“What is it that brought you and your loved one together in the first place?”

[shandi]

In this seasons Couples Newsletter, we discuss the troubles and stresses weighing on today's romantic relationships. Please take a moment to read it, especially the intro letter from Randymon. Please share with all of us on the message board, “What is it that brought you and your loved one together in the first place?”

View Intro and Newsletter here:
http://couples.com/mediaroom/4-newsletters.htm

Thank you,
Shandi a.k.a Andi Washington, Director of Sales and Marketing, Couples Resorts.

[Janicek]

Believe it or not, my lovely bride and I are a match.com success story. Once we connected, we had lots of "conversations" via email and IM. Finally, I asked for her phone number and off we went. When we actually met, it was like we had known each other for ages. She is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened in my life.

[dirtleg]

Mrs. dirtleg and I grew up together. We are only six months difference in age and we have known each other since we were 10 years old. I had a crush on her since the first day we met, but was much too shy to act on it till many years later. When we were kids I used to give her the marshmallows from my hot chocolate as she would always eat hers first. In the summer we would ride bikes to the pool and spend the day playing with friends and doing what kids did in those days. In school we were in the same grade and road the same bus as we lived only a few houses away from each other. In high school she would sometimes ask me for information or insight about fellows she was dating or thinking about going out with and I would advise her on who was cool or who was a cad.

We never dated until years later, in our 20's, while she was in college and I was home on leave from the army. We kept in touch by letters and occasional phone calls till I got out of the service and we began dating regularly. We were married a couple of years later, on a friday the 13th no less, and are celebrating our 31st anniversary at CSA next June.

I suppose what drew us together was being a couple of new kids in the neighborhood at the same time. And I always thought it was the marshmallows that sealed the deal for me all those years ago. I think being best friends has played a huge part in how happy we have been for all these years past and will be for the years ahead.

Oh yeah, she still gets my marshmallows to this day.

[Tennyson11]

I think what brought me and My husband together was the love that we felt for each other. Trust is also very important. I have been with my husband for almost 20 yrs and it is both of our first time ever being married. Every marriage will go through some struggles, but those struggles only make you stronger and wiser. Nothing is easy, but if you really love each other , you can get through anything. My husband and I always find time for each other and we have date night as well. Date night can be anything from going ou tfor dinner or just staying home and enjoying a drink together. With the economy being so bad right now, it puts a lot of pressure on relationships, but I feel if you love and trust each other, you will get through it. My husband had a heart attack back in June and I really thought is this it. Since then we had some serious struggles and it has tested our love for each other, but it has only made me love him even more and appreciate what we have together. He is my friend, my soul mate and my lover. When times get hard or don't seem to be going your way, always take a look at each other and remember why you are together. God bless

[kybluehen]

What brought us together? That's too easy to answer. It was music and talking. It certainly wasn't anything else about our blind date that would have secured a second date.
10/8/1976 - I had an afro, a baby-blue leisure suit with a bright paisley tie, and two-toned cloggy-looking shoes with high heels that I kept tripping over. I took her to see the original "Bad News Bears" with Matthau and Foster (on a blind date?) and then a highly rated but so-so restaurant. Then.... we stopped at an A&P for wine and cheese and went back to her place and started going thru her records. We totally connected when we started talking about folk music and other things in common.
3/11/1977 - I proposed, totally catching her by surprise
3/22/1977 - She finally accepted

That was three daughters, two grandsons, and five trips to Couples Negril ago. Trip # 6 is coming up very, very soon.

[annarundel]

Loving being with each other. I knew the first time I saw my soon to be husband that he was the one! Eight months afer meeting him we were married. That was 30 years ago. The secret....thats a good question, I think it is different for every couple. For us it is being with each other. My husband and I would rather spend time with each other than anyone else. We look forward to our "date" night to go out and be with each other. At night we come together in the TV room after dinner and sit and watch TV holding hands. We can't understand couples that take "separate" vacations or would rather spend weekends with their friends than with their spouses. We are looking forward to our 4th trip back to Couples in November were we get to spend 9 glorious days in paradise with each other without any worries of work, family or life in general! It can't get here soon enough!

