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| image courtesy of here...don't watch it unless you want to cry a bitsy bit, or maybe it was just me that gets all verklempt over stuff like this. |
1990. I was 15, a sophomore, two months into my first year at high school. Dressed in my plain white t-shirt and pegged pants and my mom's gun holster that I liked to wear as a belt and about 50 silver bracelets stacked from my wrist to my elbow. My hair was cut in a bob, colored mahogany purple that month. I was in the hallway of the arts building, leaning against the drinking fountain and talking to a friend. When all of a sudden, the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen (that wasn't on a New Kids on the Block poster) came out the door of the drama theater.
His hair was so blond it was like staring at neon, all set off by the black he was wearing from head to toe. He made his way toward the drinking fountain and smiled this perfect toothy smile at me. My mouth went dry. My eye started twitching a little. Angelic-voiced music clicked on in my head. He smelled like the beach and blue raspberry jolly ranchers. I suddenly wanted to learn everything about him as quickly as I could. I wanted to to write his name in hearts on my notebooks and make him mix tapes. My friend knew him and introduced us right there. When he shook my hand, I thought I was going to go up in flames.There was an actual warm shock that traveled up my arm and right through the center of me. Pow. I was forever changed. So this, I thought, THIS is that "love" I've heard of...
And for the next 3 1/2 years that guy and I went out and broke up and got back together and broke up again (lather, rinse, repeat). After a fight, he would show up on my doorstep looking all cute with his guitar and a bag of flour (that's what he brought instead of "flowers"...get it? ) and he'd sing some sweet song he'd written and I'd take him back and then we'd have a fabulous month before breaking up again. He graduated two years before me and moved into an apartment. I went to Germany, I went out with other guys. But there was him....there was always him. In fact, I still go catch his band playing downtown about once a year. There's nothing between us anymore but friendship and a memory--ever so tempered by age and wisdom--but I'll never forget that first time I saw him.
I don't think I've ever fallen in love at first sight like that again, though. Until recently. But I'm not ready to share that story quite yet. It probably won't end well because it's practically too perfect to be true, but, anyway
more about the messy art of falling in love....
The first time I met my husband back in 1994, I didn't even notice him. The second time--for sure...he was pretty cute. However, it wasn't until the month after we were engaged that I actually had that *fall in love moment* with him. I thought I loved him before (obviously), but it was when we were on our way up to the lake and he was being all manly hitching the boat to his truck, that I looked at him and thought, that's going to be my husband. My. Husband. And everything in me melted into a pile of happy goo. I took in the brown of his hair, the blue of his eyes, the golden tone of his summer skin, the little mole under his lip. I always thought he was amazing, but he suddenly became the only man I could ever imagine wanting to be with forever and ever and eternity.
Or for 13 years....
Post-divorce, I've managed to work my way through all the pain and damage and scary and hindering circumstances to fall in love a few times, too..
Haute Cakes, Green Eyes, Ninja....All managed to ignite some spark inside me into a fire.
If you want to know how those relationships ended, you'll have to do some link clicking. Though I'm still friends with all those guys, I'd rather re-tell the happy stuff and not the hurty stuff.
Funny how our hearts work, isn't it? How they can break and heal and break all over again? How they make us feel so alive and sometimes make us wish we weren't? How, even when we move on, they hold on to a little bit of all the people they've made room for at one time or another?
I wonder if anyone has ever fallen in love with me at first sight? Though I've been in the center of some unexpected fights over me; the recipient of some unsolicited, chivalrous proposals; and had that one blogging dude who made a tribute video of me...I don't recall hearing anyone saying they knew I was the one from the moment they laid eyes on me. I'm more the type to grow on one slowly but steadily...like a, um, fungus.
I think that was one of the hardest things to come to terms with after my divorce---knowing I hadn't ever been *adored* after all. That I was loved, but not really. That Brad always had his eye somewhere else. It took a certain sparkle out of me. Made me feel smaller. Of course, it also leaves the position of "First Man to Genuinely Love Me and Only Me" free for some other man to claim. One day. Maybe. If they're into fungi :)
Now, tell me your short "love at first sight" story. You know you wanna!.... And whoever's I like best gets a $25 Edwards/Regal Theater gift card mailed to them. You can use it to go see a movie with your sweetie, whether or not he or she was the one from the story :) ***"contest" ends June 4***
GO!
