How did your parents meet?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

It was during the Korean War. Dad enlisted in the US Navy (a clever trick to keep from getting drafted into the army) and was assigned to a ship stationed in Barcelona, Spain, to do a tour of duty in the Mediterranean. On his way there, he had to make a stop in a small town in Pennsylvania and spent an evening at the USO Hall, where Mom often went to dance with the servicemen. They’d often ask for her address so they could write to her, and she’d usually politely turn them down, but on impulse she gave it to Dad when he asked. They fell in love through their letters, and when Dad came home, he brought a mantilla that Mom wore as her wedding veil.

My mother- and father-in-law met because their homeroom teacher in secondary school liked alphabetical seating arrangements. His last name is Haug, her maiden name was Hauge. They’ve been together since they were 15 years old.

Fella bilong missus flodnak and I met through BITNET Relay in 1987.

22

My dad was 17, mom was 16, I think. Or 18, and 17. Either way. Dad worked at a Safeway (grocery store) maybe four blocks from my mom’s house, and she happened to go in there shopping while he was working one day…he saw her once, and followed her around the whole store. As she was shopping she’d turn around and notice him arranging something, on every single aisle she went to. So she, being quite the clever one, went to the “feminine” aisle, and sure enough, when she turned around this time he didn’t quite know what to (pretend to) arrange!! He quite awkwardly introduced himself, they went to a few proms, on the eve of one I was concieved, got married for a few years and after that they went their separate ways. But it’s a cute meeting, if I ever heard one.

23

My mom was a waitress at a restaurant chain called Sambo’s. My Mom spilled coffee on my father while in the company of his ex-wife and his cousin. :smiley:

-Sam

24

Well, I’ve read some romatic posts here. This won’t be one of them, because it can be summed up in one sentence.

My Mom met my Dad because he had slept with most of her friends.

::wiping tears from eyes::

25

I have no idea how my mother met my real father, but I LOVE the story of how she met my stepfather.

Mom was 19, on a very rare evening out–it’s kinda tough to go out all the time when you’re in college and have a 3-year-old. So she went to a local hangout with a platonic male friend of hers. Upon entering the bar, she scanned the crowd, and her eye caught my tall, dark, and handsome stepfather. Her friend caught her looking at him and said, “Don’t even think about it. He’s bad news.”

Mom looked at her buddy and deadpanned, “I guess I’ll just have to marry him.”

Five minutes of checking one another out across the crowded bar later, my burly, Harley-riding, tattooed stepfather crossed the bar, dropped down on one knee in front of my mother, and kissed her hand, right in front of her friend and everyone else.

They’ve been together ever since.

My aunt also has a really cute, if hilarious, story as to how she met her husband. She, her sister, and a bunch of other women were having a girls’ night out. While sitting at the table in their favorite bar and drinking, my aunt spotted an INCREDIBLY drunk man walking toward her. As she tells it, he had to close one eye just to be able to walk straight.

“Ya wanna dance?” he slurred.

“No thanks,” my aunt said, politely.

Of course, being drunk, he kept pestering her. Finally, my frustrated aunt said, “I can’t, I’m a lesbian,” and planted a huge kiss on her SISTER, who happened to be sitting next to her. The man stammered and went away.

Six months later, my aunt was dating some random guy, when she was introduced to a friend of his. She kept thinking he looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place him. The guy, however, hardly spoke to her or looked at her. After he left, she told her then-boyfriend, “I don’t think your friend Edward likes me that much.”

“Nonsense,” the guy replied. “He’s just kinda shy.”

She and the guy eventually broke up, but not before she and Edward became friends. A while later, my aunt asked what was up when they first met.

Turns out (I bet you saw this coming) that Edward was the drunk guy in the bar. He explained that he had just broken up with his girlfriend that night and had probably never been so drunk in his life. But he remembered my aunt, even through that. And when he was somehow placed in her presence by complete accident six months later, he realized that it wasn’t just beer goggles.

They eventually got married and now have two adorable kids.

26

In the early 60’s, my mom took cosmetology classes and rode the bus to and from school. One day my dad was hanging out with his friends when he saw my mother get off the bus. He tried to whistle when she walked by but forgot that he couldn’t whistle. Mother was not impressed. He grabbed her books and asked if he could walk her home. She didn’t really want him to but recognized his determination so she told him he could walk her to the corner. He carried them to her house and deposited them on the porch.

