How Did You Meet?

kab010111

There may be another thread out there like this already, however I thought it would be fun to share with each other how we met our FI's.

FI and I met on Craigslist.  Yes, there are not only just killers on that site, there are also remarkable, amazing men.  I was looking for less expensive furnishings for my new apartment, and decided to see what kinds of a**holes were on the men looking for women page.  Yes, ladies, I was looking to be pissed off and irritated by posts, and remind myself why I'd rather be single than be in another bad relationship.

Then I opened HIS post.  It blew me away.  Two weeks before I had written a "Soul Mate Spec Sheet", a list of 57 items I wanted my dream guy to be able to do or possess.  Not materialistic items at all, but character traits mostly.  Just reading through his post I saw a LOT of the qualities I was looking for.  I sent him an email, he sent me one back, and we met in-real-life two days later.  Our relationship has been amazing since day 1, the most important part being that we don't fight...  At all...  We communicate calmly, and are completely honest about our feelings. 

All my best to all of you!

right1thistime

DH and I met while we were both involved in town politics, but the kicker is, we were neighbors for many years, and never met.  

He also exactly matched the spec sheet I had develeoped (in my head).  ~Donna

kab010111

Brandy, did you get engaged on New Years Eve too?  I noticed you joined on New Years day, the same as me.  :-)  Yay for internet romances!

Laurmi

Fun idea! And hello to fellow New Years Eve engaged knotties too! 

We met at a conference for work at Philips Exeter Academy in NH. The second I saw him and was introduced I thought to myself "Ugh. We would be so perfect together. Maybe in my next life...." a year went by and when it was time for the conference again, this time at Princeton, I wondered if he'd be there. Sure enough, he was...and this time I wasn't going to wait another year to talk to him! We talked, talked, talked, and talked....and haven't stopped talking or texting a year and 10 months later. It's awesome!! I'm so excited to marry my perfect match.

Laura 

debbiem56

We met on yahoo.com.  I had been on there and eharmony for about a year and a half and after dating several guys from there I decided to terminate my subscriptions because I couldn't find Mr Right.  And then I got a message from him and thought what the heck.  So, I re-subscribed for another month so I would be able to reply to his message.  We talked online for about a month before I gave him my phone number and we went out.  It wasn't love at first sight, but I thought he was worth going out with a second time.  That is when we clicked.

renjon7798

My FI and I went to high school together.  He was a year younger than me and we had quite a few mutual friends, but we were never friends.  I had a profile on match.com that my friends had set up for me on valentines day and I never checked it.  One day I decided to see who had "winked" at me and there he was!  (I didn't even bother responding to anyone else).  I recognized him right away because we had a lot of mutual friends on FB (old high school friends).  He, however, didn't remember me right away because I have lost 150 lbs since high school.  He still "winks" at me all the time as his way to say he loves me.

side note, we both cancelled our match.com memberships after our third date...

coopsbaby

We met online as well (Plentyoffish.com)I was just kind of scoping things out, since I thought it was too early to really start looking for long-term, and he started up a chat with me. We started talking on the phone after about a week of emails, met a few days after that and have been inseparable ever since!

awayagain

My now-ex brought him home to meet me - way back in 1989

Jells2dot0

We met at work. I was married when I first met him, but when I hinted to a mutual colleague that I was considering getting divorced, the colleague pointed me in the direction of my now FI to talk me OUT of getting divorced (he had a really horrible divorce, mainly due to a greedy ex-wife.) When I started talking to him about things and he helped me through the process, I found there was more there than just a friend!

squarepeg72

A blind date ...

A good friend from work bugged me for months to meet this great guy that she used to work with. I finally gave in and gave her tickets to a baseball game (I work for a local summer league team). We meet breifly during the game and then tried to find a place to eat after the game. We ended up back at my house for pizza from the freezer and Gatorade (the only things I had to consume in the house). Our first "real date" was the next weekend and we have been together for 2.5 years

Sue-n-Kevin

Kevin & I met on eharmony. I had waited 8 years after my daughter's dad left before dating again. I wanted to raise my kids without any interference, because it was just easier that way.