Annarundel

[custer]

I am one of the few wives that can say I was never introduced to my husband. He was always "just there". We grew up in a small Alberta town and his mother would come to our home each morning to get us ready for school, as my parents both worked fulltime. My DH is five years older than me and I can remember thinking he was cool, badass, the town "hoodlum" as my dad used to say. We were friends before we dated and when I was just shy of turning 15, we kissed for the first time!!! We have been together ever since and celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary at CN last year. We are returning in 19 days!!! to celebrate our great life and love together. Yay for sand, sun and love....and CN!

[jonnlis]

Very touching stories....that mine will be nothing like!
What brought us together? A few too many cocktails, some good
80's music and a hot guy singing (or more likely lipsyncing) to me from across the dance floor. That was 1983 I believe, and the rest, as they say, is history.

[Lindad]

My husband and I met while I was in High School - he had quit. The first day he remembers meeting me (he was a little under the influence the first time we met) was at my local HS pool. He and one of his friends both were trying to date my girlfriend. After meeting me he told all his friends he was going to marry me. He also had told his mother this (unbeknownst to me) A little over a month later he proposed to me. I didn't know what to say. After 3 days I told him yes. Ten months later, a few weeks after I graduated from high school, we got married. That was over 36 years ago. It hasn't been an easy 36 years, but our continually growing and changing love for each other, and a lot of prayers have kept us in love, and growing together.

[travmagic]

Actually, it was our love for Celine Dion!
We were at a Parents Without Partners Dance (I for about my 10th time and Steve for his first).
He sat down at my table, which was considered the popular kids table (lol). When I sat down and saw his name tag I wondered who he was that got to sit at our table his very first time.
He asked me to dance to Celine's Power of Love.
That was July 14th, 1996.
14 years later, I still can't believe my luck!!

[rjammin]

I first laid eyes on my wife when I was 17 and she was 15. It was, as the saying goes, love at first site. I was with my best friend and we were heading to a party in the neighborhood that we had heard about. You know, the my parents won't be home tonight kinda party when we were young. Her friend had overindulged and she was helping her get home. Besides her greats looks, it was her unselfish, caring nature that I saw and fell in love with. I was right because it's been 40 years and she hasn't changed a bit, in either respect.
Like most couples, we went through rough times. When we were in our 20's we had a few close calls on backpack trips and canoe trips that cemented our bond. In 1991, I lost my business which devastated us emotionally & financially. We pulled through it together with our love (and a lot of prayer).
We married in 1979, 10 years after we met. We waited 5 years to have kids because we were just having too much fun together. Then we decided it was time to settle down and we had our 2 beautiful kids. Years of baseball, softball, cub scouts, gymnastics etc. went by and then, in 2003, we went back to just "us" on our first trip to Jamaica. It wasn't Couples that year because we didn't know any better. We fell in love with Jamaica and we have returned every year since - to Couples. We renewed our vows at CN for our 25th in 2004. When we are at Couples, it as if we are in our 20's again, best friends, still in love and having fun. We've been together 41 years now, married for 31 next June. CN in 177 days!!!

[Happytimes42]

My husband and I were brought together by a wedding. We were in my Uncles wedding together, and his car (I loved his car). We dated for about 3 yrs and have been married for 34 yrs. We still love the same type of cars, weddings and most of all each other. As he says the first 30 yrs are the hardest. Don't know if that is true, or if Couples helps out. Our first trip to Couples was for our 30th anniversary and we have been returning yrly since. I wouldn't change a thing about my life with this wonderful man.

[Carol and Tom]

We were friends first. We met through a dating site but were both not really ready to start new relationships. We stayed friends for almost year but there was always something special when we got together for lunch or a drink. We laughed and day dreamed together. Then came a time when she needed help with a Breast Cancer walk she was organizing. I jumped in and lined up the entertainment. We saw a side of each other that we hadn't seen before. As I was leaving I gave her a kiss, it lingered just a little longer the the friendly kisses of before. It was a kiss full of excitement and energy, hearts beat faster and body's tingled, a once in a life time kiss. Everything is better because she is in my life.

[JumpinJen]

We met at a party in 1980 and he invited me home that night. We moved in together one month later and married five years after that. When I am feeling saucy, I say that we are on a one night stand that has lasted for over 30 years.

It worked for us, but kids, don't try this at home.

[Wally]

Believe it or not, my lovely bride and I are a match.com success story. Once we connected, we had lots of "conversations" via email and IM. Finally, I asked for her phone number and off we went. When we actually met, it was like we had known each other for ages. She is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened in my life.

