Back in 2008, I had a contest in which readers told me about their best or worst Valentine's Day. The winner received a copy of a Jane Austen novel-based movie (PBS). I picked the winner at random; it was this new reader of my blog -- Bythelbs.
Little did I know that this person winning my contest would go on to be my one of my greatest, bestest, and closest friends. I honestly think that I was the one who ended up wining my own contest!
I was thinking about the ironic way in which we met (through Blogging! Blogging!) and I remembered that cool contest. So, I'm going to do something like it again. Here are the rules:
1. Tell me your best love story. This could be about how you met your spouse, a particular date you had with someone, how you got engaged, the best kiss you ever had, the best boyfriend you ever had, how the person you loved showered you with gifts and you were so happy you thought you would die of joy. Or, if you can't think of the "best" love story, just tell me a good one. Because even though not all relationships end up in marriage or end up being perfect, there are still perfect moments and good times before they go/went bad. Right? Right.
2. That's all. Just leave it in the comments.
3. Seriously. That's all. You don't have to tell anyone about it --I don't care if I have 2 entries or 50. I just love to read about love stories!
The winner will get something lovely. I have to think about it, though, because I just decided in the last 10 minutes to have this contest. I promise to have an amazing prize, although I doubt it will be as awesome as friendship with Bythelbs! But maybe it will be. Maybe.
Now... write!
20 comments:
I love my husband, but this story is not about him. It's a good high school valentine story. In high school, I was in debate. There was this boy who I kind of liked from a rival high school. When he was a senior and I was a junior the stars aligned and he liked me back. At a rather large tournament at a college, he bought me an ice cream and we hung out during out rounds. I think we also kissed that night. A few weekends later we ended up at another tournament. This time during out rounds we were debating. The final round, we ended up debating each other. I was so scared. It might have been the worst and best round of my life. The round was packed and lots of people in the room knew we were seeing each other. I was so worried that he would hate me. I was exhausted from a long and emotional weekend. When the round ended, I walked out into the hall and sat down on the floor. I just couldn't do anything else. He came over and sat next to me. He told me what a great job I had done (awwww) and gave me a hug. A few minutes later they were ready to give out the last round of awards. We won. I beat him. It's my second most memorable high school debate round. He was really gracious about it and still liked me enough to go to a Valentines dance (at a school neither of us attended) and date me for a few months before it ended for different reasons.
i will try to give the condensed version....
while on my mission, only having 3 months left to serve. there was a district conference with members and missionaries alike. i was serving in reggio calabrai (italy) and there was a man there who kept bothering me...i spoke to my mission president about the situation and he told me not to worry that all would be okay and that i needed to stay in that city, because there was someone that i needed to meet. the conference was the next day. on the bus on the way home i met giovanni. we talked for about 2 hours or so and he gave me so great advice. (he was in the branch presidency in messina). when the bus ride was over he game me his address and i gave him mine. two days later my mission president moved me from reggio. he said it wasn't safe for me and that i had to leave. i asked him about the "person" that i was suppose to meet...he told me that it was all taken care of and i had met the person and that i had to leave...so i did..the next morning.
over the course of the next 3 months i had some serious health issues and because of giovanni's schooling he was in contact with doctors so i was in contact with him a few times for medicinal purposes.
when i finished my mission he came to the mission home to see me. the next day when i arrived home in the USA there were letters from him waiting for me in my room.
3 months later he came to visit me in utah...and 2 months after that we were married and living back in messina...
the only person that i met in those two days was giovanni. the lord had it all planned out. he knew what needed to be done, and he did it...
21 yrs later we are still happily married and he is my best friend. little did i know that on of the greatest blessings of my mission would be my future husband...
as for the best kiss...i get them every day!!! and that is another story...
