It’s either because I write romance or because I’m incredibly nosy, but one of the first things I’ll usually ask someone when I’m getting to know them is, “How did you and your husband meet?” I’ll admit it, I love it when they come back with one of those love stories that you’re liable to see going viral on Facebook. (Several recent examples come to mind: the flower girl and ring bearer who ended up marrying one another years later or the man who was inadvertently logged into a random stranger’s Facebook account for several weeks who then, after the glitch was fixed, became friends with the girl and they ended up married.) But I also love the every day love stories.
A new friend of mine and her husband grew up together because their moms are best friends. They’d never had any interest beyond friendship until one day, wham, it just kind of hit. They were married very shortly thereafter and are now expecting their first baby in January.
Other friends of mine are high school sweethearts. (I love the high school sweethearts stories–though I’ll also admit that I knew, even in high school, that none of the guys I dated were marriage material. I always just kind of knew I’d meet my husband in college.)
More friends, as well as me and my husband, are college sweethearts and friends who slowly fell in love. In fact, had you asked me my freshman year if I was interested in the man I married, I would have laughed at you. He was my best friend, my source of sanity in Calculus, and a great guy to grab ice cream with, but the thought of kissing him? Ick. But the summer between freshman and sophomore year, as we wrote letters and (because we were both nerdy computer science majors and on the cutting edge of things) sent the occasional email (it’s true! Back in 1993, email was a rarity!) things began to change. He was still my best friend (20 years later, that’s still true), but the thought of him kissing someone else had suddenly become the thing that made me say ick. And so, with very little pomp, we talked over coffee when we got back to campus and that, as they say, was that.
And while a story like that isn’t going viral anytime soon, what I love about the every day love story is the quiet, constant hum of love that runs underneath and through the stories. As fun as the crazy love stories are, there’s something warm and comforting about the every day ones. That shows in my books, as well. I definitely tend toward the every day love story — friends who fall in love, or rekindle lost romance is much more likely than being swept away on a starlit night by a prince in disguise. That said, I love to read both kinds.
What about you? I’d love to hear how you and your significant other met — or what kind of love story you prefer to read — or both!
Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace on their way to their own romantic happily ever after.
Elizabeth, I like to ask that question, too. People usually go all warm and mushy and tell great stories about how they fell in love. Your nerdy love story made me smile… I remember when email was first a thing, too.
I enjoyed this post, Elizabeth. I have never thought to ask people how they met. I think I might start doing that. :)
Enjoyed your love story. Mine is somewhat similar. Don and I had been friends all through high school and went to church and were in youth group together. I even went on vacation with him and his mom and dad a couple of times just as friends. After high school, I moved out of town and he was drafted was sent to Germany. A couple of Christmases later he was home on leave and I was home for for the holidays and we re-connected. By the time he went back to Germany, we knew it was more than friendship and we were engaged. His mom told me later than she was wondering when we would figure it out that we were supposed to be more than friends. God called him home after we had been married 31 years in 1997, but we had a wonderful and blessed 31 years and I will see him again one day.
My husband and I met in high school. He was the annoying guy who’d lean against the wall in his seat and watch me across the room. But we were an item before graduation and married 3 years later (35 years ago now).
Yeah. It’s hard to fathom how different it all was. We even would use “talk” if we’re both remotely logged into the school system at the same time. Sort of a pre-instant messaging type thing.
It’s a good ice breaker for sure.
Aww, what a sweet story! Thanks for sharing it!
See, that’s a fun story too, Valerie.:)
My husband and I met on the church bus. His girlfriend introduced us because we are both from Kansas. I thought he was really rude and he was in the back and couldn’t see who he was being introduced to. =) 3 or 4 semesters later they had broken up and we still went to the same church, worked the same shift, and ended up together in a class. He asked me to sit by him just to be nice, but I already had been interested in him for a while, so I was secretly very pleased. We started dating not long after.
Oh, I love secret crushes that turn into more!
I love love stories. It doesn’t matter if they start with friendship or hatred(I’ve heard there’s a fine line between the two).
Oooh – I don’t know many that begin with hatred and then ended up with a love story that lasted. At least not in real life (but I do love those in books. Wonder what that says about me? Maybe that I’m contrary. And I love an underdog.) :)
I am a Senior and wanted companionship..I met me husband online in 2010 and we married in 2011.
I met my husband through work at the Christmas party. It was love at first sight. I was sitting with a friend at a table with a few spots left open. This guy who had amazing long hair walked in and I’m like who’s that? And him and his friend sit at my table and my future husband is thinking that I’m the girl that his friend came there to meet. After dinner when everybody broke up to mingle, his friend had walked away to sit at the next table over with the girl he had wanted to talk to and my husband thought how rude. That’s when he found out that I was not the girl his friend had come to meet and not to long after that we started dating and married a couple years later. We’ve been married 18 years.
