How long have you been a LIW?

[Erinleigh]

Thought I''d post a thread to see how long everyone has been with their prospective fiance (and so we can all gripe over how long it''s been, lol)! Maybe a little story about how you all met to pass the time?

We''ve been together for 4 years now, living together for the past 2...

We actually met in second year of undergrad- he was my lab partner in our Microbiology course
Alas, it looks like we''re meant to be poor students together forever, as I''m now working towards a graduate degree, and he''s in med school... But we''re hoping (read: I''m hoping) to get engaged this summer, and married two years after that.

 

[misskitty]

We''ve been together for almost 2 years now, living together since January. We met when I crashed his birthday party in 2007

I found the LIW board last fall, right smack in the middle of "wedding season" (many of our friends got married last year, and it seemed like we were going to a wedding every weekend from May-August). We''ve tentatively picked a date for the summer of 2011 (when I''m done with grad school), and I think it would be ideal to get engaged either this fall or early next year.

 

[gwendolyn]

Well, I was on the list for a year and 7 months, but most of that time I was waiting for myself to be ready--J was ready before I put myself on the list. Of the time I was on the list, only about a month of it--maybe 5 weeks?--was time I was actively waiting for a proposal.

 

[gwendolyn]

Whoops, double post.

 

[suchende]

All my life, I suppose...

j/k

I have a failed engagement behind me, have been dating my boyfriend a year and want to take it slower this time. I know he won''t be ready for 2-3 (more) years, and matches my timeline too, though I would not wait longer than 3 more years, I don''t think.

 

[Feralpenchant]

Date: 5/10/2009 2:21:32 PM
Author:Erinleigh
Thought I'd post a thread to see how long everyone has been with their prospective fiance (and so we can all gripe over how long it's been, lol)! Maybe a little story about how you all met to pass the time?

We've been together for 4 years now, living together for the past 2...

We actually met in second year of undergrad- he was my lab partner in our Microbiology course
Alas, it looks like we're meant to be poor students together forever, as I'm now working towards a graduate degree, and he's in med school... But we're hoping (read: I'm hoping) to get engaged this summer, and married two years after that.

How we met.. hm..

Well.. This is actually a funny story for me. Two years ago I was at a friend's birthday party. She invited my SO, we'll call him B. And I was there, and I was actually engaged (to an idiot) at the time, so I wasn't looking to meet anyone. When I saw B, my heart started fluttering, and I tried to ignore it. We sat beside each other at the table at the restaurant and I was SO NERVOUS! I was in awe of his looks

. (In my defense, I was only 19 at the time and I *thought* I was in love with the guy I was engaged to, but looking back on it, I think I was just desperate for a change of pace and to get away from Maryland. The guy proposed after 2 months of knowing each other.

I really have no idea why I said yes.)

We talked quite a bit that night. And then after the party, we didn't talk anymore. That was in March 2007.

So I went on and moved in with my FI in Florida in April 2007. After about a month I started to get homesick, and then I knew it was only a matter of time before I left my FI and went back home. One day in late June 2007 I was looking at my MySpace and missing all my friends back home and wishing I could talk to them. So I put my AIM instant messenger name up on my MySpace. The next day I thought better of myself and took it down, thinking that the infrmation was too personal to put up on a public site. That night, after I took it down, B sent me a message on AIM. I hadn't spoken to him since my friend's party in March. He had looked me up via the friend's MySpace that had the party where we met. And he had checked my MySpace at the perfect time, too, during the 24 hours or so when I had my AIM name up on it. Later he would go on to tell me that that was the ONLY time he had looked at my MySpace, so he hadn't been like checking up on me since March. He said he was just lying in bed one morning and thought about the girl that he met at the party, and wanted to talk to her. The fact that he had that feeling RIGHT after I put my AIM name up is like fate to me. If he hadn't checked it at that moment, we wouldn't have talked again probably, because he's not the type to call someone up and ask for my phone number when he doesn't know me.

Anyway, I started talking to him on AIM daily. One day my FI and I got in a fight and he raised his fist to me. And that was that. I told him I'd be out in a week's time. I threw the ring at him, took my cat and stayed with his best friend until my mother could fly down and we drove back up to Maryland. (I won't put my cat on a plane

)

Needless to say, I learned my lesson. I got back into Maryland on July 6th, and I saw B on July 7th. By July 8th, we were together. And that was that!

