Let’s Get Personal! Fantastic First Meets

Posted by on Dec 14, 2013 in Author, Blog, Let's Get Personal | 21 comments

Let’s have some fun with this.  Every month, I’ll have a different random, innocuous question that I’d love to ask as well as answer, and I invite all to participate in the conversation.  It’s always a kick to hear about others’ experiences, and I hope to meet some of you out there with a story to share.

This month’s theme: Fantastic First Meets:
Who has a great story to tell about how they met their partner? Was it serendipitous? Quirky? Romantic? Sizzling hot? Maybe it’s something that overlaps a number of different categories. The reason this particular theme comes to mind is because this month, I celebrate my 13th wedding anniversary with the most amazing partner anyone could ever have.

Here’s my story:

Seriously, it was fated.  I saw this man many places before I actually, officially met him.

It all started when a good friend convinced me to join a particular gym.  It was a great kickboxing/muay thai/boxing gym, and I went nearly every day, which was partly the inspiration for my badass female character Taylor in Quicksilver Dreams.  I was in the most amazing shape of my life. (You have this kind of time when you’re single, right?)  One day, I was on a treadmill warming up, waiting for my muay thai class to start when I looked up and over to the guy on the treadmill next to mine.  A tall, hot guy was getting on it, but…truly… I didn’t think anything of it.  I was there for a serious workout, you know?  And so was he.  He had ear buds in, and barely spared me a glance before he was on the machine going at a serious pace.  This was all, and I went on to finish my time on the cardio machine before joining the muay thai class that was starting.

A week later, I was out with afore-mentioned good friend again.  This time, we’d just parked in a parking garage in Pasadena, ready for a night out on the town.  As we got out of our car, I saw the guy again.  He was walking toward the elevator with another woman, and I still didn’t show much interest other than to say casually to my friend, “That guy goes to our gym.”  I jokingly referred to him as the “treadmill guy”.

Okay, fast forward a few months and you’ll find me on my college campus taking some graduate level classes.  As I was walking down a particular hallway, I see him again.  This time, he’s dressed in casual clothes, and is pushing a cart containing an overhead projector and an assortment of teaching materials.  I was finding humor in that I’d seen this guy in so many places, and grinned at him.  I sort of paused and stared at him as he walked by, likely giving him the impression that I knew him.  He gave me a smile and cocked a finger at me in a friendly shootout and kept walking.

Here’s the final jump in time which puts me a few quarters ahead in terms of the school calendar, nearly to the end of my academic program.  There was a class I’d been avoiding, a science class.  I had always been into literature and writing and cringed with the knowledge that I had to take this class.  In spite of being a mature, graduate student, I was still suffering PTSD from my high school science classes and was not looking forward to taking this class.  A friend who was going through the academic program with me pointed out a particular section of the class in the schedule of classes I was perusing. She said it was a good class.

There I was, sitting in class, waiting for my professor to walk in.  Guess who walks in?  Yup.  It was the treadmill guy.  Huge surprise.  I wondered if I should stay after class and share that I’d had these serendipitous glimpses of him in so many places.  Would he find it to be a cool coincidence or just creepy?  When the class ended, I slooowwwly got my things together, waiting until most everyone left, before approaching.  I didn’t want an audience for this.  He gave me a nice, friendly smile when I went up to talk with him.  He was gathering his materials and organizing them on his traveling cart.  I started by saying, “You know, we go to the same gym.”  And you know what he said?

“I thought you looked familiar.”

My husband of 13 years was once my professor!

21 Comments

  1. 12-14-2013

    Great story! I like happy endings 🙂

    • 12-15-2013

      There’s no better kind of story. I let real life be the bearer of reality.

  2. 12-14-2013

    Soooo cute! You should make that into a book!

    • 12-14-2013

      I’ve taken some of my husbands real life dialogue in writing my male character in Quicksilver dreams. He unknowingly helps me write my books. He asked me if I was going to give away all our secrets. (-; I promised him I wouldn’t, but my fingers were kind of crossed.

  3. 12-14-2013

    Obviously it was all Fated To Be LOL…really enjoyed reading the way you two met.

    • 12-14-2013

      It not only makes me laugh when I think of all the ways we saw each other, but it makes the world feel somehow more magical.

  4. 12-14-2013

    How funny is that! Great story, Danube.

  5. 12-14-2013

    I love this story. It truly was meant to be. Life just kept hitting y’all over your thick heads! 😉

  6. 12-14-2013

    I never knew this whole story until now! Thanks for sharing! xoxo

    • 12-14-2013

      I thought you knew! This is the whole story minus the parts I wouldn’t want my kids to read. (-;

  7. 12-14-2013

    Thanks for sharing your how you met story, I totally love those! Welcome to the blogosphere!

    • 12-14-2013

      I think it’s so fun to hear how people met. I’m hoping someone else might share a fun fantastic meet. (-;

  8. 12-15-2013

    Great story! I’d love to hear your husband’s take on your meeting in class. (Guys often remember things differently, for some reason.)

    Did he ask you out before the end of the term? Or did he think he shouldn’t hit on one of his students? Did you have to meet clandestinely? Maybe he passed you love notes on your returned papers.

    You know, like “Grade – B- Care to join me for coffee after class?” Any way it happened, I bet it was fantastic.

    PS I married my boss. Our meeting wasn’t so exotic but his proposal was unexpected.
    He encouraged me to join the company bowling league and then volunteered to drive me home afterwards. This went on for weeks and people kept coming up to whisper, “So, what’s the story with you two?”

