why not? I was only on a few weeks when he emailed me. He was witty and nice in his emails, and in his profile pic, he just looked like a nice guy, so after emailing a bit, we met. Our first date was actually on a Wednesday, as it was right before Labor Day weekend and I would be out of town. He took me to a Chinese restaurant I hated, and then a bar...which I hate as well. Clearly I did not say anything that night, but we now laugh about it, clearly it was his sparkling personality that got him a second date. A lot of what I liked about him that first night is why I love him today, he really is a nice guy, he is funny, he is outgoing, and I love when he really really laughs. We dated for about a year and then were engaged. I too was VERY specific about my ring, as in, I picked it...we looked at settings for a few weeks until we found one I liked and then he took it from there, had it made and picked the center stone himself. I feel like this ring is something I will wear every day of the rest of my life, and I want to love it every day...and I still do.
The proposal was great, perfect for me. I knew it was coming since the ring was on order, but I had no idea when the ring would be ready or when he would do it...turns out it was another Wednesday night. I came home from work to find flowers and a card on my entry table. The card basically told me to get dressed fancy and be ready to go at like 6pm, and don't forget the camera. WHAT??? I panicked, called him, he of course did not answer. Called my parents, had a wardrobe consult and then got ready. He had a friend of ours pick me up, and put me in the back seat of his car, and he would not tell me where we were going. We drove down Westheimer, passing all the places I was sure we were going...and finally pulled into Vargos. They have this lovely gazebo and lake in the back, M was waiting for me there, said some lovely things I am sure (I sure don't remember!) and then proposed. Roses, champagne, we called out parents (who already knew of course) and then went inside to eat. My parents came into town the next day (which is why he did it that night) and the wedding train left the station, I think we had the location booked that weekend. We were married the following May and just celebrated out 6th wedding anniversary. Wedding was perfect, formal, at the Houstonian, just what I wanted, and yes I did just say I, M was just along for the ride. :o)
That was really fun to type up and relive as I wrote it, going to go look at those pics from the night we got engaged. So fun!!
Ok, so since it's my anniversary today, I guess today is a good day to share my story. Ryan and I met in 2003 when I was long term subbing at the elementary school where his mom taught for 20+ years. He came to have lunch with her one day and saw me across the room in the teachers' lounge. He bugged his mom for weeks to set us up and we had our first date on Good Friday. Being the gift-giver that he is, he brought me an Easter basket instead of flowers- very creative. Our first date was a comedy of errors (the restuarant he was taking me to had gone out of business, then the valet couldn't start his car...it went on and on)but I did go on a second date. Ryan wanted to get serious VERY fast, which completely freaked me out, so I broke up with him a few months later. The short version of the next few years- we broke up, got back together, broke up, I did online dating and went on a LOT of bad dates, Ryan got engaged to an interesting girl who now has 3 kids with 3 different dads (no none of them Ryan's- ha!). We finally got back together for good a few months after he broke off his engagement. That was around Thanksgiving 2006 and we got engaged July 18, 2007.
ReplyDeleteIn true Ryan-fashion, the proposal was over the top, or as my siblings call Ryan- "Go Big or Go Home". He had a scavenger hunt all over the city of Houston with a special person in my life at each location with a gift (our very own Traci was one of the stops- ha!). We ended up on the softball field at Foster, the school where he teaches. I grew up playing softball and I'm a pitcher, and Ryan coaches softball, so the sport is really special to both of us. He had rose petals leading to the pitchers' mound, where he got down on one knee and proposed, with the song "Feels Like Home" from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days playing on the loudspeaker.
We too, had the date, church and photographer booked before we got engaged. Luckily, I was the last of my good friends to get married, so I knew EXACTLY what vendors I wanted to use, so wedding planning was super easy.
I can't believe 3 years have passed! Marriage is a wild ride- but a good one. Loved reading all your stories!
aaawwww.....this is all so fun! Good idea, Erin. I think I'll go look through pictures also. Sarah, you cracked me up when you thought that your mom would KILL you if he broke up with you. ha! And Eliz, I remember your story very well. Good times, everyone!
ReplyDeleteFROM NAOMI
ReplyDeleteI moved to Pittsburgh to get my Masters degree and decided to stay afterwards. I got a job working in community relations and one aspect of my job was grantwriting for our urban affairs projects. We would give away money each year to community groups with real needs who submitted proposals, and I wanted to find more money so we could give away more.
Brian worked for an urban planner who we were using as a consultant. He had been to the main Carnegie library to research all this stuff, so when we had a committee meeting and this came up, he volunteered to meet me there and teach me how to use the software to research what funding is available.
