How did you meet your spouse?

[Westernskies]

Maybe or maybe not. Lots of things happen in 35 years, not all good! I think a mature pairing is a special deal.

Yeah, I had actually typed (or maybe not...) but decided to leave it out since I had just answered "90% Positive" in another thread...

And, yes, we are both grateful for the second chance and are determnined not to screw it up; it is a special deal.

 

[Purron]

Growing up with a brother a little over three years older than me, there were always lots of guys hanging around the house. My brother was very protective and didn't let many of his friends get near me.

DH2B was a rare exception since my brother knew what a nice guy he is. We were both about 15 and started out as friends. Our friendship grew and we started hanging out with each other all the time. He was like part of the family and hung out at my house with my brother, parents and I all the time.

My parents invited him to go on a camping trip to West Virginia with us. Mom and Dad were in the front of the RV and DH2B and I were in the back. It was about a 4 hour trip. After we'd been on the road a couple of hours, he looked me in the eyes and leaned over and gave me a kiss. I'd kissed a few boys before, but this was different. It was such a rush!

Got married in 1974 at the age of 19 and have been happily married ever since.

 

[Westernskies]

Growing up with a brother a little over three years older than me, there were always lots of guys hanging around the house. My brother was very protective and didn't let many of his friends get near me.

DH2B was a rare exception since my brother knew what a nice guy he is. We were both about 15 and started out as friends. Our friendship grew and we started hanging out with each other all the time. He was like part of the family and hung out at my house with my brother, parents and I all the time.

My parents invited him to go on a camping trip to West Virginia with us. Mom and Dad were in the front of the RV and DH2B and I were in the back. It was about a 4 hour trip. After we'd been on the road a couple of hours, he looked me in the eyes and leaned over and gave me a kiss. I'd kissed a few boys before, but this was different. It was such a rush!

Got married in 1974 at the age of 19 and have been happily married ever since.

We want to know about the rest of that camping trip...

 

[Khan]

Well surely if our paths crossed we would remember each other.

I was the one with long hair and torn blue jeans.

De rigueur back then.

 

[Purron]

We want to know about the rest of that camping trip...

Nothing much to report. Mom, Dad and I slept in the camper. DH2B had a little tent he brought and set up. The four of us had a great time together (big brother stayed home this trip).

It took a while for our relationship to blossom into a serious boyfriend/girlfriend kinda deal. A few months after the aforementioned camping trip, his parents went out of town and left him home alone......

 

[braumeister]

I had totally given up on the idea of ever getting married.

Went in the USAF right after college, and basically worked my tail off for the next 20 years. Never had what I considered a real life, due to the long (normally 10-12 hour) w*rk days, often 6 (sometimes 7) days a week, and frequent TDY (travel for weeks at a time). Honestly expected to put in 30 years and then become some sort of recluse.

While stationed at the Pentagon as a Lt Col (they get coffee for the Generals), the level of stress was pretty overwhelming, so I managed a rare week of leave. Drove up to Montreal to get totally away from it all, and attend a Mensa annual gathering, which were usually kind of interesting.

An hour after I checked into the hotel, I ran into someone in the hospitality suite when we both reached for the same cookie on the table, then started talking about the incredibly bad tasting mineral water they were serving.

She was from Cincinnati, and we made Ma Bell quite wealthy over the next year with our evening phone calls. Total disparity of backgrounds: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She grew up on a farm here in southwestern Ohio, and didn't have indoor plumbing until she was 12 years old. She had a first marriage right out of college, but it only lasted a couple of years.

We used every available weekend to get together in Pittsburgh, about halfway between us. Eleven months later, I retired from the Air Force on Friday, drove to Cincinnati on Saturday, and we were married on Sunday, my 43rd birthday (she took pity on me and made remembering our anniversary a no-brainer). I like this area, and we'll probably stay here for the duration.

After more than two decades of a marriage I never expected to have, I still can't believe my luck.

 

[REWahoo]

I had totally given up on the idea of ever getting married.

Went in the USAF right after college, and basically worked my tail off for the next 20 years. Never had what I considered a real life, due to the long (normally 10-12 hour) w*rk days, often 6 (sometimes 7) days a week, and frequent TDY (travel for weeks at a time). Honestly expected to put in 30 years and then become some sort of recluse.

While stationed at the Pentagon as a Lt Col (they get coffee for the Generals), the level of stress was pretty overwhelming, so I managed a rare week of leave. Drove up to Montreal to get totally away from it all, and attend a Mensa annual gathering, which were usually kind of interesting.

An hour after I checked into the hotel, I ran into someone in the hospitality suite when we both reached for the same cookie on the table, then started talking about the incredibly bad tasting mineral water they were serving.