Loved reading everyones story!
Oh, I love that, Linda!
Funny! So glad it worked out for you two! :)
I love high school sweethearts love story (or past lovers reunion) because I would have married my high school sweetheart….sadly, he was the one that broke our engagement :-( But at the same token, I would not have met and married my husband in today’s world….I would have probably been going on 25+ years and a few kids later if it would have worked out!
My husband and I met when we were married to other people (many moons ago)….mine to an abusive husband and him in a happy marriage. I left my ex and fled with my young daughter (1994), & his wife died in a car accident (1995). I moved back home with my mom & stepdad and he called my house to let me know of his wife’s passing. She was a very dear friend & helped me to seek help and healing. It was totally a God thing because if he would have called even one day later, he would never gotten a hold of me because we were moving to a different apartment & the phone was due to be turned off the next day. So I gave him my new phone number and he called that next evening….thus began a beautiful friendship! We lived in different States at the time…him in Oregon and me in Illinois, so when we knew we wanted to get married, I moved to be with him. We courted for a few months & got married in 1997….when I look back at it, it was almost a whirlwind romance :-) But we each knew in our hearts what we wanted. The other incredible God thing, I didn’t want anything to do with men…I was done and going to raise my daughter on my own & be content to serve God as a single person. Obviously He had other plans for my life…,my husband even adopted my daughter when she was 7. There’s so much back-story to our romance that as I look back on it, it was totally God who orchestrated it all….it can’t possibly be explained away by anything human!! An incredible story and journey :-)
I’m a lot like you too, Elizabeth (my daughter’s name too!) in that I love to hear how people met & married. Guess we’re just two hopeless romantics :-) Thanks for letting me share a bit about my romance with my husband, I always love looking back to where we started & find how far we’ve come and how much our love has grown over the years! I love being in love with him :-)
What an amazing story, Trixi! How cool to see God moving so clearly like that – and I adore that your hubby adopted your daughter. I’m a sucker for stories like that – and now I know a real life one (beyond the original Yours, Mine, and Ours which is totally one of my top five movies. The original, now, not those travesties they called the remakes. Blech. :) )
Thank you so much for sharing with us!
I love your story! I met my husband while I was a waitress at the bowling center. :) We had kind of a rocky start, but soon realized it was love! And like you I LOVE hearing other’s stories of how they met. Thanks for sharing!
Trixi! What a great story! God did have other plans for you. :)
Linda–I’ve known many people who met online and fell in love. :)
Ann–don’t you love how mom knew? :)
Me too!
I met my husband through my brother. I had been in an abusive relationship, and was in a home for abused women for 6 weeks. When I got out of there, I moved in with my brother who was recently divorced. My brother was a Christian, and at the time, I was not. I was desperately searching for God, but not aware of it at that time. I just thought God couldn’t love someone like me. My brother tried to get it through my mind that God loves me, but I couldn’t grasp it! One day he came home from work and said he had a friend at work that he wanted me to talk to. He said his name is Steve, and he is a wonderful Christian and maybe he can do some good. My first thought and comment was “oh no, I am not interested in dating, and especially a Christian, because I know nothing about that!” My brother said, “please just talk to him, I am not asking you to date him.” So the next evening Steve came to talk to me. I was immediately comfortable with this man, and felt like I had known him for years. I couldn’t believe how kind and considerate he was. That was October 7, 2004, and there has not been one single day go by that I haven’t talked to Steve. We were married on June 28, 2006, and today, I am so grateful to God! I know this was all His beautiful plan! Oh there is so much more to our story, but if I keep going, I will end up being an author! :) ❤ Thank you for this post Elizabeth! It is so nice just being reminded of how amazing God is! I love looking back sometimes just to see how far God has carried me! :) ❤
Elizabeth, fun post! I love hearing how people fall in love ~ a fascination for all romance writers and many readers, I’m sure. I met my husband at our church and I knew he was ‘the one’ from very early on. We were engaged and married within a year, and we’ll be celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary in 2016 :)
Oh fun! Thanks for sharing, Lindi!
Oh…I love this story. I love seeing God work to bring healing and restoration.
Yay, congrats on your 20th! :)
Well, I’m late to the party…I apologize, Elizabeth. I love to hear the how we met stories too. My better half and I worked in the same building for three years without ever meeting. One night, while out listening to some jazz, we met. Turned out, my best friend had known him since grade school. I have a good friend who met her husband pre-internet days, through the personal ads in the newspaper.