He invited her out several times and she always declined. Still, he would show up at her house dressed to take her to the dance or the movies. Eventually he wore down her resistance and they began to date.

They’ve been married for 35 years. My dad still puts his hands over his heart and says “For me it was love at first sight but your mom hated my guts.” And she’ll reply “I didn’t hate your guts. I just couldn’t stand you.”

27

My parents met on an STCUM number 80 Avenue du Parc bus at the corner of Fairmount and du Parc.

Some five years later (I’m a little hazy on dates), I was born, on the fifteenth anniversary of the inauguration of the STCUM Métro system.

Coincidence?

28

My parents grew up in the same church together, going to Sunday school in the same class for essentially all of their upbringing. Honestly, I don’t know if they remember a time they didn’t know each other.

My mother and father apparently had an on-again, off-again relationship in high school. My father was Mr. Charming–the captain of the football team, president of the senior class, loved buzzing around on his motorcycle (that he hid from his mother–to this day she doesn’t know he had it), etc.–but he was also a flirt and a half. He told me that he once made it his goal to date every single member of the cheerleading squad. Grinning, he added, “And I did, too.” I wasn’t impressed. Neither, apparently, was Mom. My grandmother (Mom’s mom) told me she remembered a time that Mom was so annoyed with my father during one of their “off-again” times that she lamented, “I wouldn’t marry him if he was the last person on Earth!”

They just celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary. :slight_smile:

29

You know, I have no idea how my parents actually met. All I know is that my father was a young Army Spec. 4 stationed at the Nike missile site in Painesville, OH in 1965, where my mother was a senior in high school. However they met, they managed to endure each other’s company for 19 years and produce two children before divorcing in 1984.

30

My parents met twice, actually. They were both counselors at the same summer camp and vaguely knew each other. My mother even set my dad up with a friend of hers, and they dated all summer. No sparks there.

Years later they were both psychology students. My mother was in college, and my father was working on his masters. He was conducting a tachistiscope experiment: a machine flashed cards in front of the participants at high speed, and the participant would try to read the word on each card before it disappeared. My mother was the participant, and apparently she missed all of the obscene words but picked up on all of the happy, luvvy-duvvy words. So my father takes out the “FUCK” card, writes “YOU” on it, and gives it to my mom. Oh, and he asked her out, too. He was always such a kidder.

Regards,
MR

31

My parents met on a blind date. My dad was friends with my mom’s sister, Dan, who decided to set them up. Dan also decided to have some fun with them. He arranged their first date to a Mozart Requium Mass (Romantic, eh?) Anyway, he told my Mom that my dad was into that, and my dad vice versa, so they went on the date. Halfway through, my mom turned to my dad and said “Do you really like this stuff?” This cleared it up, and they left the Mass early. Then, my mom said that she’d call my dad, which was good enough for him. About 2 months later, he got a call from her, yelling and asking why HE hadn’t called HER. They got back together, and dated off and on for 2 years, until my mom basically asked my dad “Are you going to marry me or not?” My dad said that once he graduated law school, he would, and the rest is history.

32

Mom was born in St. Paul, MN, the only child of a single mother. Much of her childhood was spent in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dad and his siblings grew up in an orphanage in Racine, Wisconsin. When his brother enlisted in the Navy for WWII, Dad lied about his age and followed. After basic training in Great Lakes, IL, he was stationed on board a destroyer escort. I know that Mom once worked as a librarian, most likely in Honolulu, and Dad’s DE was in Pearl Harbor for a while. One of Dad’s war stories is how he injured his wrist while roller-skating in Honolulu. I bet they met at either the library or the roller rink.

33

Mom was born in St. Paul, MN, the only child of a single mother. Much of her childhood was spent in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dad and his siblings grew up in an orphanage in Racine, Wisconsin. When his brother enlisted in the Navy for WWII, Dad lied about his age and followed. After basic training in Great Lakes, IL, he was stationed on board a destroyer escort. I know that Mom once worked as a librarian, most likely in Honolulu, and Dad’s DE was in Pearl Harbor for a while. One of Dad’s war stories is how he injured his wrist while roller-skating in Honolulu. I bet they met at either the library or the roller rink.