We set aside three hours for something that took about 10 minutes. Neither of us wanted to go back to work right away so we stayed and chatted about life in general. He seemed to me to know so much about Pittsburgh, and I'd just spent my whole time there in the library, the school, or my apartment. He also seemed to know so many people and I knew about 4. We are both the oldest of 3 kids, both our parents were still married (which we thought was amazing... but now his are divorced), and we had many other things in common.
We said goodbye. I did a bunch of research and shared the results with him via e-mail. I had a huge crush on someone else at the time (someone who turned out to be kind of an a-hole so I'm glad that didn't work out) and wasn't in the least bit interested in Brian. He was the guy who needed someone to help him... his pants cuffs were worn. His shoes were worn. His shirts were comfortably... worn. I don't know. He just seemed sort of brotherly, not attractive or boyfriend material at all.
When he called me to thank me for the research results and he wanted to take me to lunch, I saw right through it and almost said no, but my boss really wanted me to go. I think she was trying to get us together. (She came all the way to Texas for our wedding too!) So he picked me up at work and we went out to lunch. Turns out we kept saying "Me too!" the whole time. We both had just ended very tumultuous relationships and just wanted something simple; no games. We had a nice and long and relaxed time together. I've since then heard funny stories about the days leading up to this lunch. He'd been anticipating it for so long!
A few days later, I was on the phone with my grad school boyfriend who had just left Pittsburgh to move back to Oregon. I was trying to tell him about my horrible day but he only wanted to talk about himself. Brian beeped in and when I called him back, he wanted to hear about my day and comiserated. I was impressed with that.
Is this story getting too long? If I lost this comment I am going to flip. Blogger...
Anyway, Brian asked me out for the weekend, and at that very moment, I knew I had a choice to make. I could continue dating narcisistic philosopher-type sexy dreamers or I could choose someone who would treat me really well, was a good person, who would listen and be my friend. I obviously went the best friend route.
Interestingly, I told my mom about it all on the phone later and she instantly liked Brian. So weird because she's always had a visceral dislike to all my boyfriends. No idea what made this different but that was promising. I'd already dated three Davids, so maybe the fact that Brian wasn't a David meant something to her!
We dated for a year, got engaged, and a year later got married. It was an amazing weekend. Beautiful wedding. Friends still say it was the best wedding they've ever been to. I'm so happy that I met and married my best friend. It's been 10 years this November and I still feel like we have so much to tell each other and discover about each other.
N-I was smiling the whole time reading your story, knowing ya'll today, I can totally see this whole tale play out.
ReplyDeleteE-Happy Anniversary!! Hope ya'll had a great day out!!
FROM AMANDA
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying reading how everyone met. I was excited to tell my story. :o) My sister left today for the rest of her UK trip with her boyfriend and while I am a bit sad I know I will be seeing her soon. Also, it can get difficult having a house full of guests and they were both sick with colds. Ok, enough about that..
Matt and I met in 2000 through a group of mutual friends at a party. We said hello, but he had just moved to California from Washington and was dating someone back at home and I was dating someone too.. We were friendly to each other and for the next 6 years kept running into each other at parties and in the bar scene in Walnut Creek, California. I would always ask my friend, if Matt was single and he would always say no and he would ask his friends if I was single. When he was single, I wasn’t and vice versa.. We just had bad timing. We always had secret crushes on each other, but it never worked out to meet up and we never contacted each other.
Finally, we both had ended relationships a few years later. I decided to get on match.com and look around and pass the time.. Going out to the bars was getting old. :o) So the first day on there I saw Matt’s profile. I couldn't believe it… I immediately emailed him and he emailed me right back and said he was in Thailand but he would love to meet up when he got home in 3 weeks!!! We talked on the phone everyday, from Thailand. (He had a US number there, thankfully.) We emailed many times a day and then the day finally when we were finally going to meet. We had planned that I would pick him up at the airport and then head to a Keith Urban concert. ( One of his songs was the song we danced to at our wedding, Making Memories of Us) :o) I was soooo nervous and sooooo excited…
He walked out of the international terminal at San Francisco Airport and we were engaged 6 months later on my 30 birthday and married a year after that. Our first baby, one year later and another one 27 months after that. Well worth the wait :o)
FROM NAOMI :I got shivers, Amanda. Such a great love story! I love it when they find each other in the end!
ReplyDeleteFrom Me: I love it! It was destiny that you two should be together!!!