We sat in the car at Ocean Beach, looking at the Pacific after a walk around the Cliff House. After weeks of wooing me, and me trying to ignore his better qualities (determination and steadfastness), he put on Nick Drake’s “Northern Sky”, and that was it. I couldn’t be tough or indifferent any longer, and I gave in.
—Suzanna
Postscript: Still together a year and a half later, living together and planning our future.
We went snowboarding on a clear but frosty day, and he whipped out a thermos of Irish coffee at the top of a beautiful bluff. This was a man with a plan, and a romantic with a touch of Martha Stewart. Delicious.
—Becky
Postscript: We dated for 3 1/2 years full of outdoor adventures, music, laughs and culinary delights.
We visited a Roman spa where men and women could “spa together.” I also invited one of my girlfriends to join us. My beau, whom I am sure was excited that he was soon to spa with two beautiful women, was supportive in her attending our afternoon adventure. While there, I never saw sooo many flaccid penises in my life! That day, in the spa, surrounded by flesh, I knew we could be naked around each other forever.
—Christine
Postscript: We married 2 years later and are still naked!
After enjoying a wonderful first sleepover, she hopped out of bed and came back with a carton of ice-cream. Again: naked person and ice-cream. Classical art is scarcely as beautiful.
—Aaron
Postscript: We stayed together for the next couple of years. Then I got traded in for a bike mechanic with a ponytail.
We both have the “go for the joke” gene—that risk-taking, occasionally destructive tendency to joke about anything, anywhere. Early on, I knew she was smart, funny, willing to take chances and shared the same twisted sense of humor. I would never be bored, always challenged and we could laugh about anything. That’s huge.
—Rob
Postscript: We married three years later, after many laugh-so-hard-it-hurts landmarks and the occasional joke dud. She still makes me laugh.
We drove to the coast on a whim and spent the night on the beach in the back of his car. I woke up dehydrated, morning-breathy, with my contact lenses shriveled, and no makeup. For the first time ever, my happiness to be waking up with someone completely overrode my self-consciousness about my morning appearance. I didn’t know that was possible.
—Autumn
Postscript: We stayed together for two years after that, breaking up when I moved across the country to begin my career. He was the first person I fell in love with, and I him.