If you define LIW as the time you've known you were headed for engagement, but it hasn't happened yet, I'd say I've been a LIW for about 6 months. We've been together for two years, lived together for one year, and my ring is actually being made right now, so I don't think I'll be a LIW for long! It will definitely happen this month or next.

SO has a family reunion coming up in July, and I told him I don't really feel comfortable going unless we are engaged. I just feel like.. If I was hosting a FAMILY reunion, I would not want all my nieces/nephews/grandkids bringing their SO's. I dunno, it just feels wrong to me. I told SO that if he isn't ready to propose in time for the reunion, it's okay. And I meant that. Totally. But he really wants me to go. So I think it will be soon lol. I think I accidentally put a deadline on it. People keep telling me to go anyway even if he hasn't proposed but I don't know, it just doesn't sit well with me. If I'm being stupid please tell me!

 

[princessplease]

I was on the list for about two months. I was lucky that I had a short stay lol.

 

[jaylex]

I got on the LIW list on Sept 15, 08. I started at #122.. now i''m at #32.
I just realized that with how quickly i''ve been moving up, I may be stuck at the top for awhile

In December, BF and I will have been together for 4 years. I''m guessing he will propose on our anniversary.
We bought our diamond on december 2, 08. We finally decided on a custom setting in march and we are ordering it this month.

I''m pretty excited!

 

[Squirrly]

well as far as being a LIW since mutually admitting we were headed for marriage: 1.5 years
how long he''s know we''d be married: 2yrs 4 months (supposedly but i''ll get to that in a sec)
how long we''ve been dating: 2 years 4 months

the ''how we met'' story (i have to have fun telling this since after people ask where he is/where he''s from it''s obligatory) sorry it''s so long!

My darling FF is in the Marines, stationed in NC (14 hours from me) and is from Utah (not even going to guess how far that is) i happen to be right in the bottom tip of IN. it was christmas break and i had been at work in a doughnut shop for 6 hours and as soon as i got home my parents forced me to go with them and play in a concert with the community band i had been a part of in high school. well i smelled like sweaty doughnuts, couldn''t find the right shirt so i had to wear a fleece pull-over with the band''s logo on it and my grimy work khakis. no contacts and un-brushed frizzy hair thrown into a loose bun.
well in my exceptionally grumpy state (with no supper to boot) i got there, said my hellos, answered the standard "how''s school" barrage of questions and avoided my parents while i set up. i saw a couple of Marines in dress blues setting up in the back and figured ben, who was the same age as me, was home on leave and had brought a friend. what i didn''t guess was that friend played clarinet.
well FF decides to come up to the front row and set up next to me. i was entirely not thrilled due to my unkempt state and tried to convince him that as a professional musician he should sit first chair, a good 3 seats away from me. the conniving old ladies in the section said otherwise and he sat next to me.
well this silly boy made me laugh and smile and completely forget i was pissed within a few minutes and we spent the entire concert talking at every rest and between songs. at the end i invited him and ben and their car to ice cream with my family. they were late, so i gave up looking out the window just as they showed up. i later found out he had begged them to turn around and look for the place because they had started home when they couldn''t find it.
he visited me at work the next two days until i agreed to meet them on friday for a movie. he flew home the next day, got online and talked to me for 6 hours, and did so everyday for the next week until at midnight on new year''s i called him, slightly tipsy, and asked when he was going to officially claim me. he''s been stuck with me ever since

 

[Callisto]

Well we've been together just under 3 years and started talking about marriage about 2.5 years ago and then seriously talking about the time line for all that jazz a few months ago. But I will also continue to be a LIW for about another year.

Our story is kind of funny...

So we actually went to high school together for a year (he moved to my town his senior, my junior year) and despite many mutual friends I only admired him from afar as the cute new kid and he had no idea who I was haha. He was the hot new drummer and I was the nerdy saxophone section leader, and I would actually go out of my way at times hoping our paths would cross. Flash forward two years to after his freshman year of college we ended up sitting next to each other at a friend's birthday dinner and I actually paid for his dinner since he didn't bring cash... silly boy.

I found out afterward that after that dinner he would show up at things that he knew our mutual friends would be at, hoping that I would be there. At one of these gatherings my friends and I were playing this dumb game that involves ridiculous questions that people answer anonymously one such question being "if you could put two people at this party in a glass box that they couldn't get out of who would you put there and why?" And one answer was "Mal and Pat cause their children would be beautiful." Now keep in mind this was after only really knowing him for a week or two so it was a pretty awkward - but now ironic- moment. Anyway, we started seeing a little more of each other and a few people I knew almost talked me out of dating him!!!!! Thankfully I didn't listen to them and we've been together (but dating long distance- we go to school across the country from each other) ever since. But we're moving in together in a few weeks! Anyway thats our story.

