Where did you meet your significant other? (If you are without one at the moment, feel free to use an example from your past.)

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

Answers

I was my darling sunshine's dispatcher. He was a deputy sheriff at the time, and I guess he fell in love with my sweet voice. haha! He came into the communications center one night and we automatically hit it off. I am *so* glad I took that job. I felt like we had already bonded in a way, before we even met in person because of some of the high pressure situations we both had to deal with while I was working with him. We are best friends now, and I can't wait to be his wife! Neither of us works at the sheriff's office any more. He's moved on to a city police department, and because of hours and a 2 year old, I now work at an insurance agency. It's fate, I tell ya. :-)

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

I got married almost a year ago to a the sweetest most talented guy I met ages ago in high school. We never spoke there; he was the scary one who walked around under his very own black cloud. When I moved came back from the States I got a job at his company and fell in love. Ahh... If someone had told me that in high school I would have passed out on the spot. Who knew?

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

I met the woman who was to become my wife January 24, 1990, in the workout facility of the company at which we both worked at the time. We were working out next to each other and I started up a conversation. Just under two years later, we were married, and we're still happily married today! :-)

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

I met my fiance through my ex husband. While I was still married to my ex husband-but by that time in our marriage we really were not interested in staying married, we were more like contractual roomates. He was an acquaintance, we became best friends instantly, and actually the 3 of us had some really good times together. When I moved out and filed for divorce, my ex got all of our other friends, and I got Nathan. He moved across the country, I moved across the country and in with him, and we are in the process of living happily ever after.

Just so I don't come off like an adulterous bitch-my ex husband is just as happy as I am now, marriage made us miserable but divorce made us enjoy corresponding with one another, and if we hadn't been too lazy and unsure of ourselves, we would have divorced shortly after we married.

So I'm a big believer in "everything happens for a reason". It was a long road for me to get to the place where my man was going to be at the right place at the right time. He's from the Northeast, I'm from the Deep South, and we fell in love in Omaha. And if I had never married the wrong man, I might not have ever met the right one.

Now I feel like singing Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

I met my husband at Spencer Gifts. He was 17 and I was 19. We both worked there. We've never been apart and have been together for 16 years and almost married for 11.

Now I feel really old.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

Not quite LOVE at first sight.......LOVE at first sound is more like it!

I was on my C.B. radio about midnight over Christmas vacation from school when I heard the greatest sounding voice of my life (all 16 years of it at the time).

"Sis" was her handle and I absolutely HAD to talk to her. She responded to my "breaker, breaker Sis" and we talked the rest of the night. Literaly, We talked until sunrise. I found out everything about her, including that she was only 13, lived a few miles away, enjoyed most everthing that I enjoyed, and that she had the cutest giggle ever heard.

When we both signed off I knew that some day the two of us would become Husband and Wife!!! The next night I informed her that she could start making the wedding plans for after her graduation from high school.

After a few weeks of talking up till the wee hours of the night I thought that it might be a good idea to actually go and meet my future Wife face to face.

As I drove over to her Mom's house my mind was churning faster than the knot in my stomach. What if she didn't live up to this Fantasy girl that had developed in my mind, or worse even, what if she took one look at me and run laughing/screaming the other direction???? The closer I got the more afraid I became but I knew I had to go through with it or she would never be mine. The rest of the day with her at her Mom's house is a total blur.

Later that evening I sat silently with my radio on, waiting, hoping, praying that she would holler for me. This would be a sure sign that she approved of me after actually meeting me. When I had about given up all hope I heard her familiar voice saying "breaker 17 breaker, How 'bout it Mr. Magoo!" I couldn't respond quick enough.

After she finished High School I said "I DO" and she said "I DO TOO"

That will be 20 years ago this coming summer.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

I met my husband at his fraternity house. I was a freshman and just had my first day of classes, and went to the frat house across the street from my dorm to celebrate. I was given a can of Milwaukee's Best, better known as The Beast, and for some reason I just couldn't choke it down. This nice young man came over to me and said "I've noticed you haven't been drinking your beer. Would you like me to find you a better drink?" We've been together ever since, and we have been married for four and a half years.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

Well, what drink did he get you? Because if it was Schlitz, I would have been out of there!

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

I met The Husband-Type Man through a Duran Duran fan club. The SoCal people on this internet Duran group decided to have a Gathering, and I schlepped my butt up to LA because it was wild and adventurous and unlike anything I'd ever done before. THTM and I started talking. I thought he was nice, but wasn't the least bit interested in boys/relationships at the time. Still, he asked for my phone number. Several great phone conversations later, he made an excuse to come down to San Diego. We went out to dinner. We traded Duran bootlegs. We ended up going to a couple concerts together. And when we decided to get married, a friend who works for the Durans sent them our invitations and told them our sappy story... and we had autographed RSVP cards from all the members of Duran Duran to display at our wedding reception.

Color us dorky, m'kay?