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18 comments:
My problem used to be that I fell in "love" with every cute guy I set eyes upon. Facebook is a funny thing because as certain guys show up in random comment areas I think "I used to have a crush on you and you and you....." Who didn't I crush on during high school? I don't remember proclaiming my love to anyone but the man I'm married to now. Our sappy story goes a little like this:
I was the backup date after he showed up with his friend to my work for a double date. The other girl canceled and I said "I'll go!, but it's a school night so have to go hang out at my place"....there's a story that goes along with that, but I'll skip to the sappy part...we started dating and during one of our conversations he told me that he refused to tell a girl he loved her unless he meant it. Instead he would whisper my name in my ear and when I said "what" he would reply by saying "olive juice"-which sounds like 'I love you'. Fast forward to Valentine's Day 1993, we're sitting around the living room during an extended family gathering and he once again whispered my name in my ear, only this time when I said what, he replied with those 3 amazing words "I love you". I couldn't believe it! We weren't even alone!! It was incredibly sweet and sappy and 18 years later I still love hearing those words!
Unless you count my one-sided love crush with River Phoenix, that is my sappy story. (RIP River!)
It was 1991, in a Mercedes Benz factory in Germany, on a school tour. He was dating one of my best friends. As she introduced him we shook hands. At that moment, I felt a warm surge through my body. My periphery blurred. All the once familiar voices mumbled, both English and German, like Charlie Brown's teacher. I looked into his dark eyes laying underneath all that black hair (now long gone) and knew that he would be someone special, and I had to get to know him.
He continued to date my friend but we stayed friends. A few months later they broke up. I still don't know the details to the break up but it always felt a little messy. He wanted to date me at this time. I said no. No man in high school was worth losing a friendship over. I told him if it were to work things would need to simmer down before I would date him. That was one of the hardest calls for me to make because my insides wanted to be with him in every which way.
It took seven years for things to simmer down, with each of us being in long term relationships. We always remained friends and always knew we wanted to be together. I had planned to finally tell him "I love you" then run off to another state with no forwarding address or number. I was going to get it off my chest in hopes that I could bury that feeling and move on. I couldn't. I told him, and he melted in my arms. I will always remember holding him that night. I did move that next day, but I couldn't get him out of my head. Three months later I flew home to see him. We continued to fly back and forth for a few months and then I moved back home. We married eight months after I professed my love to him. It will be 13 years this summer.
We went to kindergarten together but don't remember each other from then. He says he sat behind me in 7th grade Spanish but I was freaked out by 7th grade and don't remember him. We lived in the same town but went to different high schools. Our paths crossed at parties and we had mutual friends. Start of community college we were both dating someone else and on the day my car broke down he came to my rescue and drove me home. It was a long drive. By the time I got home we both just knew we were meant to be together. That was 44 years ago!!!!! It hasn't always been easy but I can certainly say it's been interesting. He became a Special Agent with the Secret Service and we traveled with our kids a lot. Never a dull moment. We're retired now and living a busy, golf filled life. I can't imagine any other life. Thank goodness for car trouble.
Linda in Keno
It was not "love at first sight" for me at all! I thought he was super goofy, although I admit, he made me laugh that first night we met!
But months later, he told me that he knew right away that I would be a "forever girlfriend" as opposed to a "date for 6 months and dump before it gets too serious". So, while I was contemplating if he would be a one night stand, he was planning our future :P
Jennifer,
I really hope things work out with 'too good to be true'. I really do.
Coming from a broken home I was very cautious falling in love. When things started to progress when my husband and I were dating in college I was very scared. He was gentle, kind, spiritual, great work ethic... Handsome, supportive...
I prayed. I prayed to see him beyond the 'fluff' of dating. I wanted to see beyond the cologne and movies. Dating is a wonderful time, but don't we put on our best face in doing so? I know I did, I think all young couples that go out on 'dates' do, hu? Was this who he really was?
I kept telling the Lord, "I think I'm falling in love with this guy", now you'll have to show me what he is all about beyond the dating scene.
Soon after these pleadings, we were talking in my college apt. living room one late, winter night. Outta the blue a homeless drunk man wandered in from the cold. He saw a light and an open door. He was freezing, he was drunk, he wanted a warm place to sleep. I remember watching my sweetheart stand up and shield me from this man. He stood between us and tried to explain to him he couldn't sleep here. He then gave him his coat and gloves and made him leave the apartment. He put him in his car and drove off. I remember watching all this happen, and watching them drive off together, and having the Spirit tell me, "this is the kind of man he is". Such chivalry!
Only a few days after we were out on a drive. Out of the blue we were rear ended from behind. We both got out of the car to see who hit us. Another drunk man. A different one :) --- who had his 5 year old son in the car with him. I was so furious at this father. Who could do that? Once again I watched my husband put his arm around this man, calmly get him the help he needed to get him on his way. Standing there in that street I realized "I love this man" accompanied by the Spirit confirming to me "this is the kind of man he is".
And that's how I realized I was in love. Very much in love. Almost 14 years of love.
Jennifer, he is out there. I know that the Spirit can help you too. You will find him. I think everyone should get in a car accident with their future spouse, it shows a lot about their true character :)
Tiniel--
I was in a car accident and for fun since i couldn't do anything because i hurt my back i got on to a dating site and was seeing what it had to offer a single lady :P about 5 months later i saw the cutest guy on there! i was checking out his profile and then realized he was in canada. i said yeah right like that could ever work and moved on. a couple weeks later this guy started talking to me! we talked for hours on end every day. two months later i went up there and got engaged and two weeks later we got married.
he is the first guy i've ever fallen in love with and he is also my first kiss. i'm his too :)
My 1st choice to go to the concert couldn't make it, so I shot an email "out of the blue" to a lady whose profile on the dating site looked like she'd be kinda fun to talk to. And her picture was nice too, though I'd learned long ago not to trust the pictures on those sites.
She accepted. We met a few days later at the Cafe Rio and while I can't say I fell in love "at 1st sight" it only took a couple of minutes. We were still waiting in the fast-moving line and I was already thinking to myself "how can I kiss her on the 1st date?"
I needn't have worried. The date went well, the concert was amazing, and afterward as I was dropping her off at her car, she asked me to kiss her. We were both on Cloud 9.
And thus began 18 months of what you described in your post -- on again, off again. We had an amazing chemistry and couldn't stand to not be together, but being together never quite worked out either. So after 18 months, I went to her place to tell her it was time to call it quits for good since we were both preventing each other from moving on and, well, you've got the email telling you THAT whole story (unless you deleted it, and since it was over 2 years ago, I'm sure you did, but . . meh, not going into all that).
And even though we've had virtually no contact for 3 years and a month now, not a day goes by that I don't think about her and miss her. Yeah, she wasn't right for me, but I loved her fiercely, and there's still a part of me that does.
I am not the kind of person that believed in love at first sight, but the first time I saw him I was in love. I opened the door to his church and he was there and he was all I saw. He says when he saw me he heard the song "whos that lady" He is so cute.
Not really love at first sight, but there was this guy at one of the places I worked at that I was EXTREMELY attracted to the first time I saw him. Then I found out one of my coworkers liked him. Later I found out he had a girlfriend. However he was trying to break up with her. That didn't work. But it didn't stop us from dating. He was a very positive and sweet person but we both made a BIG BIG mistake dating. I always regretted not being just friends with him, but I recently reconnected with him on Facebook(he had ended up marrying that girlfriend, then they separated and he is in another relationship) and was able to talk about things and to be the friend I should have been before and that was nice. He is a really great guy and I hope he finds happiness. I am so not winning that gift certificate LOL
With my husband it wasn't love at first sight. I thought he was cute, but too young for me. I was wrong! LOL I fall in love with him all over again constantly :) Love at 100th sight :)
I was 14. It was my very first church dance ever and I was super nervous. I am tall tall tall and at 14, I was gawky tall. I arrived late and the music was already blaring. My friends were standing in a smallish circle with a few people I didn't know. I walked up, said hello to my friends, and then a slow song started.
My first dance, my first slow song, and I had no real clue what to do. So I looked down and saw someone else's feet! I looked up at him and he said, "You're tall. Want to dance?"
I still remember him taking my hand and how warm it felt. I remember what he was wearing, and how my hand looked in his. I have no idea what the song was, but his eyes were a sparkling golden color (even in the "dim" lights of the dance) and I was in love.
