Thursday, November 10, 2011

I Must Ask . . . How Did You Meet?

The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of. –Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 1670

Last week, we talked about anniversaries. I had you vote for the month you were married and then asked for engagement or wedding stories. March did not get any votes and September got the most votes. I'm guessing it is because both my parents and my sister voted :lol:. And the stories you shared were all really fun and since I can never pick a single favorite and it's my blog, I'm sharing them all.

First up, P. at The Way I Sew It had this to say: We had our (pausing to do the math) 28th in June. A wedding story, huh? Well, we had a very small ceremony at the courthouse. The judge was in the middle of a trial, apparently for some sort of drinking offense, because there was a beer bottle on the counsel table when we entered the courtroom. Court had taken a recess so the judge could marry us at the appointed time. Oh, and nobody had thought to bring a camera (my dad just had his Instamatic which did not have a flash), so one of the ladies in the clerk's office who knew me ran across the street to the Sheriff's Dept. where her husband worked as a detective. She borrowed his Polaroid and came back and took a handful of the only photos we have of the ceremony!

P., you must scan and post your wedding photos. I'm dying to see, but I can probably wait until next June, when it would be most relevant for you to put up on your blog.

Next, is Rhonda from Quilt Nut Creations: I think I had those same glasses :wink:. We are celebrating 18 yrs this year; on December 18th. The reaction we got from people planning a wedding the week before Christmas was priceless! But a wedding story? My brother was one of the groomsmen and he had been out goofing off the night before the wedding and ended up sleeping late. So he had to drive himself to the church. On his way, he decided to get a car wash and got his car stuck in the wash :lol:!!

LadyBug mentioned the glasses too, when she saw that photo. She asked me why they were so big :rofl:. And only vaguely related to your car wash story but I'm telling it anyway because it's my blog, we borrowed a car from my parents to drive to the reception and left both our vehicles locked in their garage. While we were at the church, someone smeared liquid soap from the bathrooms all over the borrowed car and some sneaky soul let some hooligans brandishing Oreos and plastic wrap into the garage. We had to wash all three cars, but no one got stuck in the car wash.

Retired Dairy Queen shared this: We were married for 42 years last May. The wedding went beautifully, no funny stories there. We got engaged two years before. I actually asked him because I was allowed as it was a leap year, hence the girl can ask the guy. Thankfully he said Yes.

You are one brave soul! Wow! Thanks for sharing. That is amazing!

Angie at 5 Little Monkeys Quilting said: We were married for 3 years in August. You want a 'romantic' engagment story? We had been discussing getting married in October but I was never 'proposed to.' So one day I was sitting at work and the man called me and said, 'since your parents are coming to visit next week how about we get married then so they don't have to come back in a few months?' I said 'I tell you what . . . here is my dad's number, you give him a call and see what he thinks about that.' (At this point the man had never even spoken to my parents.) He says 'hang on, I'll call you back' and hangs up. He calls me back about 15 minutes later and says 'OK, let's do it.' I thought I was going to puke! And 2 weeks later we got married by a total stranger because we couldn't find anyone we knew to do it.

Wow. Pulling together a wedding in two weeks must have been crazy! I love it!

Mommarock had this to say: We have been married 23 years now, I have a funny story to share. DH and I got married in Sparks, NV. So it was just he and I. We walked out of the wedding chapel, and the first words he said to me as my loving husband were, "Well, let the nagging begin." A Clint Eastwood take.. Nag, Nag, Nag.. I just looked at him and said.. You, ***. You will never forget that those are your first words to me as my husband, because you just gave me permission to nag! I remind him frequently. :biggrin:

Ha, ha! The joke is on him!

From Shay at Quilting in my Pyjamas: Mr. P and I are completely insane because we got married New Year's Eve. That way the whole world celebrates our anniversary plus I got to say the day after our wedding that we got "married last year."

Mrs. P, you are one smart cookie! Getting married on the last day of the year counts on your taxes {at least it does here} as being married for the whole year. Plus, you can say every party you pass is in your honor. I will lift a glass {of ginger ale} to you every New Year's Eve from now on. Only I will have missed it because it will already be the New Year where you are. This time difference is killing me.

Jenna at JazznJenna Happily Ever After was also smart about planning her wedding on a day that everyone celebrates. We got married on Valentine's Day, 1998, 13 years ago. It was President's Day weekend, so the 3-day weekend was just right for our wedding in the middle of the semester. We took an extra 2 days off of school to have our little exotic honeymoon in Salt Lake City, an hour away from where we lived. It's fun that it's a day we never forget each year (I love how the stores and everyone all celebrate our anniversary along with us), but we often choose a different day to have our anniversary date so we don't have to fight the crowds.

