I met my husband at college, but we didn’t start dating until after we graduated. We were set up by a mutual friend, and will celebrate 37 yrs in August.
S1 met his spouse through online dating several years after college graduation. College girlfriend broke up with him after 5 years (and he had a ring, set to propose. That was a bad time, though we like DIL much better than GF).
D1 met future SIL first week freshman year, he was also a freshman. They are getting married this August, after seven years of dating.
High school. We got married immediately after graduating college and have been married almost 27 years.
D is still dating the boy she met junior year of high school. They’ve been making long distance work for three years. Their colleges are several states apart. His parents also met in high school.
It always amazes me, thinking back, that two people who were so young and clueless as we were could make a relationship work for so long and through so many changes. It takes work, but its been a good thing.
Sophomore year of college, when he was a new transfer student. We met at the restaurant on campus where we both worked for the next three years. If I wasn’t in class, studying, or sleeping, then I was working. Usually about 25 hours a week. So my coworkers were also my best friends.
Although we were both in the same group of friends, DH and I didn’t start actually dating until late in our senior year when we finally realized that college was ending and we wouldn’t be together every day unless we did something about it - lol. Our 30th anniversary is in September.
We met as freshmen in college. I was dating someone who lived on DH’s floor. BF was very insecure and kept going to DH for advice (and telling me what DH had told him). By mutual agreement we broke up after about 6 weeks. DH asked the ex if he wouldn’t mind if he asked me out. He said he would be fine with it (he wasn’t), so I started dating DH. We didn’t get married for almost 7 years after we started dating (after grad/professional school).
P.S. Ex did eventually get over it and to this day is still one of our closest friends.
Met freshman year in college, but before I started school. We went to a co-op college & we were in the group that started working before starting the academic portion. He was a junior. We married 5 years later & have been married 36 years. First serious BF for me & I was his first serious GF.
Second sort-of serious relationship, though I knew the first wasn’t going anywhere. (He was also in the dorm. And was glowering over us as DH and I had our first conversation.) I knew at that moment that DH was the one, though our first date was 4 months later. DH and I were not in the same social circle. We had some mutual friends but I hung with a different group. He was the guy everyone knew, sort of the charming flirt.
H was my first serious boyfriend. I had many male friends from elementary school on. I’m not exactly a typical female with my likes/preferences - even my primary major in college (Physics) had me as the only female in many of my “major” classes. At most there were three of us gals in any one class. I only grew to like H as a “mate” after we had done many things together (travel/hiking/walks/dinners - he’d join me with anything whether it was as part of a group or just “me.” He was an engineer and two years ahead of me so we never had any of the same classes or study partners.
I met H in grad school. We worked at the same work study place and each of us just sort of tolerated the other as co-workers. I was the student supervisor, making up the student schedules and doing the student payroll. Almost a year in, he came to me and asked if I could cover one of his shifts because he had a big exam to study for.
I covered the shift, happy to have the extra hours and neither of us gave it much thought.
My supervisor insisted that he take me out to dinner and a movie to thank me. I kept saying that the bigger paycheck was thanks enough, I hadn’t had anything better to do that day than to work those hours. She wouldn’t leave it alone until he took me out.
Our 28th anniversary is coming up in a few weeks and that supervisor is our D’s god mother.
I had one previous boyfriend that I dated for 6 years during high school and college. I broke up with him when he told me I would make a fine first wife.
I did not find the 7 year difference a big deal when we were both seniors in college together and then new hires in the same big corporation. It’s more noticeable now in retirement planning etc. (He actually retired this year, age 64. I’m hoping to retire at a much younger age.)
Met his sophomore year, my junior year playing pinball in the basement of our House. He was smitten right away. I had a boyfriend on a junior year abroad in Taiwan. My old boyfriend ended up marrying a young woman he met in Taiwan and lives in Taiwan now. Dh eventually did become my boyfriend. We had a three year separation while we were in grad school on opposite coasts, but after seven years together we finally got married.
I had a boyfriend freshman year, that I never thought I’d married, but I was very serious about the one who went to Taiwan. It was hard to let go of him.
Met my DH during our freshman year of college but didn’t start dating him until mid way through junior year. We just celebrated our 25th anniversary this past week. Our DD who just graduated from college in May swore she would not date and ‘be tied down’ in college. She met a boy literally her fist day there, before classes even started, and they are still together.
We met in high school, where we double-dated for prom. I went with one of his friends. Shortly after his graduation (I was still a senior in high school), his girlfriend broke up with him because she wanted to get married and he wanted to go to college. He went to a local collage and we started dating. We dated for 9 years and have been married for 35 in Sept.
My oldest son met his wife in college. They were in a special program with the same 50 kids taking ALL their classes together. Of the 50 students, 40 were women. He started out dating one of them, but ended up marrying another from the group.
Youngest son transferred colleges to be with a girlfriend, only to meet another woman a year ahead of him. They are married and expecting their first child next month.
D met her future-husband at work. She only attended one semester of college.
Raising hand. Met in high school, we had like 4 couples that all dated like 8 years. All got married. We are going on 32 years but I knew her now for 40… That’s just crazy… (, we both dated others for a while)
Nephew #1 and spouse were in middle school together. They were 13. He would complain about girls being jerks to guys and she was the shoulder he always went to cry on. They also shared the loss of an immediate family member at very young ages – that was something they really bonded over. When they were 14, my sister said to me, “One day, N will figure out that SHE’s the girl he really wants!” They started dating at 15, will be married five years this summer and have 2-1/2 boys (#3 is due in September).
Niece #1 met her spouse the first day of freshman orientation when they were doing ROTC drills. Both are active duty now and stationed in Germany. Dated five years, married for three.
Niece #2 met her fiance junior year of college. Getting married in November.
Youngest sister met her DH as a blind date for senior prom. Married four years later. Had their 30th anniversary last month.
DH and did the long-distance thing for a year and a half before I moved to Philadelphia. First date: corned beef sandwiches as a deli near Times Square (in 1982, when it was a hellhole). I had been stood up for a date, and he explained why some guys were insensitive jerks. Asked me to dinner that night so I wouldn’t be stuck in a hotel alone. Went out for Chinese with a group of folks from Georgetown, but asked to go dutch because he didn’t have $$ for two dates. Next night went to the top of World Trade Center – tickets were $3. Told me in Central Park the next day I was the one. Took me a while longer to come to that conclusion. Fortunately, his summer internship paid enough to cover the huge phone bills. Married 35 years, together 37.
My first BF was my best buddy starting freshman year of HS, didn’t date til I came home from college for winter break freshman year. We were serious from the get-go; we had known each other forever. Broke up with him after 2.5 years when he said he thought I should wait tables (and drop out of school) while he went to grad school. I knew if I married him I’d wind up crazy or divorced, so I went with my gut. He went on to have three wives, all of whom left him.