It just so happened the other six people we were supposed to meet on the train platform to go to a movie never showed up (not a date). The train moved three blocks and then shut down. While it was stalled, we chatted with a bum: bottle in a bag, week-old beard. “How long you two been together?” “Oh, no, we’re not dating.” He took a swig. “Uh-huh.” Then, confidingly, to the boy: “You stick with her, my man; that’s the one you gonna marry.”

—Ann

Postscript: We were together nine years before we got married six years ago. Two kids. We still take the train to movies.

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We had plans to go out, but I got a really bad cold and had to cancel. He called to see how I was feeling and said he was out running errands. About five minutes after we hung up, the doorman called and said I had a package. I found a care package of chicken noodle soup, orange juice, cough drops and a beautiful sunflower plant.

—Shermi

Postscript: I was so touched because he was so thoughtful and he didn’t even know if I liked him. We started dating and got engaged five months later.

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Love is like finding the perfect pair of shoes. When I met my husband, it was like finding a pair of shoes that were so comfortable, strong and beautiful; I knew I would walk in them forever.

—Rose

Postscript: We’ve been walking together ever since.

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A boring night of serving drinks turned into a life-changing event, when a boy walked into my bar and caught my eye. When he later introduced himself, I found out he was from Chicago and played drums in one of the bands that would be playing the show I was working that night. I discovered his band was one I had loved for years.

After we spent all night awkwardly flirting with each other, I thought to myself, “Now, why can’t I meet a guy like this?” but quickly realized, “Wait! I did!” We spent the rest of the night/early morning talking and falling hard for each other. Two weeks later, we split the cost of a plane ticket for me to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago for a visit.

—Lychee

Postscript: Almost four years later, I’ll have lived in Chicago for three years, and we’re still going strong.

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I got into a university far away, but neither of us could say goodbye. Every weekend for the following six months, he would bike 350 miles through one of the harshest and coldest winters recorded to see me.

—Lissy

Postscript: Now almost a year down the line, we live in the same city, and we’re very much in love. He still tells me he fell in love the moment he saw me.

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I met him in college playing Super Mario Brothers with friends. He never even looked up at me. So I said “screw it.” Later that week, I went out to a club, where I ended up running back into “Mario.” (I never knew his name). It turns out he had noticed me and wanted to know everything about me. We left the club together and watched a late-night movie. That night I fell asleep wrapped in his arms.

— Princess Peach

Postscript: What I didn’t know that night was that four years later we would be married with two kids!

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During my stay in Buenos Aires, he told me that he loved me after three short weeks. He didn’t speak any English, so I tried to explain to him he didn’t know how strong of a word he was using. A week later, when I went to visit his suburb, I realized that almost every day for the past few weeks, he had walked 20 minutes from his house, spent one hour on the train, and another hour on a bus, just to meet me in the city where I lived, not once mentioning the long journey it took to get there.

—Megan

Postscript: We have been apart for almost 6 months. Still madly in love with him, I am going back to Argentina in two months for another semester abroad. TKM [te quiero mucho].

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