Friday, 15 July 2011
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How Did You Meet?
The best "how did you meet?" story I have ever heard was the one my parents have.My parents are both from the Philippines: my mother from a country town, my father from the nation's capital. It's an hour plane ride between them.
My mother was pursuing a doctorate in medicine, but got a nursing degree first. She was offered a well-paying job in Saudi Arabia to work in a newly established hospital. My father was a civil engineerer, recruited to work on the final stages of construction of the same hospital. Unknown to each other before Saudi Arabia, they both left their families, hometowns, and current jobs to work in Saudi Arabia, both being the first in their families to work abroad.
I have heard my father was quite the ladies' man as a bachelor, and was totally hitting on my mom's roommate who just wasn't feeling it. He would call my mom's roommate day after day, trying to get a date with her. My mom and her roommate shared a phone, and one day my mom decided to pick up, wanting to know what all the fuss is about, probably meaning to say "stop f#!%ing calling her!!!" but ended up speaking to him for over two hours that first time. My mother always played hard to get, and had just ended a six year relationship with her high school sweetheart, but was somehow captivated by my father.
My mom's roommate got into a relationship with my dad's co-worker (you saw it coming) and they eventually became engaged and married. As for my mom--she was a workaholic and didn't need the distraction of another man in her life to take her away from her work. She determined to finish her doctorate, working in Saudi Arabia for enough money to pay for her schooling. My dad was persistent though, and asked her out on dates, revealing more of their lives to each other each time, first as friends, and soon, as romanced outsiders in a foreign country.
They left Saudi Arabia to go back to their respective hometowns in the Philippines, maintaining a long distance relationship as my mom went back to medical school and my dad returned to his former employer. As my mom delved deeper into her schooling, she began to push her relationship away because she knew she wouldn't have a lot of time to invest in it for the next few years. My father was still as persistent as ever, and kept telling her they would work it out somehow, and be together after she was done with school.
All the all-nighters and the stress of studying finally got to my mother--she had a stress induced asthma attack which had also enlarged her heart from working too hard. She was in the hospital for months, and had to put her schooling on hold. My dad heard about this and immediately flew over to see her. My mom thought he was being ridiculous--how could he love someone all I.V.'d up, not strong enough to feed herself? Mommy dearest, who had resisted falling too hard for my dad for years, finally let herself realize how much my dad was willing to invest in their relationship.
He came to see her every day, bringing her flowers, cards, and balloons until she recovered. He told her he was really falling in love with her, and she started to open up more to him and got to know him better as they talked each day she was in the hospital. Something in her gut told her, "This is a good guy. I want to invest in a deeper relationship."
In the time my mom was in the hospital recovering, my dad went to my mom's hometown without her knowing--lurking for her address through her best friend and his former object of affection--and asked my grandfather for my mom's hand in marriage. First my grandfather was appalled that he decided to just show up without letting anyone know by phone or letter, but seeing that my dad put his job on hold to be by my mom's side sold him, and he agreed to let her marry him.
My mom never did return to medical school. Recovery wasn't speedy, but it happened and when she was well she did everything with gusto. However, a year had passed--one of the most crucial years in medical school--and she decided she was too far behind to try and catch up, losing the momentum she had to finish her degree. She found a job as a nurse near her hometown, got engaged to my dad, and planned the wedding. My parents married after five years of "courting," had my older sister, and immigrated to the U.S. the year I was born.
The best part of this story is that they tweaked the name of the city where they met in Saudi Arabia to be part of my older sister's name, who was welcomed to the world the same year they got married.
I have a really awkward "how did you meet?" story with my boyfriend, as we met through his ex-girlfriend who is now my ex-best friend for some reasons mentioned here. Definitely not a cool romance like my parents' but still my own quirky trainwreck that ended up to be fabulous.
What's your "how did you meet" story with your SO? What's the best one you've ever heard?
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About the Author
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- From: dangelb
- About Me: My name means "daybreak" and I'm usually awake to watch the sunrise every morning. I'm a college student, obsessive tea drinker, and contemporary dancer. My first love was the piano before I learned how to love people. I love my R.O.B.--Really Outstanding Boyfriend--who gets just as excited as I do over antique books, soft-baked cookies, and Sporcle.