She was from Cincinnati, and we made Ma Bell quite wealthy over the next year with our evening phone calls. Total disparity of backgrounds: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She grew up on a farm here in southwestern Ohio, and didn't have indoor plumbing until she was 12 years old. She had a first marriage right out of college, but it only lasted a couple of years.

We used every available weekend to get together in Pittsburgh, about halfway between us. Eleven months later, I retired from the Air Force on Friday, drove to Cincinnati on Saturday, and we were married on Sunday, my 43rd birthday (she took pity on me and made remembering our anniversary a no-brainer). I like this area, and we'll probably stay here for the duration.

After more than two decades of a marriage I never expected to have, I still can't believe my luck.

Who got the cookie?

 

[Purron]

I had totally given up on the idea of ever getting married.

Went in the USAF right after college, and basically worked my tail off for the next 20 years. Never had what I considered a real life, due to the long (normally 10-12 hour) w*rk days, often 6 (sometimes 7) days a week, and frequent TDY (travel for weeks at a time). Honestly expected to put in 30 years and then become some sort of recluse.

While stationed at the Pentagon as a Lt Col (they get coffee for the Generals), the level of stress was pretty overwhelming, so I managed a rare week of leave. Drove up to Montreal to get totally away from it all, and attend a Mensa annual gathering, which were usually kind of interesting.

An hour after I checked into the hotel, I ran into someone in the hospitality suite when we both reached for the same cookie on the table, then started talking about the incredibly bad tasting mineral water they were serving.

She was from Cincinnati, and we made Ma Bell quite wealthy over the next year with our evening phone calls. Total disparity of backgrounds: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She grew up on a farm here in southwestern Ohio, and didn't have indoor plumbing until she was 12 years old. She had a first marriage right out of college, but it only lasted a couple of years.

We used every available weekend to get together in Pittsburgh, about halfway between us. Eleven months later, I retired from the Air Force on Friday, drove to Cincinnati on Saturday, and we were married on Sunday, my 43rd birthday (she took pity on me and made remembering our anniversary a no-brainer). I like this area, and we'll probably stay here for the duration.

After more than two decades of a marriage I never expected to have, I still can't believe my luck.

Wish the two of you many more years of love.

 

[braumeister]

Who got the cookie?

We shared it of course. What else?

 

[Fireup2020]

A little over 5 years ago DBF (DH2B when he gets off his duff!) and I met at a business networking event. I was trolling for hiring decision makers (employment rep for Veterans)...he had the "been in the military" or maybe a cop...so I asked him what branch of service he had been in. (as a former recruiter at the time, I was pretty good at pegging them) He replies, "I did not have the balls to serve..." Hmmpf. At that point I had 15+ years in the Navy/Reserve...so, definitely not impressed. As the evening progressed, we gravitated to each other....after our first date Friday the 13th (1/13/06), I told one of my GF's he will either break my heart or make me the happiest woman in the world! Would not even trade him for FIRE today!

 

[Westernskies]

I had totally given up on the idea of ever getting married.

Went in the USAF right after college, and basically worked my tail off for the next 20 years. Never had what I considered a real life, due to the long (normally 10-12 hour) w*rk days, often 6 (sometimes 7) days a week, and frequent TDY (travel for weeks at a time). Honestly expected to put in 30 years and then become some sort of recluse.

While stationed at the Pentagon as a Lt Col (they get coffee for the Generals), the level of stress was pretty overwhelming, so I managed a rare week of leave. Drove up to Montreal to get totally away from it all, and attend a Mensa annual gathering, which were usually kind of interesting.

An hour after I checked into the hotel, I ran into someone in the hospitality suite when we both reached for the same cookie on the table, then started talking about the incredibly bad tasting mineral water they were serving.

She was from Cincinnati, and we made Ma Bell quite wealthy over the next year with our evening phone calls. Total disparity of backgrounds: I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She grew up on a farm here in southwestern Ohio, and didn't have indoor plumbing until she was 12 years old. She had a first marriage right out of college, but it only lasted a couple of years.

We used every available weekend to get together in Pittsburgh, about halfway between us. Eleven months later, I retired from the Air Force on Friday, drove to Cincinnati on Saturday, and we were married on Sunday, my 43rd birthday (she took pity on me and made remembering our anniversary a no-brainer). I like this area, and we'll probably stay here for the duration.

After more than two decades of a marriage I never expected to have, I still can't believe my luck.

Great story!

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I had totally given up on the idea of ever getting married.




