From the article: Is Online Dating Right for You?
Every relationship has a story, and we want to hear yours. Whether you met the woman or man of your dreams online, at a church social or in a biker bar, whether your great romance is with the person sitting beside you or the one who got away, we want to hear how it all got started. When and where did you meet? How did you first know you had found something special? Here's your chance to publish an account of your personal romance that will rival the greatest love stories of all time.
A New Year's Eve Party - 1968
- December 31, 1968. I had a New Year's Eve party for my college buddies and grad school friends. Manhattan. Upper West Side. It was jammed. I had made a lot of the Swedish drink, glogg, as well as a real bar counter with anything one could want. The party jammed my one-bedroom apartment. At 11:30 a large group rang my bell. Among them were a French guy and his French girl friend who was rooming with gals I'd gone to college with. From the time they came in until 4:00 A.M. I was talking and dancing with the French girl and her boyfriend was chasing my date for the evening, a luscious redhead in a skintight green bodysuit. The French girl, Jacky, and I went on a date the following week: cocktails, dinner, dancing and dancing and dancing. We've been married for 42 years, first time for both. I don't think that either of us has thought about anyone else for a second during that 42 years.
- —Jaffer
Healing from a most unexpected source
- After a 33 year marriage, I became embroiled in a very dramatic soap-opera type divorce. I felt I would never trust anyone again. The one thing I thought I learned from my long marriage was: 'You never really know ANYone' completely. Then one day, while I was at the laundromat washing my huge comforter I noticed this Dating Page publication. As I opened it up, there on the first page was a nice write-up from a gentleman who sounded so genuine that I finally had to respond just out of curiosity. Well, we did have many of the same interests and after the third date he sadly said to me"As much as I like you, I have to be honest and tell you something and you may not want to see me again after I tell you this. I realize you were deeply hurt by your ex-husband's infidelity and I betrayed my ex-spouse, as well for which I am deeply sorry." After that we talked until late in the evening and on many occasions since then...and we are still together and very much in love after 15 years.
- —Guest Jenna
The Smell of Spring
- I decided to take a day off from a busy work schedule. I dressed in pink and silver, pink sheath and silver high-heeled sandals. I walked into a florist filled with the smell of Spring and there he was wearing a pink shirt with the most gorgeous combination of a pink and silver tie. We reached for the same bunch of yellow tulips with our hands slightly touching. At that moment our eyes nervously met and I could feel my heart race. I just knew that he could hear my heart beating and I turned and got out of the store as fast as those silver sandals could carry me. Pounding in my ears, I heard foot steps keeping pace with mine. Suddenly, I heard a voice say, "Ms., you left your flowers." I turned and there he was, a smile reserved for kings, handing me the flowers we had both touched. I could not contain my smile and it must have appeared like a giddy school girl. He positioned his arm to hold mine. We walked and talked and the smell of Spring is still with us 20 yrs later.
- —Guest Debbie Trent
It was the courtship that was special.
- I was a clerk in a special program in a grade school. He cleaned the school at night. We crossed paths briefly before I left for the day and when he came in. One day he left a message on the chalkboard about something special he had done in the room. I responded and what started as a brief acquaintance very gradually turned into a romance (over a year's time) through our daily chalkboard exchange. We still have a small chalkboard in our house to remind us of our special courtship.
- —Guest Festie
A little theatre group
- He was the new drama teacher at the high school where we rehearsed, and after the play was over he asked me out. I had never had a relationship before although I was almost twenty seven. This was in early October; we dated and he proposed at Christmas by asking me if I would mind being married to a man who was expecting to have all his teeth pulled out shortly. We were engaged that night and were married at Easter vacation, and yes he got those rotten teeth out that summer. We had our golden anniversary and I lost him the following year, but his brothers came to our 50th. so we had that happy reunion. I will always treasure that memory.
- —kepricat
Do what you love
- When I was ready to date after my divorce, I took classes in subjects I enjoy, like fly fishing, speaking French, and gardening. Hoping to meet someone, I was disappointed when I didn't but I still enjoyed the classes. I'm happily remarried now, and guess where I met her? At a garden center, where I was looking for plants (she was too). You never know where that special someone will turn up, so enjoy your hobbies and interests, and keep your heart (and eyes) open to possibilities.
- —Guest Mark M.
Log on for Love
- The timing could hardly have been worse. I had just left a prestigious job in Washington, D.C., to return to my hometown, so I was unemployed and feeling burnt out. She was in the final days of completing her master's degree, facing a flurry of tests and term papers and gearing up for a major career change. Some of my friends had tried online dating with mixed results, but it never seemed right for me. Late one night, I saw an ad for an online dating site and thought, "why not?" I signed up, created a profile, contacted a few people and didn't think much more about it. A couple of days later, I received a note from a woman who sounded interesting. We started sending messages back and forth, and within three or four days we had exchanged about 200 emails, talked by phone and made our first date. That was eight years ago. Today, we're more in love than ever, and we still haven't run out of things to talk about.
- —Guest Paul
Helping out a friend
- I was 25 and happily single. My friend Ellen called one everning, very sad that her boyfriend broke up with her. She wanted to meet for a beer and talk, and even though I was tired and ready for bed, I knew I had to help a friend. Not caring how I looked, I threw on some sweats and met her at a local pub. Shortly after we arrived a cute guy offered to buy us each a beer. Ellen said OK but I just thought about how I'd rather be home. The young man came over to say hello and I enjoyed talking with him, but I thought he was interested in Ellen. When she went to say hi to some friends, he asked if he could call me. I was so surprised I gave him my number (normally I wouldn't give my number to a stranger). When we married, Ellen was my maid of honor--by that time she was dating the man she would soon marry--and we toasted each other with the brand of beer he bought the night we met. Thirty-two years later, we are still in love.
- —Guest Janet
Right next door
- About a year after my wife died, I decided to sell our house and take an apartment in the city. I heard from my landlord that a "very nice lady" lived on my floor, but I never saw her. Getting ready for bed one evening, I realized I had no toothpaste and decided to visit the all-night drugstore on the corner. As I was leaving I literally bumped into a very charming woman and we started talking. She's a nurse and was just getting home from working the night shift at the hospital, and it turned out that she needed toothpaste too, so we walked to the store together. A year to the day after we met, we got married. And we still use the same brand of toothpaste.
- —Guest Joe
A problem brought her to me
- She asked a question about Java online. I posted a brief answer. The next day,she left a message for me to provide more detailed information. From then we began to chat online, and finally after several months I told her that I love her and our romance began.
- —Guest Ye Wang
Music is love, Love is music
- We first met looking at each other over our junior high school music stands in band class. It was not love at first sight, but our mutual love of music and the trumpet won us over. I was twelve and he was thirteen. We had a lot of friends in common and were hanging out at Pop's Soda Stand or the drugstore soda fountain. Finally, (at 15 & 16) in high school band he started giving me rides home after marching practice and football games. Then we started getting together to practice our music, and one day he asked me to the movies. From that first date we both knew that we would be in each other's lives forever. We married at 18 & 19 (oh, much too young everyone said), and I joined him at the university where we continued playing in the band. 46 years & 2 children later we are still making beautiful music together.
- —Guest Ariel