I was born in Mexico, raised in Richmond, and have lived in NYC for 15 years. Bryan was born in South Africa and has lived in NYC for 14 years. We met because we lived in the same apartment building literally right next door to each other. I lived in Apartment A2 and Bryan lived in Apartment A4. I was living with my best friend Abbey and when we met Bryan, we all became buddies. We hung out for months but I tried to keep things with him platonic because I was nervous that dating a neighbor would make things complicated. However, after a night out together in East Village and one too many tequila shots, everything changed. The rest is history. Eventually, I moved into Bryans apartment. Easiest move ever. I literally picked up my clothes and carried them next door. Bryan and I have now been together for eight years and married for five. We still live in the same apartment next to my best friend Abbey and are one big happy family. It's a true "Friends" scenario here on East 7th Street.
A few minutes before noon on April 15, 1986 I hurried out of my office, slightly late to meet my friend Jim. I told the receptionist, “out to lunch" walking toward the elevator lobby. I pushed the down button and anxiously waited for one of the eight sets of doors to open. Ding! I stood in front of the opening doors. A young woman squeezed out of the crowded elevator, and I stepped back to let her off before entering. She smiled politely and turned to walk toward reception. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Enormous gray-green eyes. Flowing blue dress. Just wow. Another man in the elevator leaned out to watch her walk away. I took a step forward to enter the elevator, then stopped. Fortune favors the bold. I then turned and walked back toward reception as she asked to speak to one of the lawyers, apparently a distant relative. I mentioned that I was heading that way and offered to escort her to his office. Within a few minutes, I had finagled an invitation to join them for lunch. Of course, I’d be standing up my friend Jim at the restaurant. He’d understand. Lunch was amazing. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was smart, funny, and charming. A few days later, after our first “official” date, I knew she was The One. After our second date, I knew we we would get married. After our third date, we were essentially living together. The truly miraculous part is that we ever even met because our lives did not intersect in any way. My wife was from Decatur, Illinois and lived in Evanston, Illinois. She was a professional singer-dancer who worked at night and rarely came downtown. I was from a northern suburb of Chicago, living and working as a lawyer downtown. There was absolutely zero overlap in our lives. No one I knew, knew anyone she knew. If she’d caught one more stoplight, or if I'd left my office 15 seconds earlier, or if any one of the seven other elevator doors had opened a half-second earlier, I would have never met her. On our 25th anniversary, we went back to 180 N. LaSalle Street in Chicago and took a photo at that same 34th floor elevator with our four grown kids. True story.
I just moved into a new place and had FiOS installed, but it wasn't working on my computer. Called the customer service center and spent four hours that evening with the CSR while he helped me fix my computer. We had lots of down time because I was constantly restarting the computer and we would chat about whatever. We hung up with a plan to talk the next night because I had to get some antivirus software. He called the next night and same thing - talked for hours while he worked on my computer. At the end I was really bummed because I thoroughly enjoyed talking to him. I just wanted to be friends with him. For the next five days I checked that email account, hoping he would contact me. Finally, he did. He sent a simple email asking if my computer was working well still. I responded, and from there we began chatting privately. In two weeks he sent me flowers. We met seven weeks later, when we each drove two hours to meet in between our two homes. We've been together ever since. We would take turns visiting every weekend for a year. We missed three weekends that whole year. Then he moved up to be with me.
How did I meet Mason you ask? He photo bombed a picture I was taking with some girlfriends and then I said hey come here and I took a pic with just him! We did not talk the rest of the evening, he left the establishment and so did I. We did not know each other, I just thought the moment was funny. A couple days later I posted the pictures and a friend of mine tagged him on FB and said "how do you know Mason?" I said "I don't! He was cute and jumped in the pic!" A little time went by and he finally messaged me and we hit it off right from the start. However the strange thing is we should have met way before now. We lived across the street from each other but never met. We were at a concert together 5 feet away and never knew one another, but he can point out where he was in a picture I posted! We were at the same theater showing of a popular movie on the same night, at the same time and there were 4 other theaters showing the same film. We both have chalked it up to the stars just weren't aligned for us yet, but now things are wonderful and for the first time ever I am saying "thank God for social media!"
7. u/1ozbaggie met his wife at a college neither of them went to.
We both randomly went to a party at UMass Dartmouth. Neither of us went there, but we had friends that dormed together. We both lived in Massachusetts, but on opposite ends of the state, in towns that we didn't even know existed. My friend and her friend both got drunk and disapeared, and we were left to ourselves. We shared a bag of doritos at 3am, and 8 years later we're married with 2 1/2 year old twins.
8. Brian's worst date turned into his best date.
"Is it awkward if I stare? Is it awkward if he's staring? Ok, this is really awkward." These were the thoughts running through my head over the hour I spent trying to discreetly stare at Brian. But he was sitting next to another woman. "Is that his date? Why would he be staring at me if he was with someone else? Maybe they're just friends." Wishful thinking. The man of my dreams was now leaving with his date. How typical. The wedding planner who coordinates the ceremonies to celebrate everyone else's love, and yet, I'm alone. Twenty minutes later, I see him again. This time he's running back into the bar and B lining it towards me. Panting, he says, "Hey! I'm Brian. I'm not sure if you noticed, but I've been staring at you all night while I was on the worst blind date ever." I was speechless. He continued, "I just walked her home and had to come see if you were still here." As I stared at him, my friend nudged me to respond. We then spent the rest of the night walking around Newport and learning all about each other. Unfortunately, I found out that Florida was home for Brian, and he would be leaving to head back in 2 weeks. Lucky for us, it only took one night to decide we would battle through the distance. Our magical movie-like night has since been topped by many incredible adventures together. He continues to be the reason I wake up every morning with the biggest smile on my face.