34

My father was a Marine. He was an embassy guard at the American Embassy in Kuwait. My mother worked in the embassy, as a clerk for the CIA.

One of dad’s duties was to go around at night, and try to find mistakes, or spying. Checking desk drawers, underneath pads, carbon paper in the trash can, that sort of thing. Dad thought mom was cute, and had a sort of crush on her.

One day, Mom messed up. She left a secret document in a place where it could have been found. Dad came in that night, checked the area, and found it.

Dad was the kind of person that accepted no mistakes. Part of the reason he shot up the ranks as fast as he did was his absolute non-acceptance of anything that was not directly between the lines.

So, he hid the file. He took it, and returned it to her the following morning.

After a few months of dating, they were leaving for California, to be married. If memory serves me right, the telegram she got when she got to Alabama to see her family said something to the effect of: “Do not go to California. I am in Vietnam.”

After 6 months, and a “million dollar wound”, dad came back, and married mom, cast on his leg and everything.

They’ve been married over 30 years now.

35

My mom ran away from home while at a university in Sweden, came to the United States. Ended up working in the UN as a translator for some time. She had been moving all her childhood from one European country to another, and knew several languages. German, English, Swiss(?), Swedish, French, Hebrew, and Spanish.
My father had just gotten through two wars in Israel (six day and the Yom Kippur), after escaping from Roumania first and making enough money to help the rest of his family get out of Communist Roumania and over to Israel, he left for the United States hoping to make a decent living. He had been working on cars for the Nazi’s as a child when they had occupied his home in Hungary, then for the Communists when they took over, and finally in Israel for the army there. He took some extra training here in the states and then started his own shop with his brother in law.
My dad was throwing a party for his 28th Birthday, and a friend of his knew my mom, asked her to bring some friends so my dad could hook up with one. The two of them ended up finding their own chemistry, and after a few weeks, my father asked my mother to marry him.

36

I forgot to mention that the first place I ended up living on my own in Manhattan was the very first place coincedentally that my dad lived in when he moved here (NYC). Same exact building.
My parents have been married now for 26 years. :slight_smile:

Makes me proud.

37

In college, my mom was involved in the independent student’s union (all the people who weren’t in the greek system). She was elected to be their candidate for “queen” or something, I guess for homecoming. She needed a date, and someone set her up with my Dad (blind date).

3 months later, they married. And it’s coming up on 40 years.

The thing is, my Dad was almost never IN college. He was working construction, but always drawing. Someone told him he should take an art class. I don’t know how he did it, because his family was poorer than poor. But he did end up in college, studying art. And stayed–with Mom to support him, he went all the way through to the doctorate, and he’s been an art professor for over 30 years.

The construction skills still come in handy, though,

38

My parents met in a bar.
My dad was 30 and my mom was 19.
They got married in a Las Vegas chapel.

Their 30th anniversary was in April.

Now, don’t THAT beat all odds. heh.

39

I have no idea how they met. The more important question is, who sold them the drugs they must have taken that convinced them that they were a good match?

40

My parents were high school sweethearts. My mom grew up in Pasadena, but the family spent summers at the beach, where my dad lived. They met one day when my mom was waiting in her friend’s car for a ride home. It was a convertible. All of a sudden, three or four guys jumped into the back seat from the car, scaring her to death. They were all football players or wrestlers, and one was my future dad. They explained that mom’s friend had offered them a ride home. Mom was non-plussed but went along with it. The beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Mom & dad ended up dating in high school & college, going to the same church, etc. My mom even got to spend weekends at my grandparents house to be able to spend time with my dad. Their first apartment was over the beauty salon across the street from his parents.

They just celebrated their 36th anniversary, and I couldn’t be more proud. It seems like so many people’s parents are divorced. We went to the same schools, churches, camps, etc, as my parents, and hubby & I were married in the same church. My parents now live in the same beach house my grandfather bought for $4500 in the 1950’s, where dad grew up.

I think it’s so romantic!

PS- that group of friends from high school still get together, go on trips, etc- after raising their kids, they are still close!