With all due respect to everyone in the world who thinks they have the best love story, I still love my own the very best. It's awesome. I wrote it out a couple years ago and it's too big to paste/post here, but here's a link for your reading pleasure. Grab a snack, it's 7 chapters. Start here and click on "chapter 2" at the bottom:
http://diapersanddivinity.com/2009/08/14/love-story-chapter-1-the-breakup/
This is a love story I helped start: During one summer in college, I had a friend named Jane, and she desperately wanted me to go out with her brother. I was not so eager. One weekend when he was coming to visit her, she was practically begging me to just give him a chance, so I gave in on one condition: She had to double with us.
Unfortunately for her, I finally agreed to the date just a few hours before her brother was going to show up, and she didn’t have a steady boyfriend she could just bring along. But I was ADAMANT. I was NOT going to be alone on another blind date! We tried all our other male friends, and none of them were available at such short notice. After racking our brains for people we even kind of knew, I came up with an acquaintance named Steve, found his number, and called. He wasn’t home. But his roommate, who neither of us had ever met (although we knew what he looked like, and he was HOT) answered the phone. After a long and somewhat embarrassing explanation, Steve’s roommate, Bryce, agreed to come along as Jane’s date. Remember the two had never met, and, as far as we knew, had NOTHING in common, or could even end up being 4th cousins (this is Utah after all).
Jane’s brother and I were a total flop. I wanted to escape after the first 10 minutes. But … Jane and Bryce were engaged 10 DAYS later, and they were married later that summer. Last I heard they were blissfully happy. It just goes to show that inspiration comes from the most unlikely places.
Okay, I will play!
I met Kurt on a blind date. A friend of mine was dating a friend of his and she set us up.
Fortunately, the blind date wasn't solo...my friend and her boyfriend accompanied us, along with another friend of ours who had b...een set up with a different friend of Kurt's.
Since there were six of us, we had to take two cars. Kurt and I went in his car and the other two couples rode together. While cruising down Main Street, we ended up driving side by side. Kurt and his friend were taunting each other while driving and his friend ended up being so distracted that he didn't slow down enough at a stoplight and rear-ended the car in front of him!
Nice beginning to a blind date, huh?
Thankfully, no one was hurt and the cars were amazingly unscathed, so we forged onward to the restaurant.
Dinner was nice and mostly uneventful (thank goodness!).
After dinner we headed to Kurt's friend's house for a movie. Sounds harmless enough, right? Well...think again. The movie these guys had chosen was...
wait for it...
wait for it...
...
...
...
THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS
Check out this link for the full effect and to be properly horrified in my behalf...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105121/
Really? REALLY?
A horror flick? On a first date?
(I'll interject here to say that at the time I was totally unaware that it was rated R for terror and violence)
So, the movie went into the VCR (hey, at least it wasn't a beta!), and we suffered through it.
We also suffered through some awkward displays of public affection by my friend and her boyfriend. Seriously...who smooches during a horror flick? While surrounded by two other couples who are on a blind date?
And as if the night wasn't already awesome...
Toward the end of the movie, Kurt's friends cat provided him with the ultimate opportunity to demonstrate his smoothness. The suave "kitty accomplice" jumped up on the back of the couch where we were sitting and proceeded to walk behind Kurt and continue to walk behind me toward the other end of the couch. Kurt, very nonchalantly, reached out and petted the kitty as it meandered on it's way. He conveniently left his arm along the back of the couch...and my shoulders...long after the kitty had departed.
Hilarious, no?
Somehow, at the time, NONE of this bothered me. I was "blinded" by a handsome (albeit kind of clueless about blind date etiquette) boy who would later become my husband and the love of my life.
Maybe that's why they call them "blind dates"! ;o)
Here's my love story, hot off the presses. My husband planned a weekend trip for the two of us and to truly show is love, he.....found the babysitter all by himself!!! Swoon. That's my idea of true love.
I promise to have an amazing prize, although I doubt it will be as awesome as friendship with Bythelbs!
Whatever could be?
I'm afraid I don't have any good love stories. I will just enjoy everyone else's.
The word verification is "omyonion" ("oh my onion"). Are they trying to be funny now? Because that's kind of funny.
www.nycwalkers.blogspot.com
It's really not that cool of a story. But I got lucky. Well--I mean after the wedding night. You know what I mean!!! :D
I wrote this a while back for a contest where you had to describe your love story in 100 words for less and then I never entered...but I'll post it here just for fun.
