best-of

 

“An Old Friend”

best of smart

Very soon after starting to date my husband, I suspected that we would marry. It’s not that the infatuation was more intense than in other relationships. It was just a sense of recognizing my husband, as if I were walking down the street and happened to run into an old friend.

—Rachel

Postscript: We have been married for 19 years.

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11

“True Blue Chicago”

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I fell in love with my husband when he put my bicycle in a taxi cab during the Chicago riots of 1968. This was our first meeting.

—Diane

Postscript: We have been married for 41 years, and our daughter was a scholarship recipient of the 19th Century Charitable Association.

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2

“Literary Love”

best of surprising

We were just friends, but I was always kinda into him & recently those feelings were getting more intense. Then, at a bookstore one day, he called to me from down the aisle, “Hey! Darling! What book is that?” My heart jumped, flipped, froze and melted.

– Ronni

Postscript: He can call me that anytime.

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3

“Looseness and Wild Relief”

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Our play had been a success, though of course I hadn’t liked it much. She’d been great, though, and somehow the looseness and wild relief of the after party buoyed me across the room to her. She said she’d never seen me like this – cheery, the smile on my face without a trace of irony.

— Steve

Postscript: We dangled our feet in a pool, later that night, and quietly talked till dawn as we watched the darting reflections on the water.

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3

“Gimme Some Sugar, Baby”

best of sweet

We began dating a week prior to my birthday. He bought me a gaming guide for World of Warcraft and a Bruce Campbell movie and poster—he paid attention to what I liked and didn’t get me the standard flowers or candy.

—Joralyn

Postscript: We’re married and happy and play WoW together. (Yep, we’re nerds!)

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2

“Crush, Deliberation”

best of surprising

It was the end of high school. She’d been my crush for two years, the object of so many furtive glances. My every move toward her was planned, prioritized, considered, debated. We’d become friends; if not close, then trusting. In the final week of school, I tossed deliberation to the winds and asked her out.

— Dan

Postscript: We dated for five, heady months before the separation of college drove us apart.

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2

“Noir”

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Tired of trying the old singles party tricks , I went up to him – thin, a small smile beneath his lively eyes – and asked if he wanted to leave and grab some coffee. “Ok,” he said softly, “but only if we can talk about 50s noir while we drink.”

—Lisa

Postscript: We’re still drinking coffee, still watching 50s noir, and still adamantly avoiding the old singles’ parties.

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