How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a match?

[ChloeTheGreat]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

SO and I have been together since I was 16. We met through mutual friends. (My best friend's older brother was his best friend.) We actually went to middle school together and didn't know each other because he is older than me.
One night we were all together as a group. SO and I were flirty to begin with. I knew he was the one when my friend and I got in his car with him and he changed the radio station and made sure the volume was on an odd number. (I have this thing about odd numbers...I do the same thing in my car.) We went on dates for the next couple of weeks and then became "officially" a couple (y'know, how teenagers do...)

We've been together ever since! We will be celebrating our 7th dating anniversary at the end of the month.

 

[chemgirl]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

Wow I love all of your stories!

Its funny how some of us have the storybook version (aka the PG version) and the scandalous truth (joking) that we choose to tell depending on our audiences.

I also find it interesting how many people had seen their SO's around, or were at the same places, without actually meeting. I'm not usually a believer in fate, but there are some people who seem destined to meet each other.

 

[zoebartlett]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

I love reading everyone's stories, particularly the ones where you met your FIs or husbands so young. Awww..

 

[princesss]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

Awww, I love all of these stories! It makes me so happy to read these and see how in love people still are.

 

[Circe]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

I bet I win for geekiest meet-cute.

Five words: Lord of the Rings Risk. One of my grad school friends put together a game night, and invited all the geekiest people she knew, including me ... and her college roomie's boyfriend. He was an engineer, we were a bunch of English majors, it was a strategy game ... and despite the fact that we all banded together and agreed that we didn't care who won so long as it wasn't him, he kicked our collective Shakespeare-quoting ass.

And he and I hit it off, bigtime. He was dating my friend's ex-roomie, I started dating another guy shortly thereafter, but when it came to dissecting science fiction, disagreeing about politics, bitching about our relationships, playing pool, and drinking to excess, we were one another's go-to guys. We were best friends for three years. Three years in, we found ourselves single at the same time: three months after that we were engaged ... and the rest is history.

 

[nfowife]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

We met in high school. Dated a bit junior year and it fizzled out. Then reconnected senior year and dated all senior year. We went to different colleges (in different states) so we were on and off through college. I thought we had broken up for good before our junior year, and we both dated other people for most of that year. Then during our senior year we reconnected (as friends). He was still dating the other girl. I came to the realization that he was "the one" for me and told him that, and that it didn't matter to me if he felt the same or not, I just needed him to know. He said that he felt like if we got back together it was going to be for good- towards getting engaged- and he didn't know if he was ready for that. I was okay with this. A few weeks later he called me to say he and the girl had broken up and a few weeks later we were back together. 1.5 years later we were engaged . So we have now know each other over half our lives, since we were 16, and been married for 10 years. Time flies!

 

[purselover]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

DH and I have always gone to school together, we were even in the same first grade class! I remember my grandfather couldn't come to grandparents day and he offered to share his so I wouldn't be alone. In fourth grade we were in the same gifted after school program and worked together creating student/teacher surveys. We didn't really talk after that so fast forward to 10th grade - his best friend and I had like 5 classes together and became good friends so he got the idea to set me up as DH's date for his gf's sweet 16. We've been together ever since over 10 years ago...and we still are super close to the friend that set us up and hang out all the time! He even gave the toast at our wedding.

 

[asymons412]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

We met in highschool! I was involved in a number of extracurriculars (marching band, concert band, the robotics team, tennis, golf...) and sure enough, my fiance was a clarinet player and one of the head mechanical people on the robotics team. I was marching band drum major, a flute player and the web designer for the robotics team. I sort of knew of him, but didn't really meet him until one day during junior year: my best friend at-the-time mentioned that he had told someone he liked me. (yeah, we're going back to the 'like' days!) I actually 'liked' someone else at the time but never dated in highschool as a rule (I had way too many guy friends!), but decided to finally meet him. The clearest memory I have is walking down a hallway towards the robotics room, and he was walking towards me, and we both smiled so sheepishly and said hello! From then on, I had the biggest crush on him and we broke my "no dating" rule with a date to Friendly's (a diner-like ice cream joint) and kissed for the first time afterwards wasting time in the plush aisle of a KB-Toys.

I hid it from my parents for the longest time (who liked/reinforced my whole non-dating thing! haha)-- and so my little brothers used to help us sneak around on dates after school.

7 year later, it was love!

[edit] Circe, I challenge your geekiest LOTR meet with my robotics team love story! And top it with the fact that we saw the midnight showing of Star Wars III after his prom!

 

[benjamin20]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

Okay this might sound funny, but we never ACTUALLY "met" Our parents met before I was born, and she was born 5 years later, so I've always known her, we were never interested in each other until early last year, when we started Dating and our now engaged to be married this september, As soon as we talked about it early last year I was QUITE sure that she was the one!!.

 

[ksinger]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

I win longest "courtship"? umm...longest "waffling"? longest "unable to get our s*** together at the same point in time"? I'm sure. Here is the Cliff Notes version....