We used every available weekend to get together in Pittsburgh, about halfway between us. Eleven months later, I retired from the Air Force on Friday, drove to Cincinnati on Saturday, and we were married on Sunday, my 43rd birthday (she took pity on me and made remembering our anniversary a no-brainer). I like this area, and we'll probably stay here for the duration.

After more than two decades of a marriage I never expected to have, I still can't believe my luck.

Did you all hear braumeister? PITTSBURGH is for Lovers, not Virginia!

 

[W2R]

Did you all hear braumeister? PITTSBURGH is for Lovers, not Virginia!

Who knew?

 

[Purron]

Did you all hear braumeister? PITTSBURGH is for Lovers, not Virginia!

Don't know 'bout that....

 

[Gumby]

It was September 13, 1980, and it was my first weekend as a senior at the Naval Academy. For three years, I had been hearing tales of Hood College, a women's college in Frederick, MD, about 75 miles from Annapolis. It was a regular source of dates for midshipmen, and the received wisdom was that the Hood girls were easily persuadable. As in, "if you can't get lucky there, then there's probably something wrong with you."

So here it was, a beautiful late summer Saturday. After three years of holding my own at the great grey monastery on the banks of the Severn, I finally had a car and overnight liberty and I was going to Hood College to find me a girl. Of course, I had no idea precisely where it was or how I would actually accomplish my goal once I got there, but I looked on the map, found Frederick and started driving. It was perhaps a sign of my youthful overconfidence that I went without a wingman. I was all smiles as I tooled up the highway, thinking of the bliss awaiting me.

When I got to Frederick, I had to stop and ask around for directions to the college, but I finally got there and drove up the long entry drive, parked, got out and looked around for the girls. To my disappointment, there weren't all that many in sight. I was starting to wonder precisely what I was going to do next when, miracle of miracles, I saw the sign for the "mixer".

I followed the sign and went into the largest building to find myself in a big room with an astounding number of girls. It was a veritable feast for the eyes -- short, tall, blonde, brunette, redhead, long hair, short hair, you name it -- everything a guy could possibly ask for. I figured that I had come all that way and I might as well make the most of it, so I carefully looked around and picked out the very prettiest one in the room. She had long dark hair, big dark eyes and a beautiful face. Thin, but curved in all the right places. She was sitting at a table with a number of other girls from her dorm.

Having picked the one I wanted, I walked right over to her table and asked her if she wanted to dance. She looked me up and down and said "No. Thank you." And those were the first words my young wife ever said to me.

 

[Purron]

It was September 13, 1980, and it was my first weekend as a senior at the Naval Academy. For three years, I had been hearing tales of Hood College, a women's college in Frederick, MD, about 75 miles from Annapolis. It was a regular source of dates for midshipmen, and the received wisdom was that the Hood girls were easily persuadable. As in, "if you can't get lucky there, then there's probably something wrong with you."

So here it was, a beautiful late summer Saturday. After three years of holding my own at the great grey monastery on the banks of the Severn, I finally had a car and overnight liberty and I was going to Hood College to find me a girl. Of course, I had no idea precisely where it was or how I would actually accomplish my goal once I got there, but I looked on the map, found Frederick and started driving. It was perhaps a sign of my youthful overconfidence that I went without a wingman. I was all smiles as I tooled up the highway, thinking of the bliss awaiting me.

When I got to Frederick, I had to stop and ask around for directions to the college, but I finally got there and drove up the long entry drive, parked, got out and looked around for the girls. To my disappointment, there weren't all that many in sight. I was starting to wonder precisely what I was going to do next when, miracle of miracles, I saw the sign for the "mixer".

I followed the sign and went into the largest building to find myself in a big room with an astounding number of girls. It was a veritable feast for the eyes -- short, tall, blonde, brunette, redhead, long hair, short hair, you name it -- everything a guy could possibly ask for. I figured that I had come all that way and I might as well make the most of it, so I carefully looked around and picked out the very prettiest one in the room. She had long dark hair, big dark eyes and a beautiful face. Thin, but curved in all the right places. She was sitting at a table with a number of other girls from her dorm.

Having picked the one I wanted, I walked right over to her table and asked her if she wanted to dance. She looked me up and down and said "No. Thank you." And those were the first words my young wife ever said to me.

Beautiful. I'm thinking you two have danced many times since that day. Alone in your home, out on a date night, and at special events such as weddings. Wishing the two of you all the best and thinking about the day when you get to dance with your beautiful granddaughter. That day will sneak up on you in the flash of an eye.

 

[Meadbh]

Did you all hear braumeister? PITTSBURGH is for Lovers, not Virginia!

Yes, but the cookie incident happened in Montreal (ooh la la!)