Shy girl meets devilishly handsome boy in high school physics class.
She takes his breath away, but she is hard to get to know.
He makes her a bet and wins…
Lunch is on him!
Best friends and high school sweethearts they become.
But find out Happily Ever After doesn’t always work for some.
Separate ways they go, Army for him and school for her
Twelve years go by…
One day he stops by her parent’s house to say hi.
They are both in a place to start a new chapter,
and finally find their Happily Ever After.
Or here is a link to a longer version that a wrote a few years ago on my blog...
http://deejaya.blogspot.com/2008/03/happy-anniversary-baby.html
Best love story I know is of my bro-in-law (Paul) and his amazing and beautiful wife Lynnette. She knew of his severe heart defect, she knew she might lose a husband very early on and they might now have children. She knew they probably wouldnt grow old together, but in her words, "Paul was the love of my life. I would rather have 5 years with him than 60 with somebody else. He was worth the risk." And now they have a new lease on life..for who knows how long, but they are the prime example of living in the here and now yet having an eternal perspective, not letting the petty things get in the way of the important things. They are amazing and have taught me so much! Lynnette is an amazing support to him, I have learned much about loving a husband and supporting him from her!
oops...i meant to say the might not have children...
Don't have a love story, sorry not my favorite holiday right now (but maybe some day!). But I had to comment on the comment by Cardell's. I wondered if you were related to Paul. I just found his music a month or so ago, and I have to tell you it has brought me such peace during a very stressful & painful time in my life. Please tell him thank you so much for me.
I want to nominate Janelle's story for her first date.
http://janelles.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/an-eventful-three-day-weekend/
My story? It may be a little hard to follow, but it's a fun one. At least I think it is. :)
My husband was my first boyfriend's cousin (the guy I met in high school, whom I diligently wrote every week during his mission, etc. -- a four-year relationship). I had gone out with hubby's brother after my mission (set up by said cousin's mom, who remained a good friend even after the cousin and I broke up). So I'd been in now-hubby's house. I'd met his parents. I'd probably seen his picture on the wall.
After that one date, my now-mother-in-law and her sister (cousin's mom -- still with me?) had the phone call to talk about how the date went. My now-mother-in-law reported that I was nice (well, that's a relief) but thought I was more then-unknown-to-me-now-hubby's type.
That was four years before we met, when we were connected by my mission president's wife who was good friends with my now-mother-in-law. This woman, upon hearing from my mil that now-hubby was moving close to where I was living, turned to my mil and said, "Well, that means he's supposed to marry Sister Michelle."
And, as they say, the rest is history. But the pre-history is half the fun.
But actually, the story isn't complete without saying that we were engaged five days after we first met face-to-face, and were married 2 1/2 months later. (Do not try this at home, but it was right for us...I had had enough 'wrong' relationships that I knew when it was right. I had a feeling I was going to marry him before we even met. "I knew I loved you before I met you" is a sort of 'our song.' Although I sang "All of My Life" to him at our reception.)
My personal love story is basic, met in singles ward, fell in love, etc. However, I grew up on a fairy tale of how my parents fell in love.
My Dad's brother married my Mom's sister (confused yet) while my Dad was on his mission. When my Dad heard about my aunt he told my uncle to get him one like her. Forward to my Dad coming home from his mission. He was coming to visit my aunt and uncle and they needed to find him a date. After several searches they asked my mom if she would double with them. The only photo my uncle had of my Dad was when he was wearing the HORRIBLE pork chop sideburns that boys thought were attractive (and were wrong). My Mom was not interested and tried to find a way out. Even going so far as to ask her mother how to get out of the date, to which my grandma replied, "You've gotten rid of plenty of boys you can figure out how to get rid of this one." Well my mom couldn't figure out how to get out of the date with her BIL's ugly brother and so was forced to go. She says that the minute my Dad walked in she was blown away by how good looking he was (and still is) and was immediately smitten. They had a great first date and as my dad drove away from my aunt and uncle's to take my mom home they turned to each other and said, "What have we done."