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Comments (76)
I met my husband on the original Facebook, it was collegeclub.com and that was 9 years ago!
My boyfriend and I were friends in high school but didn't start dating until he reconnected with me on Facebook and flew to visit me ...six years after we'd graduated from high school.
Also: "she had a fatal stress induced asthma attack which had also enlarged her heart from working too hard. She was in the hospital for months, and had to put her schooling on hold."
I realize fatal can technically be used in this way, but to me it was like "Oh and then my mom died from an asthma attack." just sayin.
Awww! My fiance and I met online via PlentyOfFish.com
On Xanga. Three years and still going.
I met him at his house while my friend was trying to hook me up with his roommate. Obviously things didn't go as she and the roommate wanted it to go lol.
I met my boyfriend on Mocospace
I took a chance to meet him when we would just talk on the phone & well here we are now(:my man and I started talking on myspace almost 9 years ago. I had met his sister through my boyfriend at that time.. she mentioned me to him, and he looked me up on myspace. he started bugging me.. constantly emailing me, inviting me to bbq's.. but I kept him at a distance for over 5 years.. then one day he posted something personal (most of his posts had to do with a news article he had read) and I realized that we had a lot in common. I emailed him the next day.. we talked that whole day and night by email.. the following day, again by email.. and then that night we met each other in person at dinner.. and haven't been apart since =)
my ex-boyfriend from 9 years ago was a jerk.. but he lead me to this wonderful man I have now.
Wow...the internet starts so many relationships!
I have a friend whose parents met because of a bet.
Lots of Internet-related beginnings up in here, lol
My parents met in NYC becauseeeeee my mom saved my dad's son from running into the street and getting hit by a car when he was 3. She grabbed his arm and yanked him back and gave him back to my dad, and went about her way.
My dad was originally being pursued by my mom's really close friend, but he wasn't that interested, and the next time he saw my mom she was pregnant out to HERE with my older sister. After she was born, my mom was going to go on a date with my dad, but my nana (her mom) wouldn't babysit my sister. So my mom told my dad she couldn't go, to which he told her to bring my sister along, and they went to a comedy club, all three of them
my parents weren't married at that point (my dad was divorced and my mom had my sister out of wedlock), but they got married a few years later, after my second oldest sister was born.
My family is very mixed.
My relationship was started because my good friend at the time was flirting with this guy Kyle I know, who was really good friends with D (my fiance!), and she invited Kyle to this donut shop, and D and I didn't talk at all there really but he asked Kyle about me (said "that girl with the monroe is really cute"), added me on MySpace later and asked for my number, and I asked him if he'd like to hang out. So it took off from there!
i met my boyfriend on xanga
My boyfriend and I met at church...while we were both dating other people. We both broke up around the same time (he broke up with his ex like a month after I broke up with mine), and that's when we really started talking. Not even a month after his break up we were going on our first date.
at an organization in college, haha.
Haven't heard any great stories, cutest one I've heard though was these two people who met in sixth grade and got married later on <3
I met my current boyfriend in college when I was invited to join a Star Wars tabletop roleplaying game where he was the game master. My ex (who was my boyfriend at the time) introduced us.
I met my bf at work at least when I was working there. I don't work there anymore, but he still does.
@xhalesx@revelife - Congrats!
LOVELY story. :) I seem to meet all my men at work, (Wow, "all my men" makes me sound like some crazy hussy!! haha) which seems far less romantic than most people's 'how we met' stories! :)
i met my boyfriend in a painting class my freshman year of college. i was going through a rough time at school for a number of reasons and painting was the only class i felt i could handle at the time. he was a senior writing his thesis and was only taking painting because he thought it wouldn't distract him too much from his paper. we were both seeing other people when we first sat next to eachother in class but at first sight i thought he was super cute. a month or so later the guy i had been seeing broke up with me. the first thing i did was go on facebook and friend the cute boy from my painting class. he broke things off with the chick he had been seeing, partly because of shit she had done, partly because he was interested in me. we ended up hanging out over spring break, and 4+ years later we're still together.
