a) I married at 26 (Mrs. Homie at 22)
b) 12 letters difference in our last names.
c) 321
d) Some seated us alphabetically, some did not.
Since the OP is seeking personal experiences, this is better suited to IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I met my wife in 11th grade. We were seated alphabetically in the one class we shared, and she was right behind me.
Graduated 1975, married 1981.
Same first two letters of our last names, 3rd letters separated by 6 (convenient, no monogram changes).
We’ve been married nearly 30 years now.
500 in our graduating class.
a) 19 years after high school (age 37)
b) 17 letters apart
c) 336 (spouse wasn’t from my high school or even from my home town)
b) yes
I married my high school sweetheart 5 years after I graduated from high school, 4 years after he graduated. (He’s a year and a half younger than I and was a grade below me.) I was 23 when we married, he 22. Our first names are separated by 3 letters (I’m an A, he’s a D); our last by 4 (D to H).
My class had 120 people, his maybe 110 or so? Entire high school about 500. (We’re from a small town.) I don’t remember the seating arrangements for the classes we shared, much. In Band he was behind me and to the right, other classes I don’t remember. Some had seating charts, some didn’t. In those that didn’t, we probably tried to sit next to each other, or behind each other. I think I remember first noticing him in Band, but he’s also very tall (and was in high school as well) so he stood out anyway.
Been married going on 11 years, together for nearly 18.
a) How many years out of high school did you marry?
12 years
b) How many letters different alphabetically is your last name from your spouse?
25. My first name starts with the letter A, hers starts with the letter Z.
c) How big was your high school graduating class?
I have no clue. It was 30 years ago and I can’t find my yearbook.
d) Did your teachers sit you alphabetically?
Again, no clue, but I doubt it. Who does this in high school?
ETA: I see your letter B was asking about last names. I also see I wasn’t the only one to misread this. Anyway, the letters between my last name and my wife’s maiden name is 3.
Out of school 14 years. Married someone who never lived in my city. 5 letters after.
a) 9 years.
b) 12 letters.
The latter two are kinda irrelevant because I didn’t marry until well after college, but
c) 80ish.
d) Not since elementary school.
Married 9 years after graduation, wife’s name is 15 letters from mine.
However, considering some girls I did go out with in high school, one had a last name two letters away from mine, but never sat near me. I met her while working in a school office. Another one I did go out with because of seating proximity, but her last name was 13 letters away from mine.
It occurs to me that I never once dated a girl in high school who was in the same classroom as me for any reason other than band. So yeah, I’m blowing all sorts of holes in the OP’s theory.
I’m only answering under protest. Specifically, the scientist portion of my mind is wailing and gnashing its teeth at the poor design of this study.
a) 14
b) 7, if you count her ex-husband’s name, which she was using at the time. 0, if you count her maiden name.
c) No idea. Hundreds?
d) Hell no.
And it should hopefully go without saying that we never knew each other in high school. Also, the girl I had a soul-destroying crush on in high school was 5 letters away. I knew her through orchestra, where the alphabet is the last thing considered in seating arrangements. We played different instruments, too.
Haha.
J.K. and C.L.
:o
I noted back in grade school that most of my friends had last names within one or two letters of mine, no doubt due to the seating chart that consistently placed us together.
Makes sense for grade school. However, in high school I rarely remember a teacher seating us by last name. I’m pretty sure there’d have been a mutiny.
12 years out of high school, G and B.
I don’t think you’re onto anything significant, here.
a) How many years out of high school did you marry? 18
b) How many letters different alphabetically is your last name from your spouse? 1
c) How big was your high school graduating class? about 450
d) Did your teachers sit you alphabetically? probably not, can’t remember
But to shore up your thesis, my husband and I were in the same squad in the army because we were sorted alphabetically, and we probably wouldn’t have gotten to know each other otherwise.
a) How many years out of high school did you marry? 25 years.
b) How many letters different alphabetically is your last name from your spouse? 7 letters. But we didn’t meet until middle-age.
c) How big was your high school graduating class? **135. It was a small all-girl parochial school. **
d) Did your teachers sit you alphabetically? In some classes, yes. Since I’m straight, I wasn’t going to marry any of my classroom “neighbors.” And thinking about it, I don’t think I ever became close friends with any of the girls who sat near me in classes with assigned seating either.
I think I can beat that.
It occurs to me that I never once dated a girl in high school.
a) 15
b) We were both not only “B” but “Be”
c) Around 1000
d) No