 

[Nords]

Having picked the one I wanted, I walked right over to her table and asked her if she wanted to dance. She looked me up and down and said "No. Thank you." And those were the first words my young wife ever said to me.

And a few months later, having picked the ones he wanted, Admiral Rickover phoned right over to Bancroft Hall and asked you to dance...

 

[WhoDaresWins]

Yes, but the cookie incident happened in Montreal (ooh la la!)

I concede that Montreal might have more romantic cookies...like a madeleine. In Pittsburgh the decidedly more lumpen "gob"does not carry the same cache.

 

[Ready-4-ER-at-14]

I had attended a seminar on death and dying (my mom had recently passed away) with a guy I knew from volunteer work at a food pantry. The seminar was at a large Cathedral type Church down town. After the talk, they announced coffee and cookies in the reception hall.

While there, I saw this young lady heading for the exit at the reception and jumped in between her and the doorway to introduce myself. (her grandmother had recently passed away) We talked and it turned out we lived about ten blocks away from each other. We had also both moved to the city five years before. She was dressed in an expensive business suit and skirt. She was tall and slender, but maybe four or five inches shorter than myself.

When she asked what I did I told her I did a lot of things and watched her eyes really closely. I asked if she wanted to hear the better things first or last. She said last.

Told her I had a part time job as a janitor. (no disgust in her eyes), Told her I had a part time job as a carpenter. (no disgust) Told here I was a caretaker for a senior citizen (no pity). And finally told her I was a full time student in professional school (no dollar signs). Think my work ethic impressed her.

However she was insanely busy at work as it was busy season and when I had suggested about three different dates for getting together and none of them would work, I stated "maybe you're too busy for a relationship?" Finally we found a day maybe ten days later that would work.

We met and went to a buffet type place and really hit it off. Without knowing what the other person was doing it turned out we both informed other people we had been casually dating but going no where with that we were both off the market when we returned to our homes.

Later on the guy I had gone with complained, "Life just isn't fair, I've been going to those seminar coffee and cookie things forever to meet women, you go once, and get the girl!"

Married 24 years now.

 

[simple girl]

The night I met DH I didn't even want to go out. I was in a man-hating mood (due to a previous boyfriend) and had essentially sworn off men. My friends refused to let me sit in, however, and sulk on a Friday night. They insisted I go out with them and were quite pushy, so I begrudgingly went with them to the local meat market bar.

Well, after having 3 guys come up to me (with their shirts unbuttoned, chest hair sticking out and gold chains hanging from their necks) and say "Hey baby, you wanna dance?", I had had enough! I decided I wasn't going to hang around the meat market dance floor any longer and if I was going to be out, I was going to truly enjoy myself. I convinced my girlfriends to come play pool with me, which was an amazing feat in and of itself.

So while we are playing pool, DH and his friend were leaving the bar. When they walked past us they took notice and did a U-turn. They asked if they could join us playing pool, and DH decided he wanted to be my partner...being the quick thinker that he is, he realized our names rhyme and said "Well, since ___ and ___ rhyme, we have to be partners!". We've been partners ever since. That was 20 years ago, and we can still run the pool table when we play together.

 

[novaman]

Everyone- I'm am loving the stories! Thanks so much for sharing. I'll try to add mine when I get some time.

 

[Nords]

Darksiders: USNA Midshipmen who become a married couple. She may not use that term for a few years, as it doesn't apply to ROTC grads. I mis-read your post, I took it to mean Mrs Nords also attended Annapolis. I think you really meant HS.

Sorry, I missed this one and I'm just catching up.

I wasn't very clear on the pronouns. My spouse is USNA '83 and I'm USNA '82. Our daughter was initially hell-bent on USNA '14 but she later came to her senses to choose NROTC and Rice.

Frankly "Darksider" is a much more diplomatic term than the vocabulary in use back in the early 1980s. I don't know if it's publicized much these days, but the women of USNA '80 still have annual reunions with group therapy. (I know that I make a lot of snarky jokes in my posts, but the term "group therapy" is literal. They invite therapists to drop by.) USNA '79 might have thought that "Omnes Viri" was pretty cool 30 years ago, but today it's just misogynistic & sad. When our daughter first announced her intention to go goat I was a little skeptical but my spouse's reflexive emotional reaction darn near went ballistic.

The most impressive sign that service academies are being dragged kicking & screaming into the 21st century is when nobody thinks it's unusual that [-]minorities Jews Democrats[/-] women are graduates.

Next up: the submarine force. SEALs and SF, STFB.

 

[kcowan]

Democrats?

 

[MBAustin]

Met at work at a TX chemical plant - he looked really cute in a hard hat. We'll celebrate our 25th in July.