I love grilled cheese sandwiches. Actually this is the first Valentine's day that's ever coincided with me having a girlfriend. No real stories to write about yet (she's reading over my shoulder).

Alias Irrelevante

Ever read Dante's Inferno?

Anthony, 24
Baton Rouge, LA

Mine, personally? My current one or an old one? What I have to say about Valentine's Day is this: Blech.

Karen, 20
Marshelltown/Ames, IA

My love story? A private matter.

Jill, 59
Saylorsburg, PA

It's still writing itself, but it reads like a soap opera!

Lindsay, 21
Harrisonburg, VA

Maybe this might sound cheesy, but it's true. God is my love story. He's given me everything. Maybe he'll take it upon himself to give me a soulmate sometime.

Elizabeth, 18
Rochester, MN

*smile* I have officially been in "love" four times, and I have been In Love three times. You make the distinction. My current (and hopefully long lasting) love is a wonderful poet at the graduate department here. I always swore never to date colleagues, so I attempted friendship and that horrific "love from afar" thing for a while. I couldn't take it. I chased him and he finally gave in ;)

I don't know... we just fit. We complement each other beautifully, sometimes not so beautifully, but it's working and that's all that matters. I can look back on our relationship and see the good days far outnumber the bad days. As long as it stays that way, I'm happy.

Amy, 23
Baton Rouge, LA

I'll give you the abbreviated version of The Story.  The ball really got rolling on the Night of Sin (July 15, 1987). The usual after work crowd was unusually small. For some reason, just Dan, Gary and I went to Patti's Pizza this particular night. It was no secret that Dan was actively courting me. I was flattered, but already engaged (for several years) to The Boyfriend. The Boyfriend lately had many excuses to not see me, I was less than pleased with him and by this point was grateful for an excuse to not be with him.

So Dan, Gary and I were well into our first pitcher of beer, we'd already ordered 2 large pizzas when who walks in but The Boyfriend with a bunch of people that he played industrial league softball with.

The Boyfriend didn't want me to join him nor did he want to join our group. So to heck with him. In the end, he left the bar without me. I continued to drink much more than I ever should have. It was the only time in my life I'd been asked to leave a bar.

I'm not entirely clear on how I ended up staying at Dan's. And he insists that I made the first move. All I know is that I woke up at 6 in the morning with the worst hangover in my life and vague impressions of doing sinful things. I tried to find an open church that afternoon so I could go to confession. No luck.

After I recovered from my hangover a few days later, I told Dan that he got lucky and to not expect that to ever happen again. He told me that I should be with The Boyfriend because I wanted to be with him, not because I felt an obligation to an engagement ring.

A few weeks later, a very good friend who is at least 40 years older than me dragged me to lunch. (She drove.) She talked to me for many hours and convinced me that I'd regret marrying The Boyfriend. Then she started asking about Dan --- what was he like? he sounded like an interesting person, etc.

Well, I broke off the engagement and started a clandestine relationship with Dan. I really didn't want people thinking I was with Dan on the rebound. Actually, I wasn't sure I wanted people knowing I was with Dan because he's kinda weird. But he was a lot of fun and smart, a safe no-risk relationship.

By the end of the summer, Dan asked me to move in with him. I told him "no". The next day he cashed 3 paychecks, quit work and packed his bags. He decided to go hitchhiking cross-country. I was pissed. That was kinda when we figured out that maybe we might be in love --- maybe.

Over the next 5 weeks I got random phone calls and postcards from Dan as he travelled across the US. On one phone call he told me that he was thinking about the "m"-word. I figured he was running short on cash and was going to ask me to wire him money.

I had time to think, and I also had unlimited access to his stuff since he asked me to store it for him. So I read through most of his journals. I started to realize that he was a once-in-a-lifetime event. And I was happy that I had what little relationship that I'd had. If he  never came back, I'd be content. If he did come back, I'd be content.

I think he was in Salt Lake City UT when he called me at work and asked me to marry him. I told him "No, but why don't you come back and we'll talk." He agreed to come back home. Several days later he called again. This time from Oakland CA. (How he ended up further west is a whole other story best left for some other time.) Again he asked me to marry him and I said "No, why don't you buy a bus ticket with the money you have left and we'll talk when you get back." A few days after that he called from Chicago and asked me to marry him. This time I told Dan "I'm going to give you a chance to change your mind. If I say "yes" and we get married, it's forever. I don't do divorce." He said that yes, he still wanted to marry me. So I said "yes". He finally got back home on October 15, 1987.

We married on Friday, November 13, 1987. Even when it's really sucked to be married, we haven't regretted it.

Laura, 34
Lowell, MA

I met the most perfect man 4 years ago, and he turned out to be my future husband. We're getting married in September, and as Sade' says, "...There must've been an angel by my side...something heavenly led me to you..." and I truly believe that.

Nicole
Elk Grove, CA

Had a friend who became a lover.   Lived in peace for about three years.  He travelled the world and found another.  Married her, left me in tears. 

Felicia, 34
Someville, MA

My father was in the armed services and when he retired my parents and us, the kids moved from Wyoming to New Jersey. The realitor who sold my parent's their house, is now my Mother-in-Law! My brother became friends with her son, Bob who is now my husband. My hubby likes to tell people it as in the house contract that he got to marry the eldest daughter.

Janet, 42
E. Brunswick, NJ

I fell in love with a woman after I moved away from where I lived my whole life. . .She was beautiful, funny, smart and really liked me a lot. . Eventually she reverted back to hard drug use and lost all interest in me. .I still pathetically pine for her to this very day. .

mothmc, 35
Pensacola, FL

I had been dating a really mean man and had left him and was NOT interested in dating. My best girlfriend had been talking to me about a friend of her husband's for quite a while and he sounded nice, but... So, my girlfriend had a party and invited this guy. When he walked in she started elbowing me really hard, saying "there he is, there he is". Well, I briefly turned around and saw him and had to turn away quickly. He was extremely good looking. It was like I was in high school. He came up to me and started talking, I did my best not to sound like an idiot. We began dating shortly thereafter and it quickly snowballed from there. Within two months he had taken me to Kentucky to meet part of his family and we were spending every minute together. We haven't been apart much since. We fit together perfectly and are just silly in love. He is a wonderful person and is an angel straight from heaven just for me. Okay, enough sappy time!

Kathy, 26
Garden City, MI

Yesterday / Tomorrow