Wow! We are a Yahoo Personals success story. We had both been on Match.com and I had seen her profile, but she lived too far away. Then, I saw her again on Yahoo and decided to expand my area just for her. Sure glad I did. One email, one phone call and then an in person meeting. Like you, Keith, it was like we had known each other for ages. We met for a game of pool and added dinner after a couple of games. Never looked back. Married two years later and honeymooned at Couples Negril.

[marhuck]

I needed some place to live for a few months and then I was leaving town. A friend of mine had a condo that two guys lived in and asked them if they minded if I stayed for a few months. Well, nine years later, I am still in the same city with one of the guys that let me "live with him for a few months." I couldn't bear to leave after meeting him. We've lived together our entire relationship. We were together for 6 years before marrying at CTI on Oct. 24, 2007!

[Vee]

We were brought together by a wacky Venezuelan girl.

I had resigned from my high-stress corporate job, gone back to school and was waiting tables. Doug was on an art hop with his friend Yadi. I was their server. Apparently, after I walked away, she said to Doug "Joo tink dat girl preeetty?" (Yadi has a VERY thick accent.) Doug glanced in my direction and said, "Sure. She's cute."

When I got back to the table with their drinks, she said to me "Joo need to go out wit him." We both glared at her and I pretty much blew them off the remainder of the evening.

Several weeks later, when his group was back in the restaurant, we started chatting. About six months after that, we went on our first date. 10 days later, we were inseparable and 4 months after that, we were engaged.

I have been married to my soul mate now for 12 years, and we have the two most beautiful boys in the world. I'm truly blessed. And all because of a wacky Venezuelan.

[tonys]

I was sitting in a restaurant eating lobster & steamers and swilling scotch with my submarine crew members (after a 7 month deployment/cruise around the world underwater), and she walked in. She was the godmother of a crew member's daughter and was with his family for dinner, after flying to the East Coast from her Chicago home. They walked over to say 'hello' and our eyes met. Her dark brown hair, captivating eyes, lower tenor voice, and hot bod' sounded an alarm in my brain! I drank nothing the rest of the night, which was filled with me flirting, us dancing, and talking. We hit our stride from the word 'go' and easily talked about ourselves until the wee hours. When I offered to get a room (I suppose in an effort to uphold the reputation of submarine sailors everywhere!), she said 'no'. After a momentary crash & burn in my mind, I determined I wanted to know more about her, and asked her to dinner for the next evening; which, she accepted. We spent the next two days learning more about our separate lives', and falling in love. When she returned to Chicago on the third day and told her mother about me, she was warned that: I was a sailor, she'd just met me, and what about her long-time (7years) boyfriend? Then the door bell rang and 18 red roses were delivered.....from me.
I asked her to marry me three weeks later; she accepted and we were married 8 months after that. That was 1985 and we celebrated our first 25 years at CN in September of this year.
It takes effort and open communication. Not to mention, it helps to like the person you love.
Peace,
TonyS

[Sooprnova]

His fiancée lived across the hall from me in college......scandalous! 11 years later, we are finally getting ready to go to Sans Souci this January!

[bluemoon0510]

Believe it or not, my lovely bride and I are a match.com success story. Once we connected, we had lots of "conversations" via email and IM. Finally, I asked for her phone number and off we went. When we actually met, it was like we had known each other for ages. She is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened in my life.

My husband and I are also a Match.com success story! Although we lived 100 miles apart, I approached him when his profile picture caught my eye. We also exchanged numerous emails and instant messages and finally spoke on the phone. One of our first phone conversations was over two hours! A week or so later, he told me that he was coming to my part of the state on business so we arranged to meet for lunch. After all our emails and hours on the phone, it also was like we'd known each other forever. We endured two years of a long-distance relationship and got married at CN this past June. It was heavenly! We're settling into married life and are so very happy.

[Oldyweds]

We were a blind date set up by one of his friends. I barely new the friend, but after seeing him out one night, he set us up. Our first date was a blast, and we have been together since. We are going to CN in December to celebrate 35 years of marriage. We have been through a lot of struggles, illness, job loss, etc., but we would rather be together than with anyone else on earth. I guess you could say we were a result of
Match.friends !!