Sigh... *happy thoughts*
Awww, my loves story sounds more like it's too good to be true. At 15 I met Josh, and he thought I was actually dating my twin brother. Hehe, certainly loved having a 6 ft tall, good-looking brother. As time went on he, of course, realized this was NOT the case. We lived 1000 miles a part, so I saw him once a year. When I was 16, I got to see him again. He was heartbroken over some girl, so I gave him a speech. Yup, that was all I could say, "How can you take one girl's actions and put them on all of us?" That was it...so, I thought. His mom and sisters did NOT like me; they thought I was throwing myself at him. I started getting letters/e-mails from him, and they got more and more personal. We started getting to REALLY know each other. In May 1998, I graduated from high-school, and Josh (with his family who NOW liked me) drove to my graduation. Josh gave me a pair of earrings, and then said he thought I was the girl for him.
In December of 1998, I flew to his hometown as a surprise Christmas present. Wrapping myself in a bike bag was only PART of the whole story. (those things are a bit suffocating) According to him, when I was unwrapped he knew I could NOT go home without a ring on my finger. So, on New Year's Eve he asked me to marry him. We were married on June 19th, 1999.
Spring forward to 6 months pregnant with our fourth....and he LEAVES!!! Claiming he was FORCED to marry me...hmmm!!! Not gonna believe THAT lie, so for months the "battle for Josh" began. The outcome has been MORE than I could ever have dreamed. In 2007, Josh came home from being gone for 4 months--he had done everything BUT be faithful in our previous years of marriage. BUT we were gonna start over.
Renewing our vows in 2011 really is only the tip of the iceberg, but our love story continues. July 22nd we will welcome the addition of our 6th child, and we have never been MORE in love.
Our story is riddled with lots of nasty stuff, but we could not be more greatful for the things it has taught us.
My prayers are with you as God reveals His plant to you.
June 19th, 1999 was my FIRST kiss to Josh at the altar...we had a dreamy courtship. AND even the night before the wedding the only thing that kept us from not kissing.....was the fact that we had less than 24 hours to wait. We could do it!!
This is definitely not love at first sight but rather love on first date.
I had met G my freshman year in college but did not really like him as a boyfriend at all. He was a friend, and even a little annoying in his desire to hang out with us quite a lot. He even drove four hours to my house to visit me the summer after my freshman year . I had a job and went to work and left my teenage sister in charge of entertaining him. That same summer, my heart was broken into bits by C, and the hurt was still agonizing for the first month or two of sophomore year. Then G started talking to one of our mutual friends and began plotting to ask me out. I heard about it, and for some reason unbeknownst to me, my feelings for him seemed to be changing, and I was glad something was about to develop with him. We did indeed have our first date, a school event the evening before homecoming, and the magic happened. It seemed so right. When we were saying our goodbyes, I clearly remember saying : are you going to take care of me for the rest of my life? and he said yes, and I instinctively believed him, and he has done that! We will celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary this month.
Just before my 21st birthday, I met a really tall, really hilarious guy named Cameron while working security at the veterinary hospital at WSU. Working security basically meant finding creative ways not to get bored. I'd usually work night shifts that went into the wee hours of the morning. When I showed up for work that day, there was someone I had never worked with before. My first impression was that he was probably some cocky Jock, being so tall and handsome (guys that cute were usually full of themselves), but my impression of him quickly changed. He had curly, shoulder-length hair and a backpack full of magic tricks that he performed for me. He made me laugh- big belly laughs that made me choke on my spit and my eyes water. I didn't want my shift to end. I remember kicking myself for looking "gross" (I had a cold and a raw, runny nose and I felt totally disgusting).
I guess my runny nose didn't scare him off. From then on, he worked almost every shift with me (he would trade shifts with people so we could work together). Some of my favorite memories from working with him include riding on his shoulder while he sprinted down a hill on the hospital campus, being freaked out about the way the alpacas seemed to stare us down when we walked by their pen, and daring one another to look into the out closet (a freezer they put the dead animals in).
At the time, I was dating someone else, but since I knew Cameron was a great catch, I tried to set him up with one of my friends. After meeting him, she said "Whatever Rory, he is totally in love with you!" When she said that, my eyes were opened. After I broke things off with the guy I had been seeing and about six months of hanging out every day, we finally held hands for the first time. I thought my heart would explode. It's been eight years and three kids since we met and he is still my best friend. He still make me laugh until I choke and tears stream down my face. I still think he is the hottest man I have ever seen :) Eternity with him will truly be heaven.
Does love at second sight count?
“Wanna dance?”
