It was drool at first sight when I saw him run up a sunny hill—shirtless. I randomly bumped into him at a bar where my running group was celebrating a race. Turns out he had secretly asked my coach for e-mail updates on my whereabouts so he could finally meet me. We stood outside talking by my car. All our friends left, then the waiters, then the cooks. When the drunken bums started roaming around us, we finally knew it was really late…and that we were hooked.

—Paula

Postscript: We’re engaged!

0

He’d had a hopeless crush for many months on my best friend, who was not interested. When that friend went to New Zealand to meet up with her Internet boyfriend, the two of us were left behind and decided to form a “support group” for missing her. Somewhere between Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and red wine, we forgot all about her.

—Shelley

Postscript: We’ve been together ever since. That was more than six years ago!

2

A racquetball-aholic, I asked my mom to find me a suitable adversary. She recruited this fella from her office. When I walked into the racquetball court at the local YMCA, he was already there practicing his moves. A sweatshirt hung by threads from his neckline. He wore Converse high-tops cut off at the ankle; his shoelaces were untied and flying loose with each whack of the racket. He was certainly a vision.

—Susie

Postscript: That was 26 years ago. This morning we woke up together from our cozy bed, in our old house. We retired the rackets to the basement some years ago due to our ancient knees.

2

It was an unusually hot day in February, and we went to the lake to shoot photographs. Later while getting snacks at a corner store, she told me that people like the way we look together. And thus began her routine of saying exactly what I am thinking.

—Mario

Postscript: She still says exactly what’s on my mind.

1

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.

1

We had been on two dates. He liked Wilco and bikes and had a bunch of beautiful tattoos. We had made out, held hands, laughed. Then one night he called me up to chat, told me he had bought his housemates some pastries, and then asked me if I believed in greed as an inherent human value. We spoke for three hours, and I knew.

Postscript: We just signed the lease for a place with a punched-tin ceiling.

—Yana

0

After spotting a tall, cute guy at a bull-riding event, I walked up to him, doing my best to be cute and sexy, and promptly spilled my beer down the front of my shirt. It didn’t seem to matter, though—or maybe it was the spill that caught his interest. We went dancing afterward and haven’t been able to get enough of each other since.

—Kitasha

Postscript: We’re complete opposites, but it’s working for us!

0