Conference turris::womannotes-v1

    
         Dangerously worded basenote, Mr. Holt.
    
         I met my favorite human on the only Blind Date I have ever
    had the guts to keep.  It wasn't overwhelmingly romantic, but we
    had a good time and it served it's purpose.  Being with the couple
    who "set us up" helped alleviate some of the nervousness, and helped
    me avoid acting differently than I usually do.  The couple we were
    with knew both of us very well, and as a result we were as comfortable
    as possible.  I recommend this method.  I have fixed up two other
    couples this same way, since.
     
         Other than at office or church social activities, I have found
    no good way to meet the kind of women I desire, searching solo.
    Bars are ridiculous.
    
                                  Bubba
    

    I meet my husband through a mutual activity. I love horses and always
    have. When I left Indiana in 1971 I had to sell my horse. I moved
    to Denver to attend school expecting to see cowboys and horses in
    plenty. Ha, a city has concrete not cowboys. Anyway, I meet some
    cops through working in the emergency room. We were just friends
    and we'd hang out together and talk about horses and how we all
    wanted them again. They got a job breaking a dude string and Ray
    and his dad were also working at that. I meet Ray through them.
    He was more of a hippy than a cowboy but one look at him with his
    long blond hair flying as he rode his appalossa past me was all
    it took. Sometimes you just know. Liesl 

    Well... I met my husband at the front desk of my college dormatory.
    He had come down to my collge on a dateless weekend - someone offered
    him a ride and he decided to look up an old friend. I happend to
    be standing by the front door when he asked for her (and I knew
    who he was since the old friend and I were friends) and we ended
    up spending the eveing together....
    
    My mom met my dad on a raft, one sister met her husband at a mixer
    and the other in church, and my sister-in-law met my husband's
    brother because he was her therapist!
    
    So I think a lot of it is serindipity...:-)
    
    Bonnie

    I met my ex-husband (and even tho he is ex now we were married for
    12 1/2 yrs. and had a lot of good times) at a club.  I always thought
    it was kind of ironic since I've never hung out much at bars or
    clubs.  But, this particular Friday nite (now 15 1/2 yrs. ago) I
    had just broken up with my boyfriend and, having no date on Friday
    nite, I had called a girlfriend and we went to a club.  As I walked
    in the door I saw a guy at a table turn and stare at me.  I remember
    thinking, What the heck is *his* problem?  How rude!  The minute
    I sat down he jumped up and came over and asked me to dance and
   we wound up spending the next 13 1/2 yrs. together.  
    
    I met my current SO in the hallway at the DEC facility we were working
    in at the time.  I was new in the building and almost all of the
    men were business types with ties and suits and short hair.  I thought
    I'll never make friends in this building.  Then, I spotted Rik looking
    as though he belonged in a rock band and was instantly intrigued.
     We kept making comments in the halls until he finally asked me
    to join a group of people going out for a drink after work.  I went,
    we finally got a chance to talk, hit it off, and have been together
    mostly for the past 2 years.
    
    Lorna
    

    
    	Not married, but my current SO and I met through the 
    Atlanta Singles Magazine and Datebook.  This was about 2 years
    ago.  We had one date and he told me he thought we weren't 
    compatible and that we should look for others.  Then about 
    a year later he called and wanted to see me again.  We have
    been dating off and on ever since.  (More "on" lately... how
    things change!  The relationship is getting better every day!)
    
    	Take care, Bob...
    
    		My
    

    Well, I met my husband at DEC Marlboro.  We spent about two weeks,
    nearly round-the-clock babysitting a benchmark...
    
    And after it was finished, well, we had already spent every night
    together for the past two weeks, sooooo...
    
    How romantic, sigh, and I just _love_ a man who can talk intelligibly
    about EMACS while eating rasberry sherbert in bed ;-}
    
    Rita
    
    

    
    	We met through my WRU.  He read it and noticed that we
    	had some similiar interests and we also lived in the
    	same town.  Then he wrote to me and wanted to meet right
    	away.  I was a bit apprehensive, so we waited a while and
    	wrote back and forth a bit before we actually met.
    
    	That was back in October.  I am really surprised that we
    	hit it off as well as we did.  I'm not one for blind
    	dates, but it just goes to show, you just never know when
    	you are going to meet someone special!  :-)  Carol

    I went to a camp-out religious retreat.  I had met him a week before,
    when I was signing up for it.  When I got there, he ran up to me, gave
    me a hug, treated me like an old friend (he had only met me once), and
    offered to help me set things up (put up the tent, etc). My initial
    reaction to him had been that he seemed familiar to me, but through
    discussing our life histories, it seemed unlikely that we had ever met
    before.  Throughout that evening he seemed to be unable to take his
    eyes off me, and I cannot say I was displeased by that prospect
    (besides, my eyes were going his way too).  The next day, I went off
    for a walk in the woods by myself (I thought).  As it turned out he
    followed me, told me that he was having a 'love at first sight'
    response to me.  I am not sure how he managed to do this in a way that
    I did not find threatening, but he did.  So, I told him that I felt the
    same way.  We spent a fair amount of time together that weekend, and
    decided that we would like to see each other again. I was a bit
    confused over the whole thing.  I am usually the type that a romantic
    relationship generally gets that way over time from being a close
    friendship.  This was certainly different!  I waited a month before
    going out with him or seeing him again.  The 'magic' was still there,
    but as time went on, becoming more solid.  That has been about 8
    months ago now.  Things are still becoming more wonderful all the
    time, but in a more reasonable way. 
    
    This is about the strangest meeting I have ever had. 
    
    Elizabeth
    

    Frankly, I believe in the "great lottery in the sky" idea....
    
    even more interesting than the actual meeting of most couples,
    how about the events that led up to the actual meeting?  
    
    How did two individuals from opposite sides of the country wind
    up in the middle?  And then meet?  Personally, I believe in karma...
    
    

    I met my husband at a dungeon.
    
    Well, not exactly. Shortly after I came to work for DEC, *I* joined the
    dungeon (if you aren't into fantasy role-playing, read "random social
    event"), and the next day at work one of the other players, who worked
    in my group, took me up to DBMS-land and introduced me to this guy who
    had a program that would generate a new character for me. 
    
    We dungeoned together and went to movies and hung out, and after a
    couple of years decided that this really ought to go somewhere, so we
    got married; it'll be five years in August. We share a lot of
    interests, and have others that keep us occupied on our own, and while
    things aren't perfect they're a lot better than I ever imagined my
    future would be. 
    
    I wonder if we ought to make it known to high-school and college
    guidance counselors - if they haven't figured it out already - that the
    best place for introspective, imaginative, socially inept computer
    freaks and book-aholics to meet others of their kind is a computer
    company... 
    
    -b

    Dave and I met when I came to work at DEC Tewksbury for the summer.
    He was a good-looking computer wizard working on the same project,
    and after a couple of weeks I decided he was worth chasing.  The
    "chase" went rather slowly and it wasn't until the last two weeks of
    summer before I invited myself over to his place for our first date (I
    told him that my TV set was broken and I didn't want to miss MASH, a
    small white lie...)  Things picked up after that and we've been
    together for over six years now. 
    
    			Barbara b. 

    I met my husband skiing -- sort of.  He was a member of a ski lodge
    in NH, where a man my Mom was dating was also a member.  It was
    the friend's weekend to provide dinner for the lodge members and
    guests, and they invited me up to help with the cooking in exchange
    for a free weekend of skiing.  
    
    We never actually skiied together that weekend -- David stood in
    the kitchen and got in my way as I worked on dinner.  By Sunday
    morning, he asked me up to help him cook the next weekend, making
    it very clear I would get my own room.  So I took a chance (after
    all, my Mother liked this guy!)
    
    We spent every weekend after that together until we were married
    a year later (it's our 3rd anniversary today!)  
    
    Speaking of karma, it turns out his grandparents and my
    great-grandparents were neighbors and best friends for many years.
    The families only lost touch about twenty-five years ago.
    
    Gloria

    
    	We haven't yet....at least I don't think so 8*)...
    
    			Mike
    

    
    
    I met my husband in class at the University of Tennessee.  We were
    both computer science majors so it was inevitable that we would
    eventually end up in the same class although I had never seen him
    on campus prior to that.  He discovered my name and began teasing
    me in front of the class. I thought he was a real jerk and told
    a friend so.  He didn't give up, though.  He followed me around
    campus for almost two months begging for a lunch date at Wendy's
    (who has money when in school??).  Finally, his persistance won
    me over and I've never been sorry one single day since.  We dated
    for almost five years and married last May (our 1 year anniversary
    is in two and a half weeks). Some might have said he was "hassling"
    me but he did it with *such* charm! Who could resist?
    
    Vicki
    

                                                   
    I first saw Irene at a friend's house. She tossed her red hair
    around, made some snappy comments, cracked a few jokes & I was
    hooked. I kept dropping by the friend's house; she kept "happening
    to show up." I though "She is out of my league, totally, I have
    no chance." She was thinking, "Is this man blind, stupid or
    both? How often do we have to do this before we go out?" Finally
    I got the nerve to ask her out. She was working until 11pm, but
    agreed to have a drink afterwords. We ended up together the rest
    of the night. I followed her like a puppy, thinking "She's gonna
    punt me anytime." She let me follow, thinking "He's cute for an
    eccentric." She called all her old boyfriends & told them it was
    over, then told me. We moved in together, got married, have 2 kids,
    and yet after 7 years together when she tosses her raid hair around,
    makes a snappy comment, cracks a few jokes...it starts all over
    again.
                                                       

    We met in a History of Medieval Science class when we were both
    in graduate school at the State University of NY at Binghamton.
    I was working on my master's in English and barely knew what a computer
    was; he was working on a master's in history and an MBA in MIS and
    was just learning what you do with computers. (How we wound up at
    DEC is an entirely different story.)  I walked into the History
    lounge where the class was being held and found the cutest guy I
    had ever seen sitting on one of the couches with his leg in a cast
    propped up on the table and a couple of liverwurst sandwiches in
    his lap. 
    
    I don't believe in love at first sight, either, but let me tell you, I
    knew this was *it.*  I practically heard bells ringing and angels
    singing.  (After 10 years, I still do.) But our first date was close to
    disaster -- first it was so cold his car almost wouldn't start, and
    then the live music he took me to hear turned out to be the world's
    worst living folksinger . . . funny thing was, everything that went
    wrong made me love him more because he handled it with such charm,
    not being apologetic about things that weren't his fault.  When
    we moved in together and he actually hit it off well with my
    four-year-old daughter, I was permanently hooked. 
    
    --bonnie
    
    

    
    
    We grew up in the same neighborhood.  He is 3 years older than I
    am, so we didn't go to the same school until high school.  Both
    of us had one serious relationship with someone else for about 2
    years.  They both ended around the same time.  I was a sophmore
    in high school and he was a freshman in college when we started
    chumming around with the same crowd.
    
    In the beginning we shared a friendship.  We'd go places together
    and spend time together with other mutual friends.  After about
    2 months, I asked him if we could make more of this friendship and
    he was all for it.
    
    Six years later we moved in together and we'll be getting married
    next year.
    
    Dawn

    
I met my current SO in a hotel lobby at a DECUS several years ago.
I was looking for the SWS hospitality suite, couldn't find it
and was about to leave.  On my way out, I look across this crowded
room and this vaguely familiar looking guy waves at me.  I wandered
over, figuring someone I sort of recognize is better than eating alone
in a strange city, and found he was with a couple of other people
whom I did know.  He asked me to join them for dinner and I did.
Later that evening I went to a session he was giving and left early
because I was tired (one of those half the night Q&A sessions.)
I thought I'd never see him again.  I ran into him the next morning
at coffee break (one guy out of 5000 people.)  We hung around together
most of the rest of the week, talked late into the night, saw the
opening of Return of the Jedi.  It turned out that we had worked in
the same building for a couple of years, had passed in the hallway
but never interacted with each other.  When I left on Friday I felt 
like I was leaving a lifelong friend.  I was so distracted that I 
almost squashed my rental car on the way to the airport.  

We were friends for a long time and ended up working together for
several years - spending all night debugging sessions with our 11/70.
He supported me through a period when I thought I might have breast
cancer.  The relationship deepened and broadened.  We've been together 
now for 4 years and we're getting married this summer.

I'll put my money on karma and soulmates.

alison

    			THE_PHOENIX 
    
    11 mail messages, one blind date, going on 9 months of pure pleasure.
    :-) Cathy

    My wife and I met through the most unlikely of means:  My ex-wife!
    
    In the case of my first wife, I met her at [gasp] a teen-disco.
    Before you start laughing too loudly, it wasn't my idea.  All I
    was doing was shutting up a friend of mine who was bugging me to
    go with him [peer pressure, ya know].  I caught a glimpse of Lisa
    [my ex] and was hit by a thunderbolt.  Blonde hair, blue eyes, red
    body suit and wrapskirt......
    
    We became friends after I saw her curl up with someone else.  A
    couple of months later, she started talking to me about the problems
    she was having with _him_.  I chased her for 10 months [just by
    being a confident].  For the last month, she was wondering why I
    hadn't made a move on her.  Well, we dated for 6 days, got engaged
    and got married almost 2 years later.
    
    Well, that lasted 2.5 more years.  We _did_ however salvage a *very*
    close friendship.
    
    I was over her apartment when 2 friends dropped by.  One I knew,
    one I had only seen twice.  By the end of th evening, I had a feeling
    that, if I wanted to, I would be dating the second one.
    
    Well, I'm married again [something I never thought I would do] and
    our first child is due in August.
    
    dj

Bill and I met (where met = started our relationship) thanks to NOTES, which
brought him in contact with a third party, who suggested he send mail to me.
After sending bytes and bytes of mail back and forth, we got together for
the afternoon/evening at his house (which I had helped his roommate move into
before I "met" Bill and before I knew it was Bill's house), and we've been
together ever since.

I say "met" in quotes because I had already become acquainted with him years
before when we worked for the same group, and he helped me with some aspects
of my job.  How strange it sometimes seems that I'm actually engaged to this
guy who attended the review of my first MACRO subroutine! :-)

(by the way, "hi, third party" :-))

Jill

    Back in '70, I met a friend in a church group.  He was about 4 years
    younger than I was.  While I was at his house one day, I saw a girl
    (yes, girl) go down the hallway and, although I just caught a glimpse
    of her, I thought that she was cute but younger than he was, his
    little sister.  About 2 days later, I walked into my first day of
    College English class and, lo and behold, there she was, sitting
    and staring out the window, watching a bird in the tree outside
    the classroom.  I quickly deduced that she must not be as young
    as she looked, she *was* in college after all.  I walked over and
    asked her if I could sit in the seat next to her.  See glanced my
    way and said, "I don't care, its a free world" and then went back
    to looking out the window.  We didn't say 2 words until the end
    of the class.  I made some jokes and she laughed.  I told her that 
    I wouldn't be able to find my next class without her help.  It was
    a Friday and when we finally (20 minutes later) found the room,
    there was a sign saying that class didn't meet on Fridays.  She
    still believes that I made it all up just so I could walk with her.
    I have never been with another woman since that day.
    
    On our first date, we kissed and I got nausea and diarrhea.  She
    claims that she made me sick.  It turned out to be the flu.
    
    I once went on a band trip for a week.  I bought her a teddy bear
    and gave it to her at 2 AM the night we got back to town.  Her parents
    were miffed but she never forgot it.  I told her that I just couldn't
    wait until morning.
    
    We went ice skating and she fell through the ice.  The skates instantly
    froze to her feet and she couldn't walk, it was 40 below.  I carried 
    her 3/4 mile home and put her into a warm bathtub to thaw out. 
    She never forgot that either.
    
    So many memories, I'd hate to lose any of them.
    
    Spence

    
    Mine is another "boy from around the corner", but I also
    believe in Karma, fate, the force, you name it... because there
    were lots of times we could have met, infact, his living around
    the corner only made things easier, but not inevitible.
    
    He is two years older than me and we met "officially" when I was in 9th
    grade. We were both members of the high school band, he played
    trombone, I played trumpet  (I had made the "smart" move the previous
    year of getting into the brass section...only girl in a mostly all male
    section....I was a very devious teenager! ) which meant we were
    together for concert band 1 class period every day, one evening a week
    for Jazz band, Saturdays for football games/marching band and pretty
    much every day after school hanging around the band room. 
     
    Of course, at the time I had a crush (as do all 13 yr old girls on some
    male?) on one of the other trumpet players. I even have a letter from
    that year that I wrote to my sister about all the GREAT guys in the
    trumpet section and a not-so-bad guy who played trombone....
    
    Anyway, it took me about 1 month before I realized this guy was pretty
    neat and from then on he didn't have a chance! "Chase" is putting it
    mildly... I would even time when I left for school in the morning so
    that I could "bump" into him (eveyone walked to school). 
    
    We were high-school sweethearts from then on. That was 17 years ago.
    Then, in college, we broke up for a few years while each of us tested
    our wings and met other people. Then, fate gave us both a push and our
    paths crossed again, this time for what appears to be for good. It's
    now been almost 10 years since that second "meeting" and I have
    always been amazed about the various "coincidences" in our lives
    that kept bringing us back together.
    
    So maybe the "lottery" is really running everything!
    
    janet b.
     
    
    
    

    
    re: .15
    
    Sorry it took me so long to get back to you... vacation, you know.
    
    Let's see - in response to your question - I think he stopped being
    a jerk and began being charming when I realized that his persistance
    must be more than a "your bed or mine" kind of thing.  I was so
    used to guys just wanting to add one more girl to their chain that
    I'd become calloused about any attempt to meet me that I felt wasn't
    "legitimate" - you know, not contrived.  But on a campus of 33,000
    people, he could have taken my rejection and tried elsewhere if
    his motives were "another link in the ole chain".  He didn't look
    elsewhere.  He kept after me.  So one day I decided to put him
    in his place once and for all.  I asked him when the last time was
    he'd been to church (this one always got rid of the playboys) and
    his reply was "Last Sunday".  I was so taken aback that I agreed
    to lunch and that was the beginning of the most wonderful 6 years
    of my life thus far.  
    
    Keep it up, she may notice you yet.
    
    Vicki

    L'ete dernier, au milieu du mois de juillet, j'etais partie en Bretagne
    avec ma petite soeur (elle avait 14 ans a l'epoque, 5 ans de moins
    que moi) et une autre fille. Geneve, ou nous habitons, se trouve en
    Suisse, a la frontiere est-sud-est de la France. La Bretagne (a ne
    pas confondre avec la Grande-Bretagne (UK)) se trouve a la pointe
    nord-ouest de la France, au bord de l'Atlantique.
    
    Nous y etions allees en train. Nous nous rendions dans une ecole
    de voile sur une ile bretonne, ou nous devions passer un mois.
    
    Nous devions changer de train a Lyon, a environ 200 kms de Geneve.
    Puis de Lyon jusqu'a Nantes (Bretagne), train-couchettes. Puis un
    dernier trajet jusqu'a Vannes, au fond du golfe du Morbihan.
    
    Dans le train de nuit Lyon-Nantes, nous etions tranquillement
    installees quand un jeune homme assez insignifiant est arrive dans
    le compartiment. Il avait l'air (trop) serieux, (trop) sage, lisait
    un livre (trop) intelligent, parlait (trop) doucement, (trop) poliment,
    bref, a mon sens, il meritait des baffes.
    
    Ma soeur Aurelie et moi s'evertuions a plonger au maximum dans le
    bizarre et l'excentrique, elle : new-wave punk, moi : new-wave baba
    BCBG debile, nous parlions mal, et fort, nous eclations de rire
    pour des aneries, nous "hurlions" des plaisanteries obscenes, nous
    mangions comme des gorets, bref, nous jouions parfaitement notre
    role d'adolescentes idiotes.
    
    Je lui ai offert une tomate - mal elevee peut-etre, mais avec de
    l'education tout de meme ! - (qu'il a acceptee), du poulet (qu'il
    a refuse), un oeuf (meme reaction), puis je l'ai envoye sur les
    roses, parce qu'un mec qui ne mange pas, qui ne boit que de l'eau,
    c'est pas un mec, c'est un haricot !
    
    Le pic-nic termine, est arrive le douloureux moment du choix des
    places. Sa couchette a lui etait tout en bas; nous nous sommes par
    consequent battues un moment, ma soeur et moi, pour savoir qui allait
    prendre celle du milieu. En tant qu'ainee, j'ai relegue une Aurelie
    furieuse tout en haut (quoique semi-punk, Aurelie est prete a draguer
    tout ce qui bouge, meme les petits garcons trop sages...).
    
    Le reste appartient a l'histoire : durant la nuit, ma main a traine
    le long de l'echelle qui permettait de passer d'une couchette a
    l'autre, sa main a lui est montee a la rencontre de la mienne, nos
    deux mains ont joue un moment ensemble, puis ma main lui a souhaite
    une bonne nuit et est retournee aupres de sa legitime proprietaire.
    
    Il est descendu a Nantes, m'a ecrit en Bretagne, a interrompu une
    croisiere en voilier pour passer me voir sur l'ile a la fin de mon
    sejour, nous sommes sortis ensemble enfin, puis nous sommes rentres
    chacun chez soi, moi a Geneve, lui a Lyon. Un mois ou deux apres,
    il a demenage a Montbeliard, une toute petite ville horrible et
    affreusement difficile d'acces.
    
    Ca faisait huit mois que nous vivions notre relation en habitant
    a plus de 300 kms l'un de l'autre (en Europe, ca fait beaucoup),
    nous nous voyions une fois par mois au pire, toute les semaines
    au mieux; depuis quinze jours, il habite tout pres de Geneve, en
    France : nous ne nous quittons plus.
    
    Je l'aime, il m'aime, nous nous aimons, nous nous disputons, nous
    nous reconcilions, nous vivons, quoi !
    
    Nous ne pensons ni l'un ni l'autre au mariage, ni (pour l'instant)
    a la possibilite de vivre ensemble. On verra !
    
    
    C'etait long a ecrire (et a lire ?).
    
    Zoziau

                                        
    Quote :
    
			-< Love Story >-    
    
Last summer in mid-July, I went to Britanny with my little sister (she was
14 at the time, 5 years younger than me) and another girl.  Geneva, where
we live, is in Switzerland on the east-south-east border of France.  Britanny
(not to be confused with Great Britain (UK)) is on the north-western tip
of France, on the Atlantic Ocean.

We went by train.  We were going to a sailing school on a Britanny island
for one month.

We had to change trains in Lyon, about 200 kms (about 125 miles) from Geneva.
Then go from Lyon to Nantes (Britanny) in a sleeping car.  Then the last
leg of the trip to Vannes, at the end of the gulf of Morbihan.

We were peacefully settled in the Lyon-Nantes night train when a rather
insignificant looking young man entered the compartment.  He seemed (too) 
serious, (too) goody-goody, was reading a book (too) intellectual, spoke
(too) softly, (too) politely, in brief, in my opinion, he deserved a few slaps.

My sister, Aurelie, and I did our utmost to plunge ourselves deeply into
the bizarre and eccentric, she : new wave punk, me : new wave hip, deranged    
prep,  we spoke badly, and loudly, and burst out laughing over foolish remarks,
we "shouted" obscene jokes, we ate like little pigs, in brief, we played
our roles of idiotic adolescents to the hilt.

I offered him a tomato - badly brought up maybe, but with some manners after
all ! -  (which he accepted), some chicken (which he refused), an egg (same
reaction), and then I told him to take a hike, because a guy who doesn't
eat, who drinks only water, isn't a guy, he's a green bean!

With the end of the picnic, the painful moment of choosing places arrived.
His berth was the lowest;  as a result my sister and I fought for a moment
over who would take the middle bunk.  As the eldest, I relegated a furious
Aurelie to the bunk on high (as a semi-punk, Aurelie is ready to flirt with
anything that moves, even with good little boys...).

The rest is history : during the night my hand lingered on a rung of the
ladder for climbing from one berth to another, his hand came up to meet
mine, our two hands played together for a moment, and then my hand wished
his a good night and returned to its rightful owner.

He went down to Nantes, wrote to me in Brittany, interrupted a sailing cruise
to pass to see me at the end of my trip, at last we went out together, and
then each of us returned to their respective home, me to Geneva, him to
Lyon.  A month or two later he moved to Montbeliard, a horrible, tiny village
that is difficult to get to.

For eight months we carryied on this relationship living more than
300 kms (approx. 186 miles) from one another (in Europe, that's a lot),
we saw each other once a month in the worst case of times, every week in
the best;  since fifteen days, he is living near Geneva, in France : we
are inseparable.

I love him, he loves me, we love each other, we fight, we make up, what
the heck, we live !

Neither of us is thinking of marriage, neither (for the moment) of the
possibility of living together.  We'll see !

It was long to write (and to read?).

Zoziau

    Unquote.

    
    I met my husband the summer between my junior and senior year in
    college when I took a summer job at the place he worked.  He had
    just been promoted to Senior Draftsman which meant that he would
    come off of the drafting board and begin to do pipe stress analysis,
    the first step towards a career in pipe stress and support design.
    Anyhow, I started as a draftsperson, and did drafting work for all
    of one day.  The next day, they put my husband back on the drafting
    board and assigned me to do the pipe stress analysis work which
    he had been doing!  It seems that I had more education than him,
    so they made the switch.  Well, that went over like a lead balloon,
    so he immediately got the forms to file a grievance with the union
    to get his assignment back and put me back in drafting, but he asked
    me out 3 days later (never did file those forms), and we got married
    4 years later to the day.
    
    Cathy
    

    He started at DEC during The Blizzard of '78 and I started at DEC
    in December of 1980 as a secretary for his group.
    
    He never passed his status reports in on time, never filled out
    his vacation cards correctly, and never took any crap from anyone
    if he thought they were patronizing him.
    
    He taught me how to sysgen RSX operating systems, came in early
    to have coffee with me, and didn't patronize me.
    
    We fell into heavy *like* for 3 years.  His house was a favored
    gathering place to consume vast quantities of homemade tacos
    and watch movies on his rented VCR (a trend-setter he was!) and
    I came in with a boyfriend I was ready to leave and a copy of
    STAR TREK: The Wrath of Kahn.  He could hug like nobody's
    business.
    
    Then I broke up with my boyfriend and he got trashed emotionally
    by a girlfriend or two...
    
    We met in the middle for mutual support and consolation, and
    fell madly in love.
    
    I was worried -- I didn't have enough friends left that I could
    afford to risk one so dearly loved on the uncertainty of romance.
    He said "Let's kiss.." and I said "I'll think about it..."
    
    We've been friends for 7 years, lovers for 4 years, and married for
    16 months.   And I might have missed this had I not taken the risk...
    
    Bugs

    We met at work.  We've been together on-and-off for seven years
    (pretty much 'on' for the last five except for 3 months last year).
    
    	-Ellen

    Re: .32	-< boring >-
    
    Si ca vous semble teeeellement ennuyeux, pourquoi continuer ?
    
    
    If it seems [for (?)] you soooooo boring, why then [je ne sais plus
    comment finir...] ?

    
Zoziau-qui-se-donne-la-peine-d'essayer-mais-le-resultat-n'est-pas-genial...

    re:.33: 
    
    An American would say it this way:
    
    If you find it sooooo booooring, why do you stay with him?
    
    Or perhaps: 
    
    If it's so boring, why do you keep on?
    
    --bonnie
    
    
    

    Re. 34
    
    Merci, Bonnie. I prefer(e) the second version.
    
    Pas facile !
    
    
    Vanilla-la-Douce

    re .35
    
    Je pense que...
    
    Pour moi, il est....
    
    Oh h*ll, my french isn't too good. :-)
    
    I think she meant that the description was boring.  None of the
    "our eyes met..."  or  "Thunder & Lightning.."  just "we met and
    started going out..."

RE: .36
    
*   I think she meant that the description was boring.  None of the
*   "our eyes met..."  or  "Thunder & Lightning.."  just "we met and
*   started going out..."


    Bien sur, je comprends. Mais son histoire avait l'air de tellement
    peu l'enthousiasmer !! Quand quelque chose nous passionne, peut-on
    vraiment le raconter sans avoir les yeux qui brillent, la voix qui
    s'enflamme ? Peut-on le dire la voix morne et indifferente ?
    
    Si oui, comme c'est dommaaaage !!
    
    
    Zoziau

RE: .37

    Quote :
          
RE: .36
    
*   I think she meant that the description was boring.  None of the
*   "our eyes met..."  or  "Thunder & Lightning.."  just "we met and
*   started going out..."

    Of course, I understand.  But her story seemed to have little to be
    enthusiastic about !!  When we are passionate about something, can 
    we speak about it without flashing eyes, excited voice ?
    Can we speak with a gloomy and indifferent voice ?

    If the answer is yes, then that's too baaad !!

    Zoziau

    Unquote.
    

    Re: .27 thanks Helen....  I'm getting very frustrated atttempting
    			      to read this conference anymore... :-(
    
    Re: .22  Hi there "you" too.... remember, I get to catch the bouquet :-)
    
    Now that that is over.....
    
    I met my current SO (of 14 months) via a notes file.... we began
    dating a week after our first mail message, and umpteenth phone
    call....  still going strong, and both of us wondering what lies
    ahead in the future....  MEANWHILE... my kids are insisting on getting
    him a Fathers Day card and present this year..... (trying to handle
    that one with kid gloves.... :-)...)

    We're happy, and thats what counts...
    
    G

    Corll and I were both white-water raft guides living in Aspen,Co
    working for different outfits. Our first meeting was over a water
    bucket fight between our respective rafts, when she let me have
    it full in the face as I was trying to manuever(sp?) my raft in for
    a broadside volley. One thing led to another and soon when we met
    on the river we'd position our rafts for a kiss instead of a bucket.
    
    A mutual friend got us a job 'swamping' on a Grand Canyon trip that
    August. The toughest part for each of us was breaking the news to
    our respective SO's. We had been carrying on what we thought was a
    secret affair all summer. (There are no social secrets in Aspen)
    
    We fell deeply (pardon the pun) in love in the bottom of the Grand
    Canyon under a full August moon. We spent one particular nite
    exploring a mile long pure white sand dune with nothin but a canteen,
    tennies, the full moon, and a warm breeze. A mystical, magical
    experience a mile deep in the earth.
    
    We came back from the canyon and immediately left in Corll's VW
    camper on a 3 month 'vacation' up to Montana, over to Wash, where
    I proposed to her after a long day of picking apples. We then went
    down the coast to california and came back thru 'lost wages, nevada
    where we almost got married in the Venus chapel of love, where they
    took Master Card. We finally got married 6 mo's later, moved to
    Montana to teach school and raft inthe summer and ski in the winter.
    

    I met my husband in a cave.  A very large one with tons
    of computers and uniformed people walking around inside....
    
    It is called NORAD.  The Air Force hollowed out a mountain
    here in Colorado Springs and built a Space Defense Center
    inside.  It is actually quite interesting but to make
    a long story short my husband was this cute operator on one
    the Honeywell machines I was servicing while in Honeywell
    Field Service.  
    
    We had to keep it secret for a while since he was my customer
    and we were supposed be "professional", you know how people can
    talk up a story!  So about 5 months after we started dating I
    landed a job with DEC in Field Service and was thrilled when I
    could finally tell everyone I used to work with that we were 
    getting married!  (Now they know why I used to love to walk
    the tunnels in the middle of the night :^) :^) :^)!!!!!)
    
                                  Still happy after 4 years!
                                            Sue
    

    
    
    Steve and I met 4 years ago.  I was camping in Maine with my family,
    and he was there camping with his friends.  My sister, new
    Kevin (Steve's friend), and the 4 of us just "spent most of the
    weekend together".  Once the weekend was over, I thought, so was
    my new "friendship" with Steve.  I was wrong.  2 days later he started
    calling me, a week later a got a birthday present in the mail, and
    2 weeks later, we started going out on dates, (he lives about 40
    min. away).
    
    We've been together happily for 4 years (we have had our share of
    ups 'n' downs).  We got engaged in March, and we are getting married
    Sept. 18, 1988, and I couldn't be happier.
    
    There just might be " a happily ever after"
    
    	Kelley

    I meet my husband in square dancing lessons.  We started lesson
    in September of 1980 and started to go out to club level dances
    in December of that year and New Year eve we went to Lexington 
    and at midnight he kiss me and I knew we would get married.  
    We did the following year.   May 15, 1982. 

    I met Jim in the spring of 1981 while working on a community theatre
    production of "The Music Man".  He was trying to teac me how to run the
    lighting boar and all I could see was this really good looking guy. 
    
    The show went off okay (no major problems that I can remember  We
    went to the cast party afterwards and talked all night long.  I
    knew then and there that he was one very special person.  We went
    out a few times and then stopped seeing each other.  (my SO at the
    time was home from college.)  It took a few months to realize that
    I didn't want to see my SO any longer, that my heart belonged to
    someone else.
    
    Jim and I moved in together in January of 1982 and have been together
    since.  We got married in October of 1983.  When our son was born,
    we retired from community theatre.  It was a lot of fun, but there
    is a big time commitment involved and we just didn't have that kind
    of time anymore. 
    
    These days we sit around and fight over who gets into notes first...
    :-)
    
    Roberta

    I met my SO on May 26,77.  How do I have the date so exact?  It
    was my first full day at college, and I had seen him in my class
    the nite before.  he came by my breakfast table & asked me where
    I bought my textbook..(remember, I'd only been on campus 12 hrs,
    he'd been there 9 months!), I asked him for directions at lunch,
    and then asked him if i could follow him to class that night...having
    taken over two hours to get home the nite before (should have been
    a 15 mins walk!).  Well, the story goes on from there.  By the end
    of that week, (3 days later), everyone thought we'd been together
    for years. And we have been, mostly, for the past 11.   Gee, I'd
    always wanted to date lots & lots of men in college.....I *never*
     meant to find Mr Right quite so soon...
    
    
    Oh yeah,  we're getting married this August.....
    
    Wouldn't wanna  rush inna anything, ya know!
                   
    
    Mary