They saw each other a couple of times before my Dad went to Utah State for school with a plan to date a different girl every night since he didn't really have any difficult classes. Meanwhile, my Mom was attending the College of Southern Utah (SUU now) and dating plenty herself. A few weeks into the quarter she had a competition at USU and her and my Dad went on a date. While on the date they went for a walk around the Logan temple and suddenly my Dad turned to my mom and said, "What would you say if I asked you to marry me?" To which my Mom replied, "Maybe." Keep in mind my Dad had gone on a date with another girl the night before and until that moment hadn't even considered marriage, but suddenly felt that was what he was suppose to do. After a lot of wrangling, my Dad got permission to drive my Mom home to Cedar City, Utah with them fasting the whole way. By the time they got to Cedar City they decided it was the right thing to do.
After they had been married for a while, my mom's mother told them that when she was getting ready for my aunt's wedding, one night she had a dream that she was at the wedding with the same family except it was my mom getting married to some boy she had never seen. As soon as she saw my father she knew that my mom was going to marry him and so she didn't help my mom get out of the date.
They have been married 35 years and still act like newlyweds. My sisters and I grew up on this fairly tale and thought that this happened to everyone, only to find out it doesn't. Sometime it requires work. That said I've always loved their story both because they are my parents and it is unusual and because it shows that the Lord knows what he is doing, even when we don't.
Dorri....yes I am married to Paul's brother. I am so glad his music has helped you during a difficult time. It also helped me during one of my greatest trials! I think the reason it is so peaceful and helps others so much is because he has gone through the refiner's fire his entire life and he gets tough times. But he has also figured out the formula for finding peace and that comes through in his music! I will share that with him. God bless you in your trial!
Alright, here's mine although it's probably not quite what you had in mind. :)
The year was 2003. We had left our two year old at home in the care of grandma and we were headed across the country. We had a bag packed with what we hoped would be enough to get us happily home. We were nervous. Anxious. Excited. We landed in an unfamiliar city, rented a car and drove a few miles to the hotel. After checking in, changing clothes and washing up we drove a few more miles to have our lives changed forever.
We entered the adoption agency where we met the most amazing person: a birthmother. We didn’t know her, she didn’t know us. But right away we loved her. She was giving us an amazing, awe-inspiring gift: her child.
She knew that she couldn’t raise this little girl, so she was making the sacrifice of a lifetime and placing her with a family that would care for her – a family that would hold her when she cried, teach her to read and pray, cheer her on as she learned to walk and read and play the piano, and a family that would perhaps, give her chances that she might not have had otherwise. A family that immediately fell in love with her, her brown eyes and curly lashes, her sweet smile and stubborn pout, her friendliness and enthusiasm.
That little girl will be 8 soon and we’re still amazed at her and we’re still so in love with her.
Here are the links to me and DH's getting together story. I like it. :)
http://jamiewearsflipflops.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-we-met.html
http://jamiewearsflipflops.blogspot.com/2008/08/conference-trip-part-2.html
http://jamiewearsflipflops.blogspot.com/2008/08/rest-of-story-part-3.html
I know I said my own story is my favorite, but the rest of these really are pretty cool. I especially love Judi's because I'm a big fan of the stories where God's hand is so obvious.
A very dear friend of mine had just gotten back from spring break where she'd spent the greater part of a week meeting and getting to know and almost dating this new kid. She got back and felt like it wasn't going to go anywhere, so she broke it off with him. However, she invited him to the next week's devotional, and shot me an invite to meet him too. After the devotional, the three of us were talking and laughing and I noticed his amazing smile, and he gave me his number. He was trying to score an invite to a General Conference party. He had to go, so Adrienne and I were left there in the Institute. I turned to her and said, "He was cute, you should set me up." She replied, "I'll set you up if you set me up with someone." "Deal. Wait, are you serious?" She was. He didn't come to the General Conference party, and the "blind date" was awkward, but somehow I decided to marry him anyway. 12 weeks.
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