    Then he asked me on a date. I had about decided that I would find out if he wanted to get serious, and if so, I would leave the company so I wouldn’t feel I was giving him a conflict of interest. (I had only been working there a few months.)

    He took me to the Queen Mary for dinner, but our table wasn’t ready. We had drinks and I had just gotten up the courage to ask him if he wanted to date seriously, when he popped the question! Yikes.

    I opened my mouth and –the waiter appeared to tell us our table was ready. I love to eat but I can honestly say I was not into any kind of meal at that point. After an awkward ordering and the salad course, which neither of us ate, we looked at each other and he told the waiter that we had to leave,

    It took me a few days but I said ‘yes’ and we’ve been happily married ever since. It was the best decision of my life.

    • 12-15-2013

      That is a great story!

      Our attraction was pretty immediate, but we held off for the quarter, as hard as that was to do, because I wouldn’t have wanted either one of us to seem trivial or cheesy, you know? We hung out a lot – we started meeting up at the gym at the same time and getting food after, during which time we had these long, amazing talks. By the end of the quarter, it was just obvious we were crazy for each other, and it was great that we had held off physically because it made us really connect mentally. Once the quarter was over, however, all limitations were lifted. Whew!

      We met at the beginning of spring quarter (Feb), started dating in about June, got engaged in August and got married in December.

      BTW, when he told me he thought I looked familiar, he later admitted it was a lie, but defended himself by saying what else was he going to say to a cute girl who came up to talk to him?

      13 years and a set of identical twins later…could not imagine being any happier. (-;

  9. 12-16-2013

    What a great story Danube! My husband and I met in university too, but we were both students. We took Sociology 201 together. Great class!

    • 12-16-2013

      Hi Jana,
      Isn’t it a great place to meet people of similar minds and hearts? I’ve known a number of people who met in college classes. One of my great friends told me he was in Spanish class when he saw this beautiful girl across the room and decided he was going to become the A student so he could “help” her if she needed it. They’ve been married a bunch of years now. I just love a great love story.

  10. 12-16-2013

    Great post Danube.Lovely to know you’re so happy together. Long may it last.

    • 12-17-2013

      Thanks so much! We’ve worked hard at it. One of our favorite phrases is, “Marriage ain’t for sissies!” Definitely something that takes courage and honesty, right?

  11. 12-19-2013

    I found your blog the other day while on my phone. I read your “love and marriage” story and had to laugh. I passed my phone to my hubby of 20 years, so he could read it. I commented to him that it was kind of similar to ours in the “serendipitous” kind of way. He read it, passed back my phone, and asked, “How in the heck was our meeting ‘serendipitous’?” Sheesh. I’ll let him read this after I finish my long story!
    In 7th grade I had to ride the city bus to and from school. After school, when I got off the bus, I’d walk to the library to do homework and wait for my mom to pick me up. One day, early in the school year, I was diligently working on my homework, when a boy walked in. I couldn’t stop glancing up at him as he handled his library business. He was unlike any boy I was used to seeing. I went to private school for elementary and was used to very clean-cut boys: short hair, shirts tucked in, etc. This boy wore cut-off jean shorts (very raggedy), a black (untucked) t-shirt that had on it a scary skeleton type creature, and dirty Vans. His hair was shaggy and brushing his shoulders. VERY interesting. As the years progress, I continue to see him on occasion in the library. Eventually, I even see him driving around town first in a Brady Bunch style station wagon and then in a white mustang. As always, I couldn’t keep my eyes away from him.
    Fast forward to 10th grade. I got hired at the local KFC. One day, I see the now familiar white mustang pull into the parking lot. Oh my goodness, I’d have to take this “boy’s” order. Only I didn’t. He knew the other employees and walked into the office portion of our store. I was finally introduced to the rough-looking boy. Turns out, he had worked there the previous year. He’d then been in a bad car accident and had to quit for his long recovery. Now, he was looking for work again. Again, oh my goodness, I start working with this boy. He and I become great friends. I find that under that rough exterior was a boy with a heart of gold. I fall for him hard. Junior year, I finally get up the courage to tell him that I have a crush on him. I tell him while we are closing KFC for the night. After I finish telling him, I run out the door, jump into my car, and floor it home. I am so embarrassed. It is about 10:30-ish when I get home. I share with my mom that I finally told that boy that I like him. The phone rings and my heart stops. I’m not supposed to get calls after 9pm. My dad’s about to answer it, but my mom stops him and lets me answer. It’s the boy. He tells me that he’s flattered and that I’m a great girl, but he’s not looking to have a girlfriend right now. I’m sobbing by now in my embarrassment. He tells me not to cry, there’s no need, we’re still great friends. Sheesh. Life goes on. We are still great friends. We are part of a bunch of kids that hang out together. I date other people. I go to both proms with other boys. I even have boyfriends. BUT, there’s still part of my heart that has his name imprinted.
    Fast forward to the summer after I graduate from high school (and it’s the summer after his freshman year in college). We are all still hanging out in a big group. Then, we start hanging out with a smaller group. Then just the two of us. Then we finally kiss. Talk about hearts soaring and fireworks exploding.
    Fast forward four years. We are married. Fast forward again. Now, here we are. Married 20 years and two great, rambunctious, crazy boys later. Serendipitous?? I think so.

    • 12-20-2013

      I thought I recognized this story!!! It’s a great one. I love it. And those two rambunctious boys are way cool kids. See? It just feels right to have the right ending. And they lived happily ever after…always with a few small bumps along the way because sometimes boys are hardheaded. (-;

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