Today's guest is one of the 'three twins' I mentioned when I was introducing Holly Jacobs. Donna, Holly and I all got together at RW and we got on so well, shared so many things, laughed so much - and talked so much - that we were all like twins - except there were three of us. That wasn't the first time I'd met Donna though - that was on line - and then one lovely day she came to London the attend the Association of Mills & Boon Authors' luncheon and we first met in person. It was avery special day for me because it was the occasion on which I was presented with my pin for publishing 50 books and it was made extra special by having Donna there in person.
It's time you came back again Donna!
How I Met... Your Father - Donna Alward
Recently my girls got hooked on the US sitcom HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. I had never watched the show before and I always thought it was about a guy meeting his girlfriend's mother. But it's not. It's about Ted, and his search for true love, and he narrates his way through like he's talking to his kids... about how he met their mother.
When my lovely friend Kate asked if I'd help her celebrate this awesome milestone, for some reason How I Met Your Mother popped into my head, and so to keep with the true love theme (or as we say in The Princess Bride: Twoo wuv), I'll share a bit about how I met their father.
When I was seventeen, I met my husband for the first time. I was in my last year of high school. He was older (twenty-one at that point). My sister and his brother were dating, and he'd been doing something with his bro and they all ended up at our house for supper one evening. I also had a boyfriend, but that didn't stop me from thinking he was cute. I didn't see him for a while after that night. Apparently he'd said something to my sister and she'd responded with something to the tune of "She's trouble." (Nice sister. I've since forgiven her.)
Fast forward to the next spring. We drove out to the lake to pick up the boys from fishing. I had supper at my sister's. He and I did dishes together. He didn't say more than 2 words to me. Ouch.
Ok, so the challenge was ON. My sis and his bro were getting married when I finished first year university, and I knew he was Best Man. I was the soloist for the wedding and put some extra effort into losing a little weight and buying a really cute dress. The sum total of our conversation at the wedding was me mentioning how he was supposed to give the envelope to the minister after the ceremony. That was IT.
The next day I knew. I knew that he was THE ONE. It took us over 4 years, a degree and a couple of jobs to get to the altar, but here we are, 18 years later.
He was definitely worth waiting for.
Just let me know if you've ever had that life-altering moment when you met the ONE person you knew was THE ONE!
Congratulations Kate and Babe Magnet on your Ruby Wedding! Love you both!
www.donnaalward.com
11 comments:
With no boyfriends in public/high school and a few in college, I dated another guy for 1.5 years afterward until a mutual breakup in August. I started dating my now-husband on Labour Day (having known him as a friend of the family until that point). Imagine my surprise when in September I was dating ten different guys (including the old boyfriend)! I was in heaven, as I've never been beautiful, and was at the time 5'10", flat, and gangly. I just LOVED going on the various dates (and feeling popular), but by October, I realized that my now-husband would be annoyed if he knew I was dating nine others too. So I dumped all my other male dates (sniff, sniff). Little did I know, but my DH bought my engagement ring in October before proposing in front of my parents on Christmas morning (where my mom answered yes that I would marry him, and I answered instead that I would think about it, as I was only 21 at the time - and he was 31 - and not expecting anything so quickly). I wrote out a list (which I still have today) of why I want to be married, why I don't want to be married, why I want to marry HIM, and why I DON'T want to marry him. The list to marry was about a quarter of the length of the list NOT to marry; however, by the second day I realized it was the quality and not the quantity of the responses that mattered, and I said yes. We wed the following July when the plant shut down for two weeks where he worked, and we have been married 32 years now. It just keeps getting better....
Hi Donna. I *love* your "how I met the husband* story! Fabulous. Caroline x
not yet
Not sure I thought *He* was the one, but he thought I was.
We met at the beginning of school year when a group of US Air Force airmen drove their cars to my college to pick up the girls who had signed to go to a dance at the base. My roommate & I rode in his car there and back; he began to date my roommate while I dated his friend.
But in January I went to a movie with just him - and he sorta proposed then. We married in May, and just celebrated our 46th.
Donna you don't look a day older today than you do in that picture.
I'm still waiting to meet "the one." I hope he shows up before I die.
I was 30 & had been dating a guy I called "the dirtbag". Sort of unreliable, but really cute. I went to a happy hour with work friends & was introduced to a guy I had seen & thought was cute, who also worked for the company. He was talking to someone else. The next day, he was at my gym! And we sat & talked on the bikes. And met for happy hour the next wk, and he asked me to dinner & kissed me. And that was it!So long dirt bag!22 years later!
I had given up on men. I needed an answering machine and went to an electronics store where a very casual friend worked. His department was washers and dryers, etc. so he walked me over and introduced me to the person running the answering machine area. He made kind of a fancy introduction. I bought the machine and then ended up asking to meet him for a sales call over lunch (I was in sales.) Our first meeting turned out to be on Valentine's Day. He bought my product, which was complicated. We finished the sales paperwork on St. Patrick's Day and he asked me out later that night. A few dates later, to show him my place, he was going to follow me. I was such a fast driver that he said he thought I was trying to lose him! We started dating exclusively. I tried to ask him a question about the answering machine one night. He said he didn't know how to work it! I was floored, after that fancy introduction! We were married after about 13 months and are going on 24 years!
I love reading all the 'meeting' stories.
Mine was just a gradual realisation really. He didn't even propose, we just assumed we were getting married & we did.
Have not find the one yet but I do hope it soon :)
LOL Anne bless your heart for saying that!
I'm loving reading about all the "meets"!
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