 

[Lauren8211]

J and I have been together 3 1/2 years. I''ve been on the LIW list since June 3.

We met at first when I was 19. I met him at a party, and my current boyfriend and I were on a "break" and I was miserable. He tried to cheer me up the whole time.

Then we met again at another party. It was a Halloween party and it also happened to be my 23rd birthday. We''ve been together ever since!

 

[megumic]

I''ve been an LIW truly since Christmas when I knew it was imminent. I''m so ready to be engaged already, and I have a feeling this summer it will happen. We have a date set to meet with Mark from ERD in a few weeks Wooohoooo! sooo excited!

Just to share how we met...this is SO embarrassing because it isn''t romantic AT ALL - we went to the same university but met on facebook. OMG I could die every time I remember that. But I love him!

 

[CurlySue]

I''ve been on the list for about a month.

We met on Match.com and have been dating for about 15 months now. I''ll be moving in with him at the end of June.

The topic of marriage first came up in October, when we first talked about the possibility of living together. We agreed we didn''t want to take that step unless we both really knew we wanted to get married. About a month ago, when we were talking about my impending move into his house, I basically said, "we''re reaching the point of no return soon - I''m going to cancel my lease. Are we both ready for this? Are we both ready to commit to getting married?" It was actually a pretty funny conversation. He told me that we were "on the same page." So I then asked him, "Can you please tell me exactly what that page is?" I wanted to leave NO room for interpretation. So he told me he had every intention of marrying me - that he''d have it no other way.

We are in agreement on the timing - we hope to be engaged by next summer.

So I will probably be on the list for awhile, and knowing that keeps me pretty sane... at least for now!

 

[ringless]

We''ve been together for 7 1/2 years, will be 8 in September. I have only been ready to be engaged/married for about 2 years now, as we were too young and not ready before that. We are in a great place and it is so exciting anticipating it... it will happen sometime this year, and I have a feeling possibly either next month or sometime this summer (fingers crossed!). He has thrown out a lot of hints, keeps talking about when were married, and even knows how he will propose.

 

[LitigatorChick]

1 minute........

What a story I have. I met my BF about 2 months ago when he was selling his car. It was an awful and heartbreaking thing for him to do, but it was part of his past and felt he needed to move forward. I had lost my race car in my divorce, so was on the market for something fast.

It was love at first conversation. The day he dropped off the car (April 1), we ended up talking on my couch until 3 a.m. My boyfriend at the time dumped me the next day when I told him that I had been talking with my BF til 3 a.m. - he obviously sensed our chemistry. We had our first official date and kiss a couple days later, and we have virtually spent every day and night together since then. We are soul mates. It has been instant intense and perfect chemistry. I believe we are part of the lucky 1% or less of the population that finds the one perfect person, your soul mate. I feel so very very blessed.

After about 2 weeks, we starting talking about getting married and in the last 2 weeks, we decided our plan - to get engaged in the next few weeks and get married this winter in Hawaii.

I have told him I want an eternity band for an e-ring, and he is on the hunt. In fact, he told me this weekend that he is planning to buy the ring this week. So I don''t think I will be on the list very long.

 

[absolut_blonde]

I joined probably 5-6 months into our relationship. In retrospect (coming up on 2 years together), that MAY have been a tady hasty on my part

. But I don''t expect to be on the list too much longer- not past this fall at least!

 

[Bia]

Date: 5/11/2009 10:26:52 AM
Author: ringless
We've been together for 7 1/2 years, will be 8 in September. I have only been ready to be engaged/married for about 2 years now, as we were too young and not ready before that. We are in a great place and it is so exciting anticipating it... it will happen sometime this year, and I have a feeling possibly either next month or sometime this summer (fingers crossed!). He has thrown out a lot of hints, keeps talking about when were married, and even knows how he will propose.

I was on the list for almost 8 months. But the last 4 months felt like an eternity!

 

[LitigatorChick]

I would be tortured with months as a LIW!!! I am looking at days or weeks only!!!

 

[misskitty]

Date: 5/10/2009 11:36:47 PM
Author: jaylex
I got on the LIW list on Sept 15, 08. I started at #122.. now i''m at #32.

I know the feeling! I started at #126, and now I''m at #27. 99 spot jump!

 

[HappyCat]

We''ve been together for 7 years, have been living together for 3, and I put myself on the list last August. Hoping that the proposal will be coming sometime this year!

 

[Callisto]

Date: 5/11/2009 10:11:22 AM
Author: CurlySue
I''ve been on the list for about a month.


We met on Match.com and have been dating for about 15 months now. I''ll be moving in with him at the end of June.


The topic of marriage first came up in October, when we first talked about the possibility of living together. We agreed we didn''t want to take that step unless we both really knew we wanted to get married. About a month ago, when we were talking about my impending move into his house, I basically said, ''we''re reaching the point of no return soon - I''m going to cancel my lease. Are we both ready for this? Are we both ready to commit to getting married?'' It was actually a pretty funny conversation. He told me that we were ''on the same page.'' So I then asked him, ''Can you please tell me exactly what that page is?'' I wanted to leave NO room for interpretation. So he told me he had every intention of marrying me - that he''d have it no other way.

We are in agreement on the timing - we hope to be engaged by next summer.


So I will probably be on the list for awhile, and knowing that keeps me pretty sane... at least for now!

AHHH you should be on a Match.com commercial!!!!! I love those commercials.

 

[CurlySue]

Date: 5/11/2009 12:08:19 PM
Author: Callisto

Date: 5/11/2009 10:11:22 AM
Author: CurlySue
I''ve been on the list for about a month.


We met on Match.com and have been dating for about 15 months now. I''ll be moving in with him at the end of June.


The topic of marriage first came up in October, when we first talked about the possibility of living together. We agreed we didn''t want to take that step unless we both really knew we wanted to get married. About a month ago, when we were talking about my impending move into his house, I basically said, ''we''re reaching the point of no return soon - I''m going to cancel my lease. Are we both ready for this? Are we both ready to commit to getting married?'' It was actually a pretty funny conversation. He told me that we were ''on the same page.'' So I then asked him, ''Can you please tell me exactly what that page is?'' I wanted to leave NO room for interpretation. So he told me he had every intention of marrying me - that he''d have it no other way.

We are in agreement on the timing - we hope to be engaged by next summer.


So I will probably be on the list for awhile, and knowing that keeps me pretty sane... at least for now!

AHHH you should be on a Match.com commercial!!!!! I love those commercials.

Those commercials crack me up. What cracks me up even more is that my sister met her husband on Match (they married last spring), and I have two close friends who both recently got engaged to guys they met on Match. And I have two friends who met their husbands on jdate. Go figure.

 

[laughwithme]

B and I started dating November 2005. Around two years later (so mid 2007) I began to really want to get engaged. But starting around Spring 2008 the bug hit me HARD. So, I was definitely a LIW for over a year...(I was engaged two weeks ago.)

 

[Keepingthefaith21]

I''m a List Graduate but I was on the list for awhile and before PS I was in LIW limbo for quite a long time.

I would guess all told I was probably waiting for a solid 4 years plus. We had been together for quite a few years before the engagment bug took hold of me. However, the intersting thing is that I can barely remember the LIW time period now that it has passed. If we were back a year or so I could have told you the exact number of years, months, weeks, and days that had passed since I had got my first tease of an impending engagement. There were some really hard times during the entire process but most of those hard times were self-generated by me. In retrospect, as difficult as that period was, I really needed it so that I could grow a bit myself.

 

[jaylex]

Date: 5/11/2009 11:12:37 AM
Author: misskitty

Date: 5/10/2009 11:36:47 PM
Author: jaylex
I got on the LIW list on Sept 15, 08. I started at #122.. now i''m at #32.

I know the feeling! I started at #126, and now I''m at #27. 99 spot jump!

It''s crazy, right?! I can''t wait to officially sign off the list! I''ll probably stay on the LIW section of the forum for a while tho. We aren''t planning on getting married until 5-12-12! So i''ll be waiting for a pretty long time. Funny that we have a date picked BEFORE the proposal lol.

 

[Erinleigh]

Date: 5/11/2009 12:46:58 PM
Author: laughwithme
B and I started dating November 2005. Around two years later (so mid 2007) I began to really want to get engaged. But starting around Spring 2008 the bug hit me HARD. So, I was definitely a LIW for over a year...(I was engaged two weeks ago.)

Congratulations!!! Tell us what it feels like so we can all live vicariously through you, lol!

 

[somegirl932]

FI and I met in our very, very first class of college. We didn't start dating until a) I'd worked out some ex issues, and b) I actually realized that he'd had a massive crush on me for an entire semester!

We'd been dating 3 months shy of three years when the "I wanna be with you forever" started to become more of "Soo... when do you want to get married?" I was definitely ready to be engaged then (and honestly, had been for probably a year) but it was pretty clear that the topic sort of scared him.

We went ring shopping Nov 2008 for the first time, he graduated Dec 2008, Jan 2009 was our 3 year anniversary, I essentially moved in with him Feb 2008. End of Feb, beginning of March, he actually started asking me about rings, and we went ring shopping again, and I jumped on the LIW list.

He proposed at the end of April, so I guess I was on for just short of two months. I think the living together really helped him see what it would be like, and also the fact that many of my friends were graduating and he wanted me to share it with him.

 

[b.anna]

i can''t remember the exact date i put myself on the list, i think it was last week, but i don''t think i''ll be on long! FF said he''d ask by my birthday which is the 23rd, and since he may be out of town on my birthday, i''m hoping it''ll happen before my bday!

we met our first year in college and actually lived only a few doors down from each other. he was really quiet, and at one point i thought he was mute because all our friends would be hanging out in HIS room, and he''d be the only one NOT talking!

i actually wasn''t particularly attached to him when we started dating. a mutual friend got us together. she told me he was really into me, and she lied to him about me, telling him that i really liked him etc etc. he is my first serious boyfriend, so i had no idea what to do and figured it''d be incredibly rude to not to see what could happen between us. we dated for a couple months when i realized that i was incredibly bored and he doesn''t talk at all!!! all our conversations would be started by me, he''d stare aimlessly sometimes. but again, i thought it''d be incredibly rude to break up with him for no apparent reason. so we had our first serious conversation which began with me asking if he had a speech problem.

thankfully he didn''t, and he started talking more.

four and a half years later, our two bachelor''s degrees, his business partnership and my pending masters degree, we''re still loving each other and having fun. we officially moved in together in february despite feeling like we lived together all the time in college. we graduated in may and hopefully he will ask me to be his forever by the end of the month!

 

[mariewest]

I am more of a lurker than a avid poster, so this is a great question to reintroduce myself to those who wouldn''t know. I have been with my SO for 2 years and 4 1/2 months. We just moved in together beginning of April and things have been going great. We have been discussing marriage for over a year, but alas no ring yet.

We met the first day of college, noticed each other from across the park. We hung out a little, but I was dating someone from back home then so nothing happened. Fall of our junior year of college my boyfriend and I had broken up and my current SO Facebook messaged me and we started hanging out again, this time leading to more. We had a short LDR when SO needed to finish up his undergrad in March, since he had to stay a couple more terms, and I had graduated last May and at home working.

SO will be attending grad. school in the fall in CT (I live in NY.) "The plan" is for me to wait until he gets set up and visit to do some job searching and interviewing and then move down no later then September. I do not want to do through a LDR again. Before it was just three hours and this time around it would be six hours, and that''s a long time to drive to only see him for one full day. I have expressed multiple times over the past year that I would perfer to be engaged before I make a major move for a guy. I will, however, move with him with or without a ring... I just would perfer it to be with a ring. So I''m hoping that he''ll try to propose around August (since August is also my birthday month.) However, with our finanical situation I''m truely unsure if it will happen or not.

Between his older siblings having been married one every year for the past two years, and the oldest brother being married next month, I think he''s family needs a break from weddings... but I''m wishing to have a longer engagement to give me lots of time to plan and save. Plus SO wants to wait until he''s finished with grad. school to get married (but who says he has to wait that long to get engaged?)

 

[Squirrly]

Date: 5/11/2009 3:52:15 PM
Author: mariewest
I do not want to do through a LDR again. Before it was just three hours and this time around it would be six hours, and that''s a long time to drive to only see him for one full day. I have expressed multiple times over the past year that I would perfer to be engaged before I make a major move for a guy. I will, however, move with him with or without a ring... I just would perfer it to be with a ring. So I''m hoping that he''ll try to propose around August (since August is also my birthday month.) However, with our finanical situation I''m truely unsure if it will happen or not.

wow we''ve been with our guys for about the same amount of time and it seems like discussing marriage for about the same too. i hope you two will be out of an LDR soon! and much dust (or a nice bonk on the head) towards hoping he proposes to you around August if not before!