Anyway, last of all I just want to throw in how VERY MUCH I love my husband! He is a very good man, and I am so lucky to have his love and devotion.


Thank you for sharing such a sweet sentiment!

So today, I want to talk about how we all met our sweethearts. I know it's been a long post already but, it's my blog so I'm sharing how I met my Mister. It was a blind date. Yep. A blind date. I swore I would never marry a blind date, but it was kind of kismet.

Before I tell you about the actual date, I have to start about 2½ years before that. When I was 21, I served a mission for the LDS church in Brasil. In preparation, I spent eight weeks learning the language {:rofl:} at a Church facility called the Missionary Training Center {MTC for short}. While I was there, I shared a dorm room with three other girls who were also going to Brasil. One of them told me she shelved books at the library for $10 an hour. That sounded like a great idea to me and I filed it away for later because I spent the next 16 months in Brasil on a volunteer basis.

When I got home, the first order of business was to get a job. I marched straight down to the Main branch of the county library system and filled out an application. I didn't hear back from them, so I got a job working in the Christmas shop at a department store. After a few months, a part-time department lead job in junior dresses opened up. I applied for and got that job. I was all settled in and cozy, working part-time and going to school full-time when the library called and offered me an interview. This was about five months after I had applied with them. They had two circulation desk {check in and check out} positions open; one at the branch less than a mile from home and one at the branch on the opposite end of the county. I nailed the interview and they gave me first choice of which branch I wanted to work at. Naturally, I chose the one closest to home.

Fast forward about 5 months. I took summer semester off, got a second job waiting tables and was completely over the college dating scene. I was happy being me, not interested in social events that involved men and finally had a handle on the courses I needed to take to get my bachelor's. It was then that a coworker suggested that I should meet her husband's brother. I agreed and we arranged a double-date, because, well, meeting new people wasn't completely out of the question.

Mr. Bug called me a few days before our appointed date-night. I remember him being easy to talk with. He was interested in me and my family and my jobs and school. We talked for about 30 minutes and I was pleasantly surprised.

The evening of our date arrived and we, along with my co-worker and her husband, Mr. Bug's brother, went to dinner at a little Italian place that I no longer remember the name of and which is no longer in business. I was nervous about ordering—about spending Mr. Bug's money. I didn't want him to spend a lot on a dinner for someone he may or may not ever see again and who may or may not eat all of it. He put me at ease, saying that he was going to order what sounded good to him and just enjoy it. We had a nice meal with polite conversation, after which, we went for a round of miniature golf. Throughout the evening, Mr. Bug was fairly reserved. I wondered how I was ever going to get to know him. And so I tried to push him into the little pond. It was a playful push, not hard enough for him to actually go in the water, but just hard enough to break the ice. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Now that you know my story, I must ask . . . how did you meet your sweetheart? Vote for the option that most closely fits your situation and if you have a great story to share, leave it in the comments!

10 comments:

Shay said...

It feels like I've known Mr. P forever , but we actually met in 1993 on a cold rainy day at a local football match . I was there with my best friend and her husband. Her husband was Mr. P's best friend. I was trudging back around a wet soggy oval with Miss P in tow (she was about two years old then ) and was introduced to him in passing. He looked like such a bum I didn't give the meeting a second thought but 8 years later we started dating.

Angie said...

I met the man at a friend's house. I was divorced with 3 kids under the age of 7, had just moved accross the country from everyone and everything I had ever known. Oh and I was NOT interested in meeting anyone! I had been in my new town for maybe 3 weeks when someone I met at the new congregation I had just started attending asked if I would like to come over for dinner. Honestly, I wasn't going to go. I was not sure how I felt about being in a house full of people I didn't know but my aunt and uncle were going and she called me about 5 times that day to make sure I came. The man was there because he was buddies with the people who invited me. He was nice but I was NOT INTERESTED! When it was time to leave he asked if I would like to go to a bon fire that weekend at his friend's house. I always 'try' to be polite and since I didn't know anyone, thought maybe I should get to know new people. On the other hand, I didn't really want this guy calling me. But I am capable of getting out of things when I want to so I though what would it hurt to give him my number....little did I know! He called me a few times that week about going to the bon fire (which I DID get out of) and then he called me a few times to ask me out. At which point I stopped answering my phone. Finally one day when I had some time to talk I chatted him up some and then those calls got longer, and then I went to a movie with a big group of people and he was there. Little by little we started hanging out but I kept telling him I wasn't interested. Needless to say he wore me down. lol Boy am I glad he did!