I'm from Hawaii. My boyfriend is from Menorca, Spain. We met in Berlin in 2009. We were both in an international study abroad program and we lived in the same dorm. We became fast friends, but it didn't go anywhere. We emailed each other a few times a year, and it was platonic until the beginning of this year. We had both recently gotten smart phones and we had an app that lets you text via internet, so we kept in touch more frequently and our relationship developed and deepened.
And now we're two smitten kittens, and he's visiting me in September! :D
I met the one I want to be with...at you guessed it, the bars, lol. not so romantic, eh? but the funny thing about that is we went to the same elementary school, middle school and high school, and didn't start talking until 2010. We also haven't gone back to the bars after we've started hanging out either unless it's with each other. Not only did I also go to the same elementary, middle and high school with him, but he's my next door neighbor right around the corner from me in my neighborhood, too. We live so close that I have biked and walked to his house a couple of times since we've started seeing each other almost 2 years ago.
It truly is amazing how something one is looking for is right under your nose this whole entire time and I never knew it. I'm actually planning on visiting him today at his new place. It's a LDR now and it sucks.
We were set up by mutual friends. My friend told me I'd "absolutely love Jay" when I met him and they told Jay on the phone before he showed up at my friends that they "had someone he would love waiting for him". It made the introduction a little awkward but they ended up being right. We've been inseparable ever since.
@thisiswhereItellyoueverything@xanga - @xhalesx@revelife - Thanks for pointing out the fatal thing! It does sound like she died which she clearly didn't happen.
@xhalesx@revelife - Congratz on two years!! How are you celebrating?
@x_damaged_yet_unbroken_x@xanga - @cocainecupcakes28@xanga - @neonpanicc@xanga - Ah, the power of the Internet! How long was it before you actually met up in person? Were you nervous?
@burn_journal@xanga - Yes Xanga Romance! Was it through a Blogring or just random? (Is your username a reference to the Brent Runyon book by any chance? :D)
@tokyoexpressman@xanga - Xanga is fantastic for that! Congratz on three years!! :)
@ForeverLove_xx@xanga - One of my instructors told me a similar story! Did your friend and the roommate get together instead? Haha
@dangelb - Well, I'll be honest, lol, we talked on the phone non-stop that same night and the rest of the week and met in person that next week. Both nervous, but young and reckless lol. I thank God for the internet lol!
@hubina1@xanga - Writing
is so important to me and sometimes I understand more about a person
from their writing than from hanging out with them a few times, so I'm
really digging how his blog helped out with your relationship! Funny how
things work out like that!
@gulynes - What kind of bet? Pretty awesome story we're about to hear, eh?
@ohforrealson@xanga - Oh wow your parents have such an interesting story! When your mom saved your
dad's son, did they know each other at that point or was it just a coincidence?
Yay for chance encounters :)
@wing_stock@xanga - That reminds me of someone who used to work at my dance studio--she said in 5th grade (probably jokingly?) that she'd marry this one kid. And he wasn't feeling her at first but then I think in 7th grade they went out on their first date and NEVER broke up. They didn't date anyone else ever and now they are married and have a kid!
@methodElevated@xanga - Whoaaa that's too cool. The force was with you ;)
@Hinase@xanga - @WelshGirl - Did you date while you and your SOs were working at the same place? I've never seen it in action, but I heard dating co-workers is super awkward sometimes lol.
@vain_apathy@xanga - Great story! Do you paint stuff for each other? Congratz on four years!! :)
@specifx@xanga - Aww, seriously, technology does wonders for LDRs--so thankful for it! And when you go visit each other you have fantastic places to go :)
@Anonymous - The proximity! Even though it's an LDR now, at least you got to be so close for a while.
@bmillerssailor@xanga - Friends know you so well :) amazing profile picture, by the way!
Aww! That's definitely the cutest "how did you meet?" story I've ever heard. I met mine at an on-campus coffee shop through a mutual friend. Then we hooked up two days later. Not nearly as cute and took forever to get to where we are now -__-
@xa06@xanga - Nothing worth having ever comes for free :)
my friends set us up to meet one night because we were both single. i hate being set up but i agreed to meet him anyway and from that moment on we were inseparable <3