Met at 16/17, dated from 18 to 23, broke up for 11 years, married other people, divorced those other people the very same month by chance, ran into each other by accident, dated for 1 very tough year, broke up for 8, got the apology letter at the 5 year mark of the 8 year stretch, started emailing at 6.5 year mark of the 8 year stretch, saw each other again - STRICTLY AS FRIENDS DAMMIT!! at the 8 year mark, and kept up that stupid fiction for about 6 months. Married a year later at year 28 of our 31 year odyssey.

We knew each other was "the one" ages earlier but denied it for a ...bit. Bungee cord was too strong though, so we gave in to fate.

 

[yssie]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

LOL ksinger!


I am loving all the not-storybook stories

 

[Amys Bling]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

I am really enjoying getting a more private glimpse into your PS friends' lives...

 

[slg47]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

these stories are great!

FI and I met my senior year of college. He was a 2nd year grad student and we were TAing a class together (this class had 2 TAs per section, 1 undergrad and 1 grad). The funny thing is we met about a week after his GF of ~1.5 years broke up with him. Anyway we started flirting some...we would pass silly notes in lecture, I would find reasons to stop by his office...but I didn't think I 'liked him' or anything. One day he e-mailed me and asked if I wanted to go to dinner with him...and we had our first date the next day! We went to dinner and then back to his apartment to watch a movie. He kissed me (and later told me that that was the first time he had kissed a girl on the first date. not for me )

 

[monarch64]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

Craigslist.

I was bored on a Labor Day weekend (I'd sworn myself to not accepting any invitations for dates/plans/family time). He was trying to sell a car. I posted a silly, tongue-in-cheek ad after having read "Best of Craigslist" for an hour and thinking "hey, I can write a hilarious ad, too!" So, I did. I included things like "must be tall, must be able to spell, must not have 10 kids or have been in prison" and he responded with a very lengthy email full of intentional misspellings, which I did not respond to for about 24 hours. Once I did...the fires were lit. We went from CL "respondents" to emailers, to phone friends in a matter of 48 hours, and spent the week talking every night on the phone. He took me out on a fabulous date that Friday, and spontaneously to a wedding the next day. Everything went so well that we were both convinced we had found "the one." We were engaged 10 months later. We just bought our first house last month, after a long search, and we plan to marry very soon and start a family. Kids' rooms are already painted!

 

[Jennifer W]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

I met him at a meeting. Nothing terribly glamorous or exciting. He's an architect, I'd just moved to a block of flats which he was about to redevelop.

I later found out that of all the four flats I looked at and could have chosen from, scattered wide across the city with different landlords and no obvious connection, it wouldn't have mattered, we'd still have met, because his practice was involved with working on every one of them. It was a big regeneration time in the city where we lived, but still, coincidence? There are literally hundreds of architectural practices there.

I remind him of this 'fate' element on a regular basis. Think "you have to go to the store for chocolate and wine, it's fate that we met and the universe clearly wants you to make me happy... etc"

 

[Mayk]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

He was Online (about to give up)... I was not.. I was lurking and too afraid to actually create a profile... I saw his page paid my $24.99 and created a quickie profile that I put up long enough to email him... Three and half years later...we are getting married.... and it all cost me $24.99...

 

[ksinger]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

I met him at a meeting. Nothing terribly glamorous or exciting. He's an architect, I'd just moved to a block of flats which he was about to redevelop.

I later found out that of all the four flats I looked at and could have chosen from, scattered wide across the city with different landlords and no obvious connection, it wouldn't have mattered, we'd still have met, because his practice was involved with working on every one of them. It was a big regeneration time in the city where we lived, but still, coincidence? There are literally hundreds of architectural practices there.

I remind him of this 'fate' element on a regular basis. Think "you have to go to the store for chocolate and wine, it's fate that we met and the universe clearly wants you to make me happy... etc"

I understand that "fate" thing, although it comes more from other people than from us. We don't see things as having been inevitable, although during our "Just friends" period I took him over to some friends' house, and found out later that after we left they were calling him Mr. Ksinger and rolling their eyes at that "just friends" assertion. We managed to delude ourselves for a bit longer.

I don't know if fate figures in, but nowadays we read each other's minds to the point that, that when one of us voices what the other is thinking (often), there is usually the cry of, "STOP THAT!! Creepy mind-reading spousal unit!!"

 

[charbie]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

Craigslist.

I was bored on a Labor Day weekend (I'd sworn myself to not accepting any invitations for dates/plans/family time). He was trying to sell a car. I posted a silly, tongue-in-cheek ad after having read "Best of Craigslist" for an hour and thinking "hey, I can write a hilarious ad, too!" So, I did. I included things like "must be tall, must be able to spell, must not have 10 kids or have been in prison" and he responded with a very lengthy email full of intentional misspellings, which I did not respond to for about 24 hours. Once I did...the fires were lit. We went from CL "respondents" to emailers, to phone friends in a matter of 48 hours, and spent the week talking every night on the phone. He took me out on a fabulous date that Friday, and spontaneously to a wedding the next day. Everything went so well that we were both convinced we had found "the one." We were engaged 10 months later. We just bought our first house last month, after a long search, and we plan to marry very soon and start a family. Kids' rooms are already painted!

