by Bethaney Dukellis

Created on: February 10, 2010   Last Updated: March 09, 2011

When people ask me how my husband and I met, I always tell them “I fell into his lap”. They smile, wink, or look confused, but always ask “No, seriously, how did you two meet?” “I am serious.” Let me tell you how it happened.

I had just moved to a new town. Some friends and I were sharing an apartment and taking turns buying Ramen noodles with our tiny paychecks. My roommate was invited to the New Year's Eve party of a co-worker, and she asked me to go along since I didn't have any plans that night. She talked me into wearing a skirt and top of hers as I didn't have “anything to wear to a party”. When we arrived, most of the guests were already drunk. Inside the house were snacks and drinks, and outside, they had started a fire in the fire pit.

My friend, who was always more extroverted then I, immediately began to socialize. I wandered around for a bit, and eventually made it outside. There were several young men taking turns drumming, and I listened to them for a while. Some of the girls decided to dance, and provided us all with entrainment. About the time they were drunk enough to start losing clothing, I noticed a long haired boy across the fire from me. He seemed as embarrassed by the superfluous nudity as I was, so I went over to talk to him. As I got close to his chair, I tripped over the skirt I was borrowing, and fell into his lap. He helped me up, and after an awkward silence, we both began to laugh. We began to talk, and realized that we had a lot in common. He was smart, funny, well read, and enjoyed the same kind of music I did.

We made plans to meet up for coffee later that week. It didn't work out, because my car broke down and I didn't know the town well enough to be able to find my way around on the bus. I was crushed, we hadn't exchanged numbers, just set a time and place to meet. How would I ever find him? Almost two months later, I saw him downtown. I flagged him down, and reminded him that he owed me a cup of coffee. Again, we spent hours talking. All of our friