Where did you meet your significant other?

[GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy]

First and foremost, let's keep this conversation civil and respectable. In the last few days, I started to ponder about settling down in the future. I'm in my late 20's, so the thought just comes and goes To an extent, I've felt like I haven't lived/dated enough to feel content with one partner for the rest of my life. I'm not sure if it's just my generation, but most relationships (within my age group) aren't lasting... I've personally accepted that I'll never get married, but I'd like to have kids someday. For those of you who've settled down and started a family, where did you meet your significant partner and at what age? Thank you for contributing WFIGS family

[Jack Specific]

Ok I will start. I don't think I've ever told this story to anyone but my kids... I worked at a company as manager of half the company (we had two different departments/two types of equipment & production). We were bought out by a larger company. They put all management on yearly contracts. Little by little I saw just about every manager let go (we had three different buildings), no contact renewal. The company who bought us replaced us one by one. When my last contract ran out they did not renew it and I was among the ones let go. Ironically, they had the warehouse manager take over for me who knew -0- about what I did. He liked to drink as well. But alas in a couple of months when his contract ended, he joined us and in went one of their people.

When I was laid off I was able to collect but I had a job offer. It was June of 1989, and my new job started in August. So I had two months of not working. Needless to say, I was bored out of my mind. My last relationship in 1988 was not so great. She was nice, in fact too nice. She constantly called me at work, left me so many messages on my answering machine. Called me constantly. She would always want to come over or me go there. At the time I was working 14 or more hour days. Saturdays around 8 hour days. I wanted to sleep on Sunday but she wanted to party and go on dates and well, have fun. I wanted to sleep. It just got to be too much so I broke up with her. She was really nice and I felt horrible about it. There was just nothing there and it was too much for me. I realized I did not want a relationship. It's the first person I ever broke up with. I was always the one that girls broke up with me.

Fast forward around almost a year, back to summer '89. Back then, everyone worked. My friends worked, no one to play with. Not working got boring quickly. A friend of mine told me about a free chat line where you can meet people. I figure what the heck, I have nothing better to do. I figured I can meet people who are not working as well. So I tried it a few times, it was kind of crazy because everyone was talking all at once. There were people (girls and guys) taking about music, bands and all kinds of stuff. It was cool but damn near impossible to actually have a conversation so you had to be brave enough to shout out your phone number. It was only my 2nd or 3rd time on there and I am not even sure who shouted their number first, me or my future wife, but we talked and she seemed nice but I still was not looking for any relationship, no way, not after what happened before and part of it was me feeling guilty of being the one to break up with my prior girlfriend. I was just not ready for that, not even close. We talked for a few days, had some things in common, so I decided to ask her for a date (dinner and a movie). We ate at a place called "Arnold's Drive In" (that one owned by the guy from the Happy Days show but not really a drive-in). We went to see the movie "Ghost" after dinner. It was a nice time and we fell for each other. Still though, no relationship was in mind for me.

As fate would have it, and as love would have it, the relationship did develop into something real, even as unwanted as that was, love takes over and changes everything. I was 27 years old. On Sept 26th of this year it will be 30 years married. I love her more and more, even though the love evolves it does indeed become more. I am lucky and fortunate to have found my soulmate.

You do not have to seek love to find love. It will come naturally. Heck I know people who didn't find their soulmate until their 40s and 50s. I kid you not. I thought the same thing, I will never get married, I don't want to be stuck in a relationship, etc. Love found me and can and likely will find you too, maybe when you least expect it.

[Escape The Rules]

My ex of 3 years I met through Tinder.

Current girl I'm seeing, I met through Bumble.

So I don't really have a SO right now but hopefully this one works out because I do like her a lot.

[The Real Valbroski]

I met my ex through work and we dated for 6 years. I’ve been single for almost 3 years now and I have zero interest in dating again anytime soon.

[¡Twist Of 45 and 47!]

2004 we met. It was a party that if I remember correctly, I had no interest being at. It was just before I was about to leave that I met this girl called Sophie. A small life changing moment that could have easily not happened. We ended up talking for about two hours about your typical teenage BS. Surprisingly she replied to my text a couple of days later and agreed to meet again. It still baffles me that she did because our first official date was at a Subway. Charmer, I know. We did go and see Kill Bill 2 afterwards though.

Now in 2022 after many highs and just as many lows, we’re happily married with a little girl. Ashlynn, who is almost the same age that we were when we met.

[PJ]

Back in 1988 I was an assistant manager at Burger King. The owner had six restaurants. Three in NJ and three in NY. One day myself and my store manager (who was married to the owners sister) volunteered us to go up to one of the NY stores to do some repairs. And she was working at that NY store.

[Deep Figure Value]

An arcade in town in May or June of 2003. It was the end of my senior year of high school and my friends and I were just wasting away the days counting down to graduation because we'd basically "made it" at that point, were checked out, and just ready to be done. I was chatting on AIM with a friend about I wished we had a good arcade around. He mentioned the one we have in town, and I was so adamant that the place sucked that I drove over, picked him up, and we went there (really, it was just another excuse for something to do). We wound up on the third floor, as some mutual friends of ours were big into Dance Dance Revolution, and they had three of those cabinets. Their group was intermingled with a couple of other people who weren't part of the "all of us go to high school together crowd", and she was among them. I'd like to say it was love at first sight, but we really just became part of the same larger group of friends that kicked off that summer and did everything together. It was actually close to a year before we started getting close and dating - I went off to college for a bit, got into some really bad relationships, dropped out, and wound up swearing off dating entirely just as she and I began growing closer, and things just sort of took off from there.

We've been together ever since, so that's eighteen years this past June, and we just celebrated our fourteenth wedding anniversary. Got a seven year old kid, and our very own Dance Dance Revolution arcade cabinet to boot.

[kennyw86v2]

She hired me at a part time job so I could afford my first ever car payment.

[GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy]

Jack Specific Thanks for the words of encouragement. Oddly enough, I just finished watching a romantic comedy from the 80's and your story reminded me of it. I wish I got to live through the 80's

[Stuart?]

I met my ex girlfriend on Hinge when I was 21 in April 2020. Haven't dated anyone since we broke up that November. I did have feelings for a girl I worked with over the last year but I didn't pursue anything (the whole dipping your pen in the company ink thing), but now she's left my company and is moving to England. Bummer haha.

[GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy]

Aug 14, 2022 9:45:42 GMT -5 Stuart? said:

I met my ex girlfriend on Hinge when I was 21 in April 2020. Haven't dated anyone since we broke up that November. I did have feelings for a girl I worked with over the last year but I didn't pursue anything (the whole dipping your pen in the company ink thing), but now she's left my company and is moving to England. Bummer haha.

Oddly, Tinder used to work wonders for me in my early 20’s, but the app is heavily monetized that it’s basically a trap for women looking for followers on social media. Hmm.. honestly, in your case I would of went for it. Sometimes you have to take the risk 😉 For me, it’s never worked out with women I’ve liked at work. Usually, there’s someone ruining things or someone else involved.

[Stuart?]

Aug 14, 2022 15:31:06 GMT -5 GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy said:

Aug 14, 2022 9:45:42 GMT -5 Stuart? said:

I met my ex girlfriend on Hinge when I was 21 in April 2020. Haven't dated anyone since we broke up that November. I did have feelings for a girl I worked with over the last year but I didn't pursue anything (the whole dipping your pen in the company ink thing), but now she's left my company and is moving to England. Bummer haha.

Oddly, Tinder used to work wonders for me in my early 20’s, but the app is heavily monetized that it’s basically a trap for women looking for followers on social media. Hmm.. honestly, in your case I would of went for it. Sometimes you have to take the risk 😉 For me, it’s never worked out with women I’ve liked at work. Usually, there’s someone ruining things or someone else involved.

I definitely dropped some hints and we actually made plans to hang outside of work a few times but they always fell through for one reason or another. I just didn't want to make it uncomfortable for her ya know. We had a good dynamic and I didn't want to eff it up. She always talked about wanting to leave and travel though, that was her dream and I didn't want to try and stand in the way of that. But hey, onwards and upwards haha.

I've had Tinder, Hinge and Bumble on my phone at various points. I've talked to a bunch of girls on Tinder, but I don't think anything has ever led to a date - like you said, most girls just wanted to increase the follower count. Bumble is alright, I've had a couple dates from it but the app itself is nothing to write home about.

Hinge has given me the most success honestly, I think probably because it's the one that allows you to show your personality the most whereas Tinder is far more superficial. 

