Why my SO is... 12/8

mauera07

Why my SO is my SO.  More of a GTKY, but how did you and your SO meet? Any fun stories about events leading up to you becoming a couple? Any really bad first dates? 

supercoolstephy

DH and I met at Buffalo Wild Wings. I didn't have cable, and his friends were trying to cheer him up after his separation with his (now) ex-wife. So I was there watching my beloved Cowboys, and he was just watching football, his beloved Patriots were on a bye week. He saw that I was on my phone checking my fantasy football team(s) and we started talking. We were there from noon till after the last game ended, then had our first date there the next night. It was crazy how timing just worked out. I wasn't looking for someone, he was in the beginning stages of his divorce. 

The guy I dated 2 guys before him did not know that he was dating his female roommate, who had been telling his friends girlfriend that they were. I ended things with him so he could figure that shit out. I don't know how that ended up for him. 

I was married at 21 to my ex husband and hadn't really "dated" much before him, so I realized after we divorced just how weird dating in your 30s is. 

edit: words.

gilsam1

Great question! Here's the story:

Not sure if I'm going to date myself with this, but do you guys remember those games (e.g. checkers, chess) you could play on yahoo, etc with the little chat box? Well, it's 17 years ago (man, I'm old) and there's a guy in the chat room making some really funny comments about other people (and my best friend and i are in there doing the same thing...I know, stupid high school kids with nothing better to do), so i message him and tell him he's funny which starts the conversation. A year later we talk on the phone for the first time, and 4 years after that we meet for the first time. In 2006 he moves to California and we start living together, and the rest is history  

These days, I tell people we met online, and they assume we met through Match.com or eHarmony, but it's definitely a little more interesting then that haha

gusgus14

We met in college. We kind of knew of each other because we had the same major and mutual friends but we didn't really meet and get to know each other until senior year. Our friend groups ended up next to each other on the dance floor at Homecoming and then we slowly started kind of casually talking in the class we had together and on facebook. We started "dating" around Halloween and then became exclusive after Thanksgiving. We graduated the following May and moved in together a month later which I never ever thought I'd do (I always said I'd have to date someone for years before moving in together). Just celebrated 8 years of being together and had our 5 year wedding anniversary in October!

ETA: Just because I love stuff like this I thought I'd add it. Background: I'm originally from Georgia and DH is from Massachusetts. After dating for a little while, we discovered that my husband's best friend  from back home in Massachusetts is my middle school principal's nephew. On top of that, DH and his friend actually came down to Georgia and stayed with that aunt and uncle (who lived just a few houses down from me) when they were in high school. Small world!

cyanope

I think I have told this story...but I'll tell it again since it is my favorite!
DH and I have known each other our whole lives. Our grandparents were friends, so my mom grew up knowing his dad and all of his dad's brothers.
Fast forward in time...my uncle (my mom's brother) bought the house next door to DH's grandparents, so the next generation of kids grew up together too. My cousins were BEST friends with DH's brothers, so we spent many, MANY summers at the same pool. I had NO interest in DH because, you know, cooties and everything. Then we grew up...and he turned 18...and I became REALLY interested. The interest was NOT mutual because DH had always known me and thought I was a brat (I totally was). Plus, his best friend had a thing for me, and DH is an amazingly loyal best friend, so he never tried anything. He says now that he always thought I was "cute," but that I was off-limits, and that he thought I was a jerk, so he never pursued anything.
But, I had decided that I would have him (I'm a little determined), so I pursued him pretty relentlessly. It took a while, but he soon decided that I was no longer the snotty pre-teen I had once been and that he really liked me too...but still didn't reciprocate because of the friend issue. Well, that friend finally told DH, "dude, she doesn't like me, she likes you, so go for it," and DH finally caved (Side note...that best friend is STILL his best friend, and DH was recently the best man at his wedding, so there were no hard feelings!).
We have been together for 13 years, and almost two kids later, we're still going strong. He's the best decision I ever made.

lmmjd

I like this question!

SO and I met online, too... on tinder. 

He "super liked" me (which, if you don't know about tinder, you could swipe right or left to say yes or no anonymously, or you could superlike someone but you only had a few of those and it would tell the other person).  I would have swiped left had he not super liked me, but since I knew he had liked me, I thought, "meh, good enough for some attention..." And now here we are. Hahaha

I have so many good first date storys a la tinder, but those are for another day... 

EmilyLove25

@supercoolstephy DH and I technically met in a BWs as well! 

...like @cyanope, I think I've shared this because, well, you'll see... but DH was dating one of my best friends when we met. They ended up getting married (I was the maid of honor in the wedding). After their wedding, I started a four year relationship with his best friend (the best man). That ended... and then I went on a weekend retreat (for fun sex etc) with my friend (his then wife's/my friend's) co-worker. It was fun, but it was nothing serious... that was in May one year. Well, in June, my friend started a full on affair with that coworker that lasted until December when my now DH found out. It was awful... my friend had done some really terrible stuff and was only caught because DH finally went through her phone (he suspected something). ANYWAY, I supported both of them after... and about six months later DH was in town where I lived for work and we hung out... and, well... things happened. I told my friend (who is now married to the co-worker with whom she had the affair), and she understood that she did not have the right to be mad etc. and supported us... years later and she and her man (he's gross and what a loser--good in bed though!) are married and have high end really stressful jobs that pay a LOT of money... and DH and I have pretty good jobs, an awesome house in the best neighborhood, the BEST daughter ever, and a son on the way...

...I feel like we won, lol 

ETA: Clarity lol. 

JuliaGoolia719

We met at mutual friends wedding. The bride and I are sorority sisters, and he went to junior high and high school with the bride and groom. I noticed him at the ceremony, he was an usher so he walked past a few times seating people.

We were both a little tipsy at the reception and I noticed him looking at me, I had liquid courage and finally walked over and asked him if he was planning to stare at me all night or if he was ever going to ask me to dance. He asked me to dance lol (did he really have a choice?) and then we hung out after the reception when everyone went out to the bars. 
We started dating pretty much right after and racked up a 5k minute cell phone bill in the next 3 weeks (12 years ago before all cell to cell minutes were free, thank God we were both on AT&T so they were free in our case! We were both on plans with our parents at the time so we both got questioned about who we were talking too that much lol)

we found out quickly we had several other mutual friends, one of his fraternity brothers was dating another of my sorority sisters (different colleges but close by) and we were at a few of the same parties in college, I actually met his best friend from college when he was dating a good friend of mine from high school too. We were both dating other people in college so it’s good we didn’t meet until we did! 

cyanope

@EmilyLove25, I don't think I remember ever reading that story! I would have remembered it, haha. You guys definitely won!

darkrose88

The first time DH and I met was at a bar. We were both there due to mutual friends and instantly thought the other one was cute. However, we didn't talk, except in a group setting, and neither of us made a move. Mostly because a guy he knew, who I had also just met that night decided to flirt with me first. I had no interest, but was too nice to say anything at the time. Fast forward 9 months, we reconnected when my friends convinced me to hang out at his apartment, and this time DH made an effort to get to know me and friend me on facebook. We started texting and a week later went on our first date. The rest is history! 

conineml

So DH and I have kinda known each other for years, even though he was wayyy older than me and we didn't live in the same town, because our families knew each other and everyone raced dirt cars together (this story is going to sound soooo redneck...I apologize in advance for how white trash this will sound to anyone not from the South.  I swear we are normal people!  )  Anyway...fastforward to I'm coming home from college freshman year for the summer.  My best friend invited me to float the river at their Fish Camp (it just keeps getting worse...lord) so of course why not!  So we roll out to the river in my jeep and I know everyone that is there for the most part (dirt track folks) and mostly guys so...I decided to float on my stomach all day since I had a larger chest to avoid everyone staring at my boobs allll day.  (who thinks of that right?! always worried about my cleavage and super self conscious of it) Turns out DH has always been an A$$ man so foiled that plan there and he was staring the whole day anyway 
After the float trip, DH, best friend, and I hung out constantly.  DH was/still is when I can my best drinking buddy!  We spent allll summer back roading, hanging out at the camp, going out to eat/drink, you name it.  Then I went back to college 2 hrs away, but I would holler at him every time I come in and we would hang out!  Finally....we decided to make it officially a thing in Jan that year.  And the rest is history....

[Deleted User]

We were friends in high school! I actually dated his best friend for 2 years(soph-junior years). When we broke up, I took it really hard and my now-DH was kind of my shoulder to cry on. We didn't start dating until the end of my senior year, and did long-distance for college. We got married when we were 21. He is my absolute best friend and such an amazing husband and dad.

burnsmommy27

DH and I met online, OkCupid. Let's face it I was young and broke and relatively attractive so it was a nice way to pass the time and get free dinners. I went on a ton of really crazy dates, had one guy ask if I would spit on him.... nope hard pass.
Anyways DH messaged me one day asking if I would let him spoil me a little. (I was very independent and made so clear on my profile that I didn't need a man to make me feel secure or taken care of). So we started talking. It was Thanksgiving time and I decided it would be a great idea (I was a tad drunk) to start sexting him. I didn't find out until later that he was in a car with his family on a 7 hour road trip with his sister's feet in his lap. Hahahaha 
We went on our first date Dec 4th (7 years ago last monday) and have been inseparable ever since. 

lmmjd

Hahahaha @burnsmommy27 SAME! I feel like we both probably have some fantastic stories.Happy date anniversary!

gusgus14

@burnsmommy27 - We consider December 4th our "official" relationship starting date!

Cricket99

eHarmony for the win! I’m by nature a bit of a hermit and not really into the bar or party scene. My mom forced me to sign up to get me out of the house. I went on a few dates and nothing really clicked. I randomly looked on the “what if” tab and there was this guy who was pretty attractive and an 87% match or something like that (DH still swears he’s the one that found me). I did whatever little flirt thing there was and we started talking. Our first date was to a hole in the wall Vietnamese restaraunt. I’m talking Grandma and Grandpa yelling at each other in Vietnamese in the kitchen, the grandkids running the register, dad waiting tables while talking on his cell phone, and a Pho that will cure any illness you have. It was a test from me to see how adventurous he was. We closed the place down and we’re getting dirty looks from the whole family. We tipped well and set up our next date in the parking lot. I should also mention that his job at the time was really complicated and he had to push our date back 3 times before we actually met. He’s lucky I stuck around  

bainidhedub

We met and started dating in high school! He's from another town but his parents got him a transfer bc he wasn't doing well at his local school. I did one year of a magnet program but switched back after a year. So we met when I was in 10th grade and he was in 12th. We were both in the drama club tech crew. One of my friends thought he was cute so we were both trying to get to know him, and he and I ended up going out. We did long-ish distance while I was in college (about an hour away) and got married when I was 22 the summer I graduated.

mauera07

I met DH in college. We had a mutual friend who invited both of us to her softball game sophomore year and we ended up sitting together. We spent the rest of the semester looking for excuses to hang out because both of us were oblivious that we liked one another. Near the end of the year, he pretty much wouldn't leave my dorm room and kept renting Pride & Prejudice as an excuse to visit. We started dating that summer and got engaged our senior year. His mom freaked out haha (not in a good way). She thought we were too young, which in retrospect we probably were. We got married at 22, almost 23. But here we are, married for over 5 years with our second child on the way. 

Fun fact: the mutual friend we met through apparently liked him but never told me, so after we started dating she became super mean and made my life miserable. I'm glad she never told me because if she had I'd never have pursued the relationship. 

leeeahyo

This may end up a long story...sorry!
When I was 16 I lived with my dad in NC. My mom and her side of the family all lived in southern VA which I visited often since my parents were divorced. Then my dad's job required him to transfer us to TN and I absolutely hated it (insert evil stepmother and huge change) so I decided to move in with my mom.  I was in 11th grade and moved to this teeny town where apparently the only thing to do was go drinking in fields with bonfires haha. So I went to my first "field party" and my first sight of this guy was him finishing off a bottle of vodka by the fire. I was an oversheltered goodie goodie and there was this, in my eyes, "bad boy" and well I guess that was hard to resist lol. Then he started showing up at my soccer practices because his younger sister played on the JV team (I was a senior, DH is a year older).  We'd flirt and finally exchanged numbers and he'd always ask me out but I was a prude and always said no. Then one day I thought why not and asked him when he wanted to take me on that date. A couple days later he took me on our first date to eat (mediocre) Japanese, but I was so nervous all I did was move rice around on my plate! We've been inseparable ever since then, not without some dramatic moments of course. We fight hard, but we love harder. That was almost 11 years ago now! We've been married for 3.5 years. We were engaged for nearly 3 years and ended up eloping! 

TInman87

So to preface the story, my family are big car people. We love our muscle cars and have been known to care more about them then other more important things in life. 

I was in college and my parents had gone by the dealership close to campus to look into trading in their corvette for a convertible. DH worked at the dealership, he is a good ole country boy and saw them pull up in a big truck and thought they were there to look at trucks, so he approached them. He ended up stuck with them and helped my uber picky mom find her dream car in another state.

Fast forward a couple weeks, the camaro was going back into production soon and i HAD TO HAVE ONE. Only problem was, they were on a 6 month back order and you had to get on a ridiculous list just for the CHANCE to order one. Well, he caught word that the "cute daughter of the corvette couple" (his words not mine) wanted one, so he pulled some strings and got me on the list.  Mind you, this entire time I was in a very long term relationship and he was seeing someone as well. My car was delivered on August 18, 2009, he taught me that day how to drive a standard so I could drive it home and life went on. 

Fast forward almost a year, I found him on Facebook, he had just ended things with a gf and I had finally severed ties with my bf, so we started chatting, and on August 18, 2010 we went on our first date. I didn't have the nerve to tell him the irony of the date he chose! Turns out he also loved muscle cars and we talked cars for hours during our first date.

Here we are, 7 years later! We still have the camaro, I laugh because he may have gotten commission on the sale, but he ended up making the payments on it I'm pretty sure I scored double on that deal!!

egirl1025

DH and I met September 2012 at a banking technology conference.  At that time we both worked for different banks in the same state.  He was on the board of directors that planned the whole event and was a mediator at my table.  Guess he thought I was cute because he made a point to continue talking to me throughout the day and following me to all of the same breakout sessions.  We ended up talking one on one for quite awhile and he walked with me to find some headache medicine.  He completely bailed on his already planned dinner with board members to have dinner with me and a different group being taken out by a vendor.  He sat next to me and the women who say across from us asked how long we had know each other.  We laughed and said we had just meet that day!!  We just clicked instantly.  The second day of the conference went much the same as the first but he wrote me a little note asking if he could call to take me out, circle yes or no!  So cute!!!  Of course I said yes.  

We went on our first official date a week and a half later.  Come to find out he technically still had a live-in girlfriend when we met that he broke up with the weekend after we met.  That was not a smooth break up in the least, but we made it through.  In the last five years we have moved in together, got married, bought our dream house, have beautiful DS #1 and are now on to DS #2.  We are busy, busy, busy!!  They are the best 5 years of my whole life!!

It is amazing how sometimes the world conspires to bring people together.  I wasn't even looking for someone at that point in my life.  I had only been divorced for a year and a half and was really enjoying living on my own for the first time ever and here the universe gives me the most perfect person!!  Thank you!!!

Here is a picture I made where I mashed a picture of us on our first vacation together and the notes from when we met.  Lol...I put a copy in DS' room so that he can always see his mama and papa, and see how much we love each other.

musaftm

How fun! Hubby and I met in college. He saw me in the cafeteria and asked his friends about me. I was a clueless freshman and naive as all get out. Poor man had to work for me to realize he was even flirting! He was a sophomore. We actually had an unofficial date at Sonic, but did I realize? Nope! I had to be told he had asked me out to a movie as I thought it was a friend thing! I had to ask my roommate to go with us. lol I was actually dating someone else at the time (we'd met over Christmas at the Ronald McDonald House in Memphis because our siblings were both sick [my sister is fine now]). 

After a bit of time as friends, I began to develop feelings for him and broke it off with the other guy (he wasn't really calling much anyway). We started dating and he's been my best friend and the best husband I could ever ask for. I don't know how I could get through this pregnancy without him or really anything. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. I truly am blessed.

kelk5

We've known each other for 11 years, started dating 4.5 years ago, and married 1.5 years. DH was married when we met. I went to grad school with his then wife and we were all really good friends. They always had a very platonic looking relationship. Him and I were good friends and I actually use to joke  that we were cousins because his last name is the same as my great-grandmother.  His ex-wife cheated on him with her co-worker/good friend that was hanging out with all of us. I was the first person she told about separating and moving out. The first thing I asked her was if something happened between her and this other guy. She denied it and I asked if she was in love with him she denied it. Later she admitted that something had happened but she didn't want to be the one who cheated on her husband. 

Anyways, she moved away with that guy after the divorce was official. I was still friends with DH and was giving him dating advice. I'd always talked to him about guys I'd dated and I dated his BFF for a short duration. A year after the divorce was final and two years after she had moved out, we got really drunk and he put a move on me that I reciprocated. I called his ex-wife to tell her we started dating and she was happy for us. His ex-wife and I are in the same field and still see each other at conferences, there is no drama.  Best man at our wedding was his BFF that I had dated probably 7 years prior. No drama there either, all just good friends and he is getting married next year to a wonderful woman.

Now the chick that DH was having a friends with benefits relationship with (like once to twice a month) for about 4 months, that he ended after making a move on me has been the drama. After he ended it with her she started telling everyone that they had been dating and he was like nope, we didn't date. When she found out we were dating then she started telling everyone that I was only interested in him because she was "dating" him. She takes every advancement in our relationship as an affront to her (moving in together, getting married, having a baby). Um, just no. 

smestadtj

Haha my SO and I met while I was actually dating my ex. We worked together at an oncology office and I was honestly such a bitch to him. He never gave up on trying to win me over. He helped me through a really tough time with my ex and we became good friends....then of course more once I was smart enough to leave my ex. I honestly never thought we would get married or have kids (he didn't want any). And to be honest, before we started dating (and I was still with my ex), I was scared to be alone with my SO cause I couldn't trust myself to not do anything with/to him.

jakobaby

We met at work! I remember bitching to a colleague friend about needing a mature guy that was as driven as I was. (Also, I had criteria that he be athletic because I am haha.) That’s when DH walked by. Everyone knows him at the office as the young guy who’s going somewhere fast in the company and lucky me, he was also a college athlete with pretty awesome talent that still amazes me to this day. My colleague was the maid of honor in his first wedding and I said, ‘why can’t a guy like that be single?’ And she said-oh but he is! They just got divorced.
My colleague was friends with his ex wife-who is a train wreck. They were married briefly. As soon as I got wind that he was available, I started to subtley pursue him. This was tough because he was very loyal to work and didn’t want something with me to ruin anything he had going for him. He always thought I was the hot girl at the office and it didn’t take too much persuasion.
We hit it off. Our first kiss was magical. We moved in together right away, got pregnant with DS shortly after (on purpose lol). Our company is super supportive and we both take our careers very seriously so it has worked out. He is still that driven guy I was looking for and I love that about him.