He was the only one I corresponded with. Of all the matches they sent me, NONE listed pro sports as an interest (weird, right?). I love sports, and his profile was the only one that listed it. The picture I posted was at Comerica Park, where the Tigers play; in his picture he was wearing a Tiger t-shirt.

We had our first date on 8/28/07, and married on 8/27/11. This way he only has to remember one anniversary a day apart LOL.

2dBride

One day in 2000, a friend I'd made several years before in a parenting chat room ("S") asked me to take a personality test at TheSpark.com. Supposedly, this test would tell you how compatible you were with your friends who took it, and with their friends. After I took it, I noticed that one of S's friends, NotFroofy, was supposedly 100% compatible with me. I was extremely dubious that any test could tell that. However, it seemed at least worthwhile to ask S to introduce me to NotFroofy. Apparently, NotFroofy asked to meet me, too, so S introduced us.

 

NotFroofy had grown up in Wales, but was by then living in England. After graduating from college, she had gotten a job with an accounting firm. Accounting wasn't really something she could see as a career. However, for ten years, it had been the easiest kind of job for her to get, so she'd stayed with it. By the time we met, though, she had decided she wanted to retrain for a new career in Web design. She had therefore quit her job and was in the process of selling her house, intending to use the proceeds to take a Web design course. NotFroofy and I talked online and on the phone for several months, and one day I told her I had a crush on her. I was so nervous after I did that I paced the halls of my office while waiting for her response. Fortunately, she felt the same way.

 

Obviously, inviting NotFroofy out for coffee was not going to work, with her in England and me in the US. However, I suggested that she come for a visit. If that worked out, she could take a 6-month Web design course in the US, and stay with me. That would give us six months to get to know each other, and decide whether a longer term relationship could work. NotFroofy came to visit me for a week and a half in December 2000. She then went back to the UK to get a visa that would allow her to come back for the 6-month course, returning in January 2001.

 

While NotFroofy was back in the UK, she went to her parents' house in Wales for Christmas. While she was there, she told her family (for the first time) that she was bi. She also explained that she had a girlfriend who lived 4,000 miles away in a different country, whom she had known in person for a week and a half, and that she was moving to be with me. Fortunately, her parents were unfazed by all this, and indeed thrilled that she had found someone to love. However, her father did have one important question: "2dBride is a Democrat, isn't she?"

PrettyInPearls23

We actually went to HS together and were in the same 4-H horse club. He was 2 years behind me in school, and while I always thought he was cute, he still had that "underclassmen" factor to him. I figured he always had a thing for me because he'd make it a point to pick on me...you know how boys can be lol.

Fast forward about 15 years. He's in the credit union where my mom works, getting a loan for a new camper. My mom asked him if he wanted his wife on the loan, and he tells her that he's actually divorced. She took that opportunity to tell him that I was divorced as well, and his eyes lit up (according to my mom's account of the story). She said she could literally see the wheels turning as he thought about what she had just said, and then he goes "Well, I'm single now, have her get ahold of me!" We met up for drinks a few nights later, just to catch up as old friends adn vent about our divorces. That was 10 months ago!

He just proposed last Friday and I couldn't be happier! We're planning a June 2013 wedding

sweetdreamz6700

I've known FI since 2007. I was actually married to my ex at the time. I had a profile up on a car website (we both show cars) and he added me on there. I was in FL and he was in WA and had a few mutual friends through the car community. We gradually spoke more, leaned on each other through breakups, my divorce etc. We just got eachother and he became my best friend. I had some time off work which he also happened to have so I flew out to see some snow and officially "meet" the bff. I remember telling a coworker I was headed out to spend some time with my future husband ;-) We tried to deny what we were both really feeling, but 10 months and a few trips later I packed up and moved across the country. Best decision ever. A little over a year since that move and we are planning an Aug 2013 wedding.

Shanarah

My FI and I met on an online game called World of Warcraft. I was in a LTR at the time and my then S/O was not so good for me, so I'd vent to this friend I'd met in game and he'd help me through the tough spots. The years passed and I'd gotten out of one bad relationship into another, In 2006 I had gotten engaged to a military man but when the then FI left for Iraq, he also left me, stating he couldn't be in a relationship and a war. After the military man left me I had a stroke, partial amnesia the whole shebang, (yes extreme stress and bad health can cause strokes) My online friend helped me remember things, supported me and was there for me whenever I needed it. In August 2007 I decided to go meet this man I'd been talking to since 2004. I met him preparing for it to be awkward but it wasn't, it was as if we were continuing the conversation we'd been having for years. We've been together since that August of 2007, he stayed in Ohio until he graduated with his BA in Psych in spring 2011. Then he moved to Oregon where we've been living together every since. In March we'll officially announce our engagement and our wedding is set for August of 2013, 6 years after the day we met.

Incidentally, we still play World of Warcraft, our chairs are now side by side instead of 2000 miles away from each other and we couldn't be happier.

kab010111

Awww!  World of Warcraft!  My Fiance was shocked to learn that I too played, as he had never had a GF that was into any type of gaming.  It wasn't on my "Soul Mate Spec Sheet", but I was equally as thrilled to have someone who shared my interest(s).  We have a picture on one of our computers of the two of us flying next to each other.  I thought about looking for a WoW inspired wedding band, but he picked the band he wanted before I could look, haha.

kab010111

I also have to add that I'm LOVING all the responses this post is getting, as well as loving all the online relationships, as more often than not people around here are surprised that I met him online.  I mean, yea, Craigslist HAS gotten a bad rep for all the killings that have occured as a result of people meeting off the site.  For me, I've found the love of my life, our apartment, our dog and a variety of other stuff on there!

All my best to all of you and your fiance(e)s!

letsdothisagain

FI (or ex-DH, soon to be DH again) and I met in college algebra class in 1998. I was totally lost and he had a tutor so we started working together in the library. He had a girlfriend at the time so nothing happened, but once they broke up, we starting seeing each other. We married for the first time in 2001. We will re-marry in May of this year after a few years break.

MikesAngie

My DH and I met in high school, dated briefly and once I got done being angry about the break-up (parent intervention)  we became the best of friends.  Our friendship lasted through my family moving out of state and his joining the Army.  

Three months before he was to leave to go to Germany he drove 8 hours to where I was living at the time, and wanted to marry me that day, with in minutes of his asking - true elopement.  I was living with someone else at the time, and that relationship was grinding to a halt - but I didn't say yes, I couldn't.  (Now if my DH had mentioned to my dad what he was going to do - I wouldn't have been on this board and would have been to Germany.  Something about hind sight and  20/20) 

He left for Germany, and my previous relationship ended; so I wrote to him at the last known address I had. The Army in the past was really good about either forwarding his mail to him or returning the item.  They didn't forward his mail to his APO and it wasn't returned to me.  I thought he was too hurt to talk with me.  (Had I known that the letters were not being received/forwarded then I would have contacted his parents, they were like family to me).

Just after what would have been our 10 year high school reunion I found out that he was married.  I wasn't after that though I more than made up for "lost" time. 

At what would have been our 20 yr hs reunion we were put in touch with each other by the coordinator. We exchanged emails but they were very benign, he was married with a little girl and I was newly married (again).  We exchanged the occasional pleasantry about 4 times a year.  Until both our marriages failed, his x-W is an alcoholic, and had been withholding affection for years (she ended up cheating), my x-H was insecure and controlling; I had extremely low self esteem  - I got better, he went nuts and cheated. 

We reunited in 2009, got engaged in 2010 and married in 2011 all on the same date! Of course we are parenting his now 18 yr daughter and three cats...and of course happy and in love.  

handfast4me

My DH and I met the old-fashioned way, in a bar. 

True that.

And I actually use that line in my stand up act. 

Avion22

We met at my cousin's wedding.  His older sister and my cousin were best friends growing up.  We sat at the same table and totally hit it off.   We did the long-distance thing for a few months, then he moved up to my town to be with me (he was in the middle of a career change anyway, so it was a good time for him to move).  The rest is history.

I like to use this example as a good reason NOT to invite your truly single guests with +1s.  Weddings are a great place to meet people, and you will automatically have something in common (or at least mutual friends).  And who wants to bring a random date to a wedding anyway?

2dBride

handfast4me:  Well, that's not quite as bad as two friends of mine, who originally met when one of them responded to the other's "want no-strings-attached sex" ad.  They've now been together for over 20 years.

JCWhitey

You guys have some really cute stories!

I met my FI on a cruise ship (which makes the cruise wedding make more sense, huh?).  I was supposed to go on this cruise for a wedding with my XH, but we had already separated and instead I brought my friend Kimber.  We didn't really know anyone at the wedding beside each other and the bride and I was very "girl power, men suck, I don't need a man" at that point having only been separated from XH for a couple of months.  DEFINITELY not looking for another guy.

But one of the groomsmen just kept trying to talk to me.  I mostly ignored him, though.  Then the day after the wedding we all went to this bar in Ensenada.  We all proceeded to get sh*t faced drunk.  It was then that my flirtatious side took over and I actually spent time talking to this groomsman.  

We ended up spending the whole night just hanging out and talking.  The next day we were back in San Diego, the cruise was over, and he decided to spend an additional night in San Diego before driving home to Phoenix.  We spent the whole day together, just talking and hanging out.  It was really like I'd met the person I was meant to find and be with at that moment.

I ended up moving to Wisconsin a month later and we did a long distance thing for three months before I couldn't stand it anymore and moved to Phoenix to be with him.  Two years later, here we are 40 days away from being married!

CTJenny

My cousin married his cousin and we met at the wedding.  We talked a bit and became "Facebook friends."  After about a month of corresponding online, he asked me out. I had the best first date ever bar hopping in New York City. 

Avion22

Ha, glad to see I'm not the only one who met their fiance at a wedding :-)

jjolovich

My Fi and I have known each other for awhile, through one of my friends, he was actually her brother in law. I was married at the time as well, and finally got the gumption to leave my ex, as it was a very bad situation. We started talking on fb and i told him to find me a nice guy that wont break my heart and will love my (at the time) unborn child(i didnt find out what i was having)

about a month went by and i we had exchanged numbers, as he said he would help me any time i needed it, and while we were talking he had told me, him and his wife were getting a divorce, as she had been unfaithful to him the last 5 years of there 8 year marriage. (He had forgiven her and he did everything he could to make there marriage work, but in her eyes he didn't make enough money for her champaigne taste)

And we started dating and it became official once divorces were finalized and he proposed in October last year

baconbabe

I was friends with his sister and cousin growing up thru elementary and JR HS. I moved away my freshman yr of high school still staying friends with his cousin. I just moved back closer to home and his cousin was getting married the day after I came back I went to the wedding and saw him there I thought I'd add him on FB and see what he's up too. Turned out he had recently gotten Divorced. his Bday was begining Oct mine middle Oct, we exchanged happy birthdays and about a week after my bday he messaged me we talked all day and went out for lunch 2 days later have been together ever since. I can't believe how unhappy i have been in my life with the guys i have choosen til meeting him. We are getting engaged offically soon and planning a fall or winter courthouse wedding with just to 2 of us, or a small immediate family wedding

sandrajean1023

My friend was dating one of FI's friends and he happened to call her while I was at her house one day.  Being in HS, it did not seem weird at all for me to get on the phone and talk to this guy I had never met.  He went to a different HS and we ended up talking on the phone for hours on end before actually meeting in person.  We were just friends and then dated for like 5 minutes (as I like to say) right after HS.  I was stupid and young; not realizing that every girl REALLY wants a nice guy, and ended it with him rather abruptly. 

Fast forward over 10 years later- he found me on facebook less than two weeks after I moved out of state.  (We're both from NY; I moved to FL)  I was ecstatic that he contacted me (I had looked for him numerous times on facebook) and immediately gave him my phone number to catch up.  We again talked for hours on end about our psychotic exes and life in general.  He was actually engaged again, but it started to come out that he had no idea why he was marrying her.  He ended the relationship and moved into his own place shortly after that.

I had to fly up to NY unexpectedly because my BFF's mom passed away.  We saw each other for the first time that weekend.  We had a great time and we made periodic visits back and forth for several months.  He was all set to pick up and move to FL after the first visit, but I was still very anti-relationships at the time.  Finally, after 4 months of movie-like goodbyes at the airport, I decided enough was enough.  So, I flew up to drive with him on his move to FL (with my dog, whom I had to leave behind when I first moved down) and it's been happily-ever-after since.

We got engaged a couple of days before the 2 year anniversary of him finding me on facebook!

BTW- I am LOVING everyone's stories!

rustic1

My Cousins' wife tried to hook me up with this guy for a couple years. I just wasn't that interested in starting a new relationship. It was an all about me world and I was very content with just working, taking care of my kids and hanging with friends. We both ended up at my cousins' Birthday party and we got introduced there. We had about a 5 sec. conversation and then my cousins' wife played match maker for a week or two. We had a couple very long phone conversations and decided to meet. Our first date was on January 29,10 and on June 3,11 he asked me to spend forever with him.

HeathenSwan

After I got over the shock of my first marriage ending, I felt like no one would ever want me again. I started thinking about what I wouldn't settle for again, and made the "Must Haves, Will Not Compromise" list in my head (I thought I was the only one, so was thrilled to read the previous posts!). I figured it was going to be unrealistic, but I didn't care, 

A few weeks later, I signed up for match.com just for chuckles, to see if I could still attract anyone. The people who contacted me were people I wasn't interested in (too normal, too much like my ex, short hair, you name it, I made an excuse for it).

After awhile, I decided to start Googling for dating sites that might have been more tailored to something on my list; gamers, metal music fans, etc. I found a site called metaldating.com (now defunct) and created a profile. I talked to a lot of different people and made some friends. Mostly, they were too young, lived in Europe (a vast majority of the thousand people on the site were from Europe), or justweren't right. 

About a month after I signed up, I saw a profile of a new user. I read it and couldn't believe how absolutely perfect he was. Everything he mentioned was either something on my list, or some unusual shared interest (Finnish mysticism, for example). And he only lived two states away! I was too afraid to send him a message, but decided if he didn't contact me within 48 hours, I would suck it up and contact him. Within 8 hours of seeing his profile, he messaged me. 

We emailed for over a year, the talked on the phone a lot. As we got to know each other, I found out that he and I were a lot alike, and that he checked every box on this silly list We were both extremely interested in the other, but thought that each other was out of our league. So it stayed as friends. In that time, he moved to the state that was between us, to a city that I had planned to visit anyway (I had a friend I met playing World of Warcraft who lived there and I was going to visit him and his girlfriend). He and I decided we should get together for drinks.

The day we met, I had my mom and step-father with me (we had all traveled together), and he had friends who had come into town to watch the World Cup with him. We ended up realising that the other's feelings were the same as our own and we got together that day. I stayed with him a week longer than I had planned. 

For the next three months, we visited every 3-4 weeks, until I moved here to be with him. I've lived here a bit over a year, and he proposed to me on New Years night. 

(Sorry for the length, I tend to be long-winded)

Lisa50

We met on Yahoo! Personals.