[Jack Specific]

Aug 13, 2022 21:30:27 GMT -5 GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy said:

Jack Specific Thanks for the words of encouragement. Oddly enough, I just finished watching a romantic comedy from the 80's and your story reminded me of it. I wish I got to live through the 80's

No problem. The 80's were the best. 80's were rough for me family wise (I won't get into that) but the 80's itself, just the freedom and no hatred of one another unlike today. I don't want to get into that either because it starts to turn "political" and the like but it was so fun back then, I just cannot fully explain it, people seemed "happy" for the most part. You had to actually go out and socialize in real life. I can say one thing, it's seems much easier to date today with all of the social media and texting. Socializing in real life meant you had to talk via phone or in person to ask on a date. When I was younger I was more shy and it was very hard for me and many others to ask out a girl.

[The Real Chillary]

Me and my buddy Chuck were inept songwriters who were down on our luck, but dreamnt of becoming a popular singing duo in the mould of Simon and Garfunkel. Though we were poorly received at a local open-microphone night, agent Marty Freed offered to book us as lounge singers in a hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco, explaining that the last act quit due to political unrest in the area. Nearly broke, both single, and without any better options, we both decide to take the gig.

When we arrived in the neighboring country of Ishtar, Chuck agrees to give his passport to a mysterious woman who claims her life is in danger. She promises to meet him in Marrakesh. Unfortunately, Chuck learns at the U.S. Embassy that it will take longer than expected to get a new passport. I went to Morocco in a bid to save our booking while Chuck stays behind.

Alone in Ishtar, Chuck meets CIA agent Jim Harrison. Chuck agrees to be a mole for the CIA and, in return, Harrison gets Chuck to Morocco by the next evening.

Now together again, Chuck and myself unwittingly became involved in a plot to overthrow the Emir of Ishtar. The mysterious woman, Shirra Assel, snuck into my room and tries to steal my luggage, mistaking it for Chuck's. At the airport, she had stuck some of her items into Chuck's luggage, since that was her only way of smuggling them out of Ishtar. She later breaks into our room and goes through Chuck's luggage, but she fails to find an ancient, prophetic map that her archaeologist brother Omar had found. Shirra needs this map in order to command the loyalties of the left-wing guerrillas who oppose the government of Ishtar.

Shirra later confronts Chuck and accuses him of working with the CIA, and Chuck accuses her of being a communist. Meanwhile, I attempted to find a camel salesman named Mohamad and gives him the secret code of "I want to buy a blind camel," as per Shirra's instructions, but LI found the wrong Mohamad and ends up actually buying a blind camel. Chuck and myself receive instructions from both the CIA and the leftist guerillas to go into the desert, and both parties actually intended for us to die there.

In the desert, Chuck pulled his jacket over his head to shield himself from the sun, and I saw that the legendary map is sewn inside of the jacket. The jacket was originally Omar's, but Shirra took it, and then Chuck and Shirra traded jackets. The CIA sends helicopters to finish off Chuck and myself, but Shirra and a cab driver arrive in the desert and defend us.

Chuck and I mail the map to our agent Marty Freed, who blackmails the CIA with the map. The CIA ends up having to support Shirra leading social reforms in the country, and back an album written by Rogers and Clarke with a tour starting in Morocco. At the show, Shirra is in the audience.

[windmachinefan]

Tinder, back when it wasn't like 90 percent bots

[GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy]

Sept 10, 2022 3:25:49 GMT -5 windmachinefan said:

Tinder, back when it wasn't like 90 percent bots

I just posted the same thing on another thread. I was there when Tinder first launched and it was great. Everything was free and the best part was that women were genuinely interested in meeting up. After it got monetized they took every single feature off, it's literally just a validation app at this point. The best thing to do now in todays world is to go out and actually meet people. As we progress in time, people are moving away from social interaction and more towards virtual. Which is somewhat scary because a lot of men/women aren't building their social skills, but in fact relying on tech to do it for them. Sometimes, I wonder if we're moving forward or backwards.

[tmnt316]

I was in line at Wal Mart and she worked the register and i ended up leaving with her number.

[fabulous1971]

Doing theater. A hell of a great place to meet girls. Most guys in theater like guys, nothing wrong with that!! So getting a theater chick is very easy.

[J'Dinkalage Morgoone]

met my wife of almost 5 years on POF

[GreyHaze:Big Bad Booty Daddy]

Oct 6, 2022 15:32:16 GMT -5 fabulous1971 said:

Doing theater. A hell of a great place to meet girls. Most guys in theater like guys, nothing wrong with that!! So getting a theater chick is very easy.

I actually like theater. Seems like I'm going to have to join a theater club soon Either that or photography/film