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2000

I fooled him with a philosophy book, fooled him into thinking I was an intellectual. Didn't mean to. I was taking a philosophy of art class and we had a printmaking class together...he saw me reading it and I guess my responses to his questions weren't that stupid, cause here we are 11 years later.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2000

1. Blind prom date, became my husband- Very abusive 2. Jewish Dr. worked in same lab-Loved him dearly. Used me, I was the wrong religion 3. Old friend, met in bookstore-Brillant psycho lawyer now. Epitomy of emotionally abusive. I learned how to come up with viable suicide options. 4. Church, we have a beautiful daughter together, but are separated, very good friends.

Yes, there is a pattern here. I don't search out nuts, but sometimes ya don't see it for awhile, then you're sucked in. Currently, very happily content alone. Getting faster at dumping jerks. Would be nice to share my life with someone who would respect and appreciate me. Maybe someday. 5. Online, *narcissitic psycho*

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2000

Nicole, you have to be careful of those "can I get you a drink" guys! He could have slipped you a roofie!!! Did you wake up in a tub of ice with a missing kidney and a note pinned to you to call 911?

I met my fiance at work. I was dating this schlub, and my fiance claims that I was bitchy toward him whenever we saw each other. I said maybe I had a crush on him and it was the only way to hide it. Then I quit that guy and that job. Weeks after the schlub and I broke up, I ran into my fiance. I sent him a dirty email the next day, and two years later, we got engaged! Yay!

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2000

Hey, so what'd the e-mail say? E-mail me and tell me!

Paul and I met on a blind date. I came up to Austin for school and this guy from my church gave me the number of his cousin in Austin, who was Paul. The same guy gave Paul my number, and nagged him to call me. I remember hearing Paul's voice and imagining that he was yucky. Paul kept asking his cousin if I was pretty, and his cousin would only say, "She has a good head on her shoulders." So we finally went out just for the hell of it, just to have something to do one night. And I thought Paul was hot, and the feeling was mutual.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2000

Darryl and I met in Union Station in Toronto, October 1989. Actually, we went to highschool together, but didn't know each other. We'd both come to the city to go to school and ran into each other taking the train home for the weekend (I recognized his sister, she introduced us). Nothing terribly romantic.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2000

I went to visit my cousin at her mother's summer cottage. We went out in her boats to row around the lake. As we were rowing, she asked if I minded if we stopped to visit her friend who was on the dock at his cottage. I kind of despaired because I had met some of her cottage friends before and they were all redneck-hunter-killer dudes. (One deliberately ran over a baby fox with his Jeep while both my cousin and I were in it.) This time, her friend was an okay guy. We continued rowing and I was getting sunburned. My husband and his friend came after us in his power boat, and then went back to my cousin's cottage to get my sunscreen and ply us with alcoholic drinks. After being moored for several hours, near an island, my husband attached my cousin's and my boats to his, and towed us home. After that weekend, when we were back in the city, he called me and we started dating. That was in August of 1989.

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2000

wow meggie!!! what a nice sgory!!! i met brett at a bar but you know how that wint!! :( i think im redy to date again

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2000

I was riding the range on my stallion one day and as I was approaching the railroad tracks, I heard this terrible scream. I spurred my trusty steed toward the tracks and as I crested the embankment, I saw this cad tying this innocent girl to the rails. I galloped full speed toward the dasturdly curr and jumping from my saddle, tackled the cowardly bastard, and with one swift mighty blow to his jaw I subdued the heathen. I quickly untied the lovely young girl from the tracks just as the train bore past and she fell into my arms greatful for such heroism from such a dashing young man. We then mounted my trusty stallion and rode off into the sunset. Okay. Okay! So it didn't happen exactly like that. It was close. We met at a party and a month later I called her and we met at Quiggs for drinks and watched the sunset over the ocean from the bar. Being the gentleman that I am, I walked her home through the warzone as it was after dark. A week or so later we went for an icecream and walked around the beach. I didn't come in to her house for the first couple of dates because I'm a gentleman and didn't want to act like I wanted anything but her company. Nyeahaha!!! She started to think I was, well, gay or something so she threw me to the floor and kissed me. The rest is history. And that's the truth regardless of how she tells it. James

-- Anonymous, November 24, 2000

Three most recent:

1. Our weekly entertainment paper used to have free personal adverts and they were funny to read. Back then, there weren't any headlines or dingbats (font-wise, anyway). The first week they offered headlines as an option, two adverts had chosen headlines. One said "NUDIST", the other "MUSICIAN". It was three AM and I was in a bored mood, so I called the musician's advert. I forget exactly what he said, but it was making a point of noting that he was not, in fact, the Nudist. Then he said a few more funny things and I started to laugh. At which point the advert recording ended and there was a beep. I only left a message because I didn't want to hurt this man's feelings--I imagined him calling up and hearing some woman laughing and then hanging up. Too cruel! So I said that I was just idly calling and wasn't really into the personal advert thing, but found his advert amusing enough to call, etc., and if he wanted to call back, here's my number, blah blah. I didn't expect to hear from him, since I wasn't seriously interested. But he called, we chatted, we met for dinner, we dated, I dated and lived with him for seven years. He went into therapy for some serious childhood trauma and hooked up with a group therapy member. So I moved out and told him not to call, write, etc., and I said that once I moved out, he wouldn't get any "do-overs" later, nor would I be his buddy or welcome him back into my life. He, of course, took that as a challenge or something and e-mailed and called and had mutual friends snoop into my whereabouts. I think I finally got him to leave me be six months ago, when he claimed he was moving to Germany (he hasn't) and thus needed to see me to "make amends". Did I mention that the therapy girl dumped him after I moved out? Anyway, four years after the break-up, he was contacting me against my wishes and I was ignoring him. I'm a woman of my word. Perhaps if he hadn't been dishonest (long story omitted here) and if I hadn't felt some relief after the break-up--we were both stagnating--then maybe I'd have been more amenable to hearing from him. As it stands, I'm not. Don't feel ill-will towards him, just don't feel like backtracking.

2. After a friend's performance art show ended earlier than anticipated, my roommate and I and two guys we knew socially but casually went and hung out. One had just gotten dissed by my roommate after what he considered a date and what she considered a nice walk. So he was grouchy. The other wanted nothing to do with her, but she pursued him aggressively anyway and they did go out once or twice. While she was ignoring Guy #1 to chase Guy #2, Guy #1 and I chatted and I pulled out some tarot cards I had in my purse (I carry toys like that around in my purse fairly often) and casually read his cards. He liked his reading and confessed that he knew a little tarot and I read them the way he would have. We chatted some more and since he was sharing a ride with Guy #2 and I was sharing a ride with my roommate, we had to wait, outside, in the cold, while they finished canoodling or talking or whatever. (My roomie is a bit of a tease, so it was just flirtation.) Guy #1 started shivering and I had a pashmina-like shawl on and offered to share body heat. He liked that, so he called and we dated for a while. This was particularly helpful as I was trying to adjust to being single after living with someone for seven years. ;) I was feeling a bit awkward and socially maladjusted and unattractive. He made it clear that he felt I was hot stuff, and that was what just what the doctor ordered. We had nothing in common, though--he's five years younger than me, a strict vegetarian, works third shift, disappears for weeks at a time to travel (sometimes with fifty cents in his pocket and no destination in mind)... Nothing wrong with any of that, I was just more settled at the time. I did my wandering thing when I was 24-26. So, in short, we clicked initially and kept it very casual. When we drifted apart later, no one shed any tears. We still like each other--I see him out and about (since we're in the same neighborhood) and we went to a Hallowe'en party together this year--me, him, his current GF, and a few of his buddies from work. :)

3. The love of my life (until someone else takes that title from him) and I met at a minimally-advertised "Battle of the Bands" at a local dive called Dottie's. I dragged my roomie along because I was a big Velvet Underground fan and the "contestants" were two bands playing VU covers up against a Patti ("Horses") Smith cover-playing band. I wasn't unhappy that the PS cover band didn't show. Being the decadent rock'n'roller that he is, he liked my platform shoes and the fact that I knew the songs and liked them. He invited himself along when my roommate--who he'd gone out with three times three-four years previously--and I made breakfast plans. I figured he was just being sociable and friendly. We found out we worked near each other and exchanged numbers and he figured I'd clued in when I gave him both my work and home numbers. In actuality, I knew I was unlikely to answer my phone at work...I was away from my desk more often than not. We hooked up for lunch, had a civil and interesting chat and I still thought he was just being friendly. I started to clue in when he got excited that my roommate and I were going to see the same bands he was planning to see that night. I knew for sure when I got there late and read his body language. He was clearly bummed and sulking, because I wasn't there and my roommate was. He felt stood up, I guess. When I tapped him on the shoulder, he lit up. If I wasn't sure by that point, the fact that he wanted to get together that Friday "for dinner or something" was a strong hint. He eventually broke my heart while going through a "midlife crisis" and I have cried buckets over him. I thought he was "the One". Also, he is moving out of town soon (and we're talking over a thousand miles away out of town--if not overseas), but we've managed to maintain a friendship and to hang out socially together, though there is definitely no dating, etc. We chat on e-mail nearly daily, have friends in common, etc. It's slightly awkward, since we both like each other a lot, but he decided that he didn't want to have a steady girlfriend because of his myriad "Issues". And, to his credit, he was telling the truth. He hasn't dated anyone and he's always been honest, courteous and sweet to me. An all-around good guy, and someone who brought out the best in me and (apparently, according to his friends) vice versa. To be honest, I'd take him back in a heartbeat, but I never hint or say so. I respect his decision to be single, as hard as it is to do it, especially when he acknowledges-- as he does, on occasion--that he was also happy and that it wasn't anything I did or didn't do. Just "Issues". He was a bit older than me and has been feeling his age keenly lately, and that was part of it. Anyway...I hope I get as lucky with the next guy in my life.

I meet people all the time while out and about, but I figure that I need to get over my most recent ex before accepting any offers for dates. And no one really compares thus far. Oh well. Too bad for me.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000