9. Their moms had it planned since pregnancy.
Our moms have been best friends since high school, so they were thrilled when they found out they were pregnant at the same time. They were due the EXACT same day, but I ended up beating Adam by 3 weeks. I grew up in Denver, CO while Adam's family lived in Westchester, NY. Growing up, my mom would always tell me about her best friend’s son, but all I knew was that we lived weirdly parallel lives. I would fall off my bike and scrape my leg and the next week he would randomly do the same. I should have known how things would turn out. In high school, my family decided to take a trip to Westchester to visit Adam's family, and we instantly clicked. We became best friends and continued to talk all the time. During Senior year, Adam called me one day and asked me to go to prom with him. I couldn't have been more excited. I booked my plane ticket and before I knew it, I was on my way back to Manchester again for a weekend that would change my life. Adam kissed me during the last slow song and it was then I realized we were meant to be together. We're both away at different colleges now, but our relationship is still going strong. We see each other once a month and are planning to move in together after we graduate. I’m convinced our moms planned it to be this way all along.
10. u/hyulz's parents, California dreamers:
How my parents met each other: My dad picked my mom up while she was hitchhiking in California. They've been together for 40 years now.
11. She put a permanent mark on his skin, and then a permanent mark on his heart.
I met him when he came to me for a tattoo. He told me the meaning behind it and also a bit about himself and I was intrigued. Six months later, we were both newly single when he messaged me about getting another tattoo. It was a more extensive piece of artwork this time so we decided to meet at Starbucks beforehand to go over the design. I was running behind so I texted him and said, "I'm gonna be a little latte." The next day, I tattooed him for about 4 hours. The session was filled with intense conversation and awkward eye gazes. Afterwards, I rushed out because my heart was beating out of my chest. I then texted him later on to see if he wanted to come to an art show with me. The rest is history. We fell in love fast and hard and were engaged 8 months later. I found my lifelong adventure partner through pursuing my passion.
12. Their friends' wedding was dance floorshadowing.
Levi and I met when two of our close friends asked us to be in their wedding party. At the rehearsal dinner, Levi caught my eye immediately with his red hair and big smile. I introduced myself but spent the rest of the night trying not to seem too available. During the wedding ceremony, Levi and I met on the dance floor and stayed there all night. The photo on the top was captured of us at our friends wedding, and the photo on the bottom is of us 2.5 years later dancing those same crazy moves at our own wedding. We are just two dancing fools who are very much in love.
13. u/malmoite found his Swedeheart thanks to Couchsurfing.
Couchsurfing.com
I had just graduate from uni and was selling everything to go backpack around Europe for the first time. I got on this new website called couchsurfing and posted a topic looking for recommendations of places to go and things to see. This girl responds by telling me Sweden is a pretty cool place and I crash on the couch at her place. It is Sept 2006.
I loathe communicating through email, but for some reason kept in contact with her throughout my travels. Four months later I ran out of money and left back to the states. Around the same time she graduated and went traveling, for 7 months, through New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and Cali. Then almost exactly a year after she responded to my first post she asked if she could couchsurf with me in Oregon. We finally met on October 13th 2007.
We got along great but it wasnt until she was set to leave less than a week later that we both began to realize there was something more. While she was waiting for her flight in NYC back to Sweden on October 30th I confessed that I didnt want her to go and she responded in kind.
The next week I bought my ticket to see her, and her family, in Sweden for January 2008- .
I apply for a Swedish Residency Permit in February.
She flys out to visit again for April
I get approved for residency in June
I move out to Sweden August 03, 2008
We have been living together since then, I have been back to the states once, and I have never once questioned my decision.
If you read this E, Jag alskar dig.
In 1998, when we were 5 years old, we were forced to walk down the aisle together as the ring bearer and flower girl in a family/ friend's wedding. Actually, only he was forced because I was very excited. I had a huge crush on him, but he hated me. After the wedding, we didn't see each other again for years. Then in middle school, we ran into each other at a church event, and that's when Adrian says his feelings for me began to change. We lost touch after that and didn't reconnect until we were both in high school and I went to hear Adrian preach for a youth service at his church. We started dating shortly after that and got engaged in November of 2014. This past September, we walked down the aisle together in the same church as we did 17 years ago. Except this time as husband and wife.
In 1975, we exchanged addresses through a Barbara Streisand fan club and began writing each other. Together we had a combined collection of 15,000 pictures. We were pen pals for five years before ever meeting in person. I lived in England at the time and she lived in Brooklyn. The first time I met Jackie in person was when I flew to New York in September of 1980. I returned to England afterwards feeling very love sick. The second time I went to visit her was in December over the Christmas holiday, and that's when I asked her to be my wife. I was a bit worried that I was rushing into it, but I knew she was the one for me. On my third visit to New York, we were married at The Plaza Hotel, which is where Barbara Streisand's famous movie "The Way We Were" was filmed. We were married for 33 years until sadly she passed away in 2013. I share our story in an effort to keep her memory alive and to inspire all the other hopeless romantics out there.