My heart sank as I looked up into his greenish gold eyes, perfect smile, and chiseled jaw. Slight perspiration gathered on my palms. “Suuuuuure,” I hesitantly responded wiping my hands off on my jeans before letting him escort me onto the dance floor. I shot what I hoped looked like an apologetic glance back to the two friends I had come with. They had been talking about this “college guy named Ben” for almost a month. Katie was mustering up the courage to ask him to the High School Sadie Hawkins dance. Rachel proclaimed herself to be madly “in like” with him and gushed about what an amazing dancer he was.
As I placed my left hand on his shoulder, I peeked back at my friends. Katie looked miserable. Rachel looked like flames were about to emit from her eyes incinerating both of us. I took a deep breath and focused my attention on Ben. I didn’t have much choice. The song was twangy and fast as we whipped around the dance floor. “Know how to flip?” he yelled over the pounding music. I nodded yes. He effortlessly lifted me from the floor and then returned me to my feet. We both looked at each other in surprise and smiled. “Do you know this one?” I asked as I positioned his hands to support my weight before throwing myself into a low dip. “Cool!”
One song passed, then another, and another as we traded dance moves. As the third song ended, I suddenly realized how long we had been dancing. He said he should probably get me back to my friends. As we walked to edge of the dance floor, he whispered into my ear, “Can I get your phone number?” “WHAT?!? NOOOOOO!” my head screamed but, “Ok” came out of my mouth. “K, I’ll find you later,” he replied flashing that smile again before disappearing into the mass of people.
Rachel didn’t even look at me but focused her attention on Walter (another senior from our school), laughing just a little too loud at his attempts to be funny. Katie smiled and said it looked like we were having fun out there. I gave her a timid but grateful smile. Ben didn’t come over to us the rest of the night and I felt like I could breathe again. The last song of the night ended and I was almost to the door with about 15 seniors from my school when Ben suddenly appeared on my right. “Hey! I couldn’t find a paper but have a pen. Will you write your phone number on my hand? “ I turned three shades of crimson and quickly scribbled my number on his palm. “Thanks!” After shooting me one more smile, he disappeared through the door. Walter clutched his hand begging me for my phone number as we walked to our cars. Rachel looked smug. Katie had a smile of amusement, and I wondered how long it would take for the guys to stop teasing me about this one.
Continued...
Ben called four times but I was conveniently and legitimately busy each time. After all, it was my senior year. I was at work when my mom called and DEMANDED I call this poor boy named Ben back. My mother NEVER encouraged me to call guys, in fact she totally frowned on it so I was in shock. I called him back and agreed to go out with him the following weekend.
I was nervous. It had been almost six weeks. The room had been really dark when I met him. When I tried to remember what he looked like all I could picture was the sweat dripping off both of us as we danced. The doorbell rang and my mom answered it. I came around the corner just as he was taking off his sunglasses, and caught my breath. He was GORGEOUS…drop dead model perfect gorgeous. Bronze skin, light brown hair, eyes a color I’d never seen before or since, muscular build, about 6’ tall…I tried to keep my jaw from dropping by clenching my teeth. He looked up at me. There was that smile that belonged on a toothpaste commercial again and he looked impressed…with ME. (Apparently I look better when I’m not dripping with sweat too). I was sure he and my mom could hear my heart pounding. We went out to the car and he’d asked me out on a second date before we were even out of the driveway. We dated five months before he kissed me and he was the first boy I ever said those amazing three words to.
I love your blog!
It was love at first sight when my husband and I met. We met 19 years ago on new year's eve 1991. It was in a night club (those things never usually work out). I was in Palm Springs on a whim (from LA), he was in Palm Springs on a whim (from London). We spent 5 days together before we had to go our separate ways. We talked on the phone every day (this was before email and our phone bills were astronomical). He traveld back to LA that February and asked me to marry him. He came back again in April and we announced our engagement. I went there (to London) in June and he moved for good to LA that August. We married on 10/24/92. We'd only been together in the same country for the equivilant of about 5 weeks when we married. But we wrote to each other almost everyday. Writing was such blessing. We now have a written record of the first nine months of our relationship. We have 4 kids (6, 9, 12 & 15). We are looking forward to the rest of our lives togher. Who would have thought?
J, you've inspired me to write my love story with green eyes-(nick name, which I stole). But since it's so long, I don't think I'll put it in, and therefore will lose my chance to win. I'm gonna blog on my site, read mine please...
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