Mommarock said...

I met my hubby at WORK. We were in the military together way back then... 24 years ago. But work isn't a choice there. So no vote.

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

My hubby and I met in high school through our ex's. We have been toghether ever since and this year celebrated our 36 wedding anniversary.

Paulette said...

We met on New Year's Eve at a club/bar. I was on holiday break from college, in my senior year. I was out with my sister and another friend of mine. We walked in and threw our coats on top of the pile on the cigarette machine (because that's the kind of dive place it was), and I immediately noticed a tall, dark, and handsome stranger out of the corner of my eye. Long dark hair, mustache, white shirt, black leather vest. He looked like a musician, which was my type at the time. He sort of circled around our group quietly, not saying anything. I figured he was eyeing my sister, since she usually got the attention, but when I went to the bar to order a drink, he followed me, still not saying anything. Finally, he said something lame, like, "You're really tall," and I shot back with, "Really, is that the best you've got?" And the rest, as they say, is history.

Elizabeth said...

I met my husband at a social event at church. I was nineteen, in school full-time and working as many hours as I could get to pay for school so I had no social life at all. When this event was announced, I didn't want to go, but my parents told me I had to go because I needed to do something besides work and study once in a while. He came with friends who are older, so I thought he was a lot older than he was, so I pretty much wrote him off as too old. He didn't talk to me again for about six months, then out of the blue he asked me out. Later he told me it took that long to work up the courage. I figured I could go since I had nothing to lose. This summer we just had our 17th anniversary. (and my glasses in my wedding picture are almost identical to yours, too)

Unknown said...

I was working for the local Girl Scout Council, and my hubby was the Ranger/Manager at a park directly adjacent to one of our camps. I called him to arrange some type of event, and he mentioned, quite quickly that he was a single Dad of a Girl Scout. We dated for 4 years to be sure our little Girl Scout could handle another person sharing her Daddy with her. DH proposed by saying, "So. You wanna get married or what." A couple of days later he gave me a chain saw--which cuts a lot more stuff than a diamond, says he. Not to mention the family heirloom diamond he gave Darling Daughter's mom ended up cutting his face when she delivered a left hook while wearing it. I did get a diamond anniversary ring for both our 10th and 20th anniversaries. And his Mom thought the story about me not getting the ring sucked, so she told everyone that "when I go toes up, Marianne gets my ring." I wear her beautiful ring whenever I can.

Jill said...

In college, I took some LDS Institute of Religion courses. My friend was on a Friday morning (6:30 am!) committee that put up decorative bulletin boards throughout the building. She told me that I needed to join her. So, I signed up for Committee. First Friday, 6:30 am. I walk in, and there, as part of the committee presidency, is sitting this guy. In a kilt. And bare feet. That was him.
We started dating the next semester. Engaged in the summer. Married that Fall.

pinksuedeshoe said...

I met my hubby at work. We worked opposite shifts, then I moved to Russia for a year and when I came home we were on the same shift. We started work at 5 am and spent a few hours talking everyday before the store opened. He got to hear all about my crazy Russian ex-fiance and i got to hear all about his crazy ex girlfriend. And a few weeks into it he asked me out. We went out after work every single day for a few weeks and it didn't take long before we knew we were supposed to stay together. We kept it a secret at work for months, because technically we weren't allowed to date co-workers. And then he got promoted to my supervisor and we knew we really had to keep it quiet. I didn't wear a ring to work until less than 30 days before the wedding, because that was my official window of time to find a new job. Luckily I was able to transfer to another store right after the wedding and we both got to keep our jobs. I later got promoted, transfered back to my original store where we met and took over his job. Anyway, I was shocked that he loved me when he saw me at my worst. Just reeling off of the Russia mafia ex-fiance experience, and lets be honest, no one is at their best at 5 am day after day. After the whole Mafia guy/ex-fiance I was ready to swear off men and dating forever. But despite my best efforts to ignore how he made me feel, I fell in love and we got married at the next semester break, just before Christmas. Which was a really convenient time to get married, and a terrible time for an anniversary.

QuiltNut Creations said...

we met in Mexico City on a youth missions trip :)