My favorite story yet. I love it.

 

[luv2sparkle]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

We actually went to the same high school. Our class had 77 student and I don't think in the four years we ever had one conversation.
I dated one of his close friends senior year. I later found a note in my scrapbook to his friend that he had written Hi! and signed his
name. Kinda funny because I was involved in a lot of activities, he was involved in student government....weird.

I went away to school for a year and came home. I went to church with a girl friend (from high school and college) and he saw me in
the lobby on that day. He says it was love at first sight. Frankly, I barely remember. It took him about 4 months to actually ask me out,
although he would meet me at church and sit with me. I told my girlfriends mother that I was going to give him another week, and
it he didn't ask me out, I was going to give up on him. No one said a word to him but he asked me out 2 days before the 'deadline'.

We were 20 when we got married, he turned 21 about 2 weeks later. I was his first serious relationship. We have been married 31 years
this July. He still talks about the first day he 'laid eyes on me'. Love is truly blind!

 

[chemgirl]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

I met him at a meeting. Nothing terribly glamorous or exciting. He's an architect, I'd just moved to a block of flats which he was about to redevelop.

I later found out that of all the four flats I looked at and could have chosen from, scattered wide across the city with different landlords and no obvious connection, it wouldn't have mattered, we'd still have met, because his practice was involved with working on every one of them. It was a big regeneration time in the city where we lived, but still, coincidence? There are literally hundreds of architectural practices there.

I remind him of this 'fate' element on a regular basis. Think "you have to go to the store for chocolate and wine, it's fate that we met and the universe clearly wants you to make me happy... etc"

I understand that "fate" thing, although it comes more from other people than from us. We don't see things as having been inevitable, although during our "Just friends" period I took him over to some friends' house, and found out later that after we left they were calling him Mr. Ksinger and rolling their eyes at that "just friends" assertion. We managed to delude ourselves for a bit longer.

I don't know if fate figures in, but nowadays we read each other's minds to the point that, that when one of us voices what the other is thinking (often), there is usually the cry of, "STOP THAT!! Creepy mind-reading spousal unit!!"

Brilliant! I do this to my husband all of the time. He calls it my "Psychic wife power." We were having a debate a few months ago and he made a tinfoil hat as a joke so I would "Stay out of his brain!"

 

[Jennifer W]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

KSinger, I suspect we're that couple too. I sometimes buy random stuff that catches my eye for him, just little things, and he'll be like "oh, thanks for picking this up, I thought I'd forgotten to ask you get this but obviously not..." Today, it was sugar mice, which we haven't had in about 4 years, but he was totally nonchalant about this offering to the point where I was a bit offended, until he said "but I asked you to get them." Um, no. You didn't think that out loud. I just happened to pass a sweetie shop and wonder what they tasted like...

 

[sonnyjane]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

The man that turned into my husband was fully intended to be a one-night stand that I met at a bar The darn guy just kept calling me though! I guess I just "knew" because it was absolutely effortless. I had been in tumultuous relationships before so with him, I kept waiting for something to burst my bubble, but nothing ever did. He's just a genuinely nice guy with no vices (other than baked goods) that loves me a lot, what more can I say? We've been together for five years, married for two and a half.

 

[merilenda]

Re: How did you meet your SO and did you know you were a mat

I love all these stories! I've just been busy this week and haven't be able to add ours. We went to high school together, but FI was 2 years older. At one point, I played a piano concerto with with the orchestra and we needed some people from the band to make up a wind/brass section. He was president of the band and played horn for my concerto. So I sort of knew him in passing.

Fast forward 7 years. I was bored one day and browsing Facebook. I saw him on there and added him as a friend. He didn't remember who I was but we had mutual friends. He asked one of them, and they reminded him. Anyway, I guess despite the fact that he had to ask someone to remind him of that, he thought I was cute in my pictures so he sent me a message and we got to talking. Eventually we were home the same weekend, so we met up to hang out.

Turns out, our moms live a couple blocks away from each other, and we grew up right next to each other. I pretty much can't stand Facebook now, so I normally leave out that part when people ask for a "how did you meet?" story and say we went to high school together and reconnected years later. I also leave out the part that I got extremely intoxicated on our first date, haha. Which is ironic, because I really don't drink much.

FI always tells a story that he COMPLETELY MADE UP. He always tells people that after our first date, he was driving home behind me, and I kept taking the same turns to get to his house. He called and asked where I was going, and I said I was going home. And that's how he found out we grew up right next to each other. I've tried to tell him this happen, but he's is absolutely convinced it did because he still tells it! The true story is that I was too intoxicated to drive myself home, so he had to drive me home (to my mom's house, I mean). But we had already discovered earlier in the night that our moms lived next to each other while talking about high school.

A year or two ago, he was looking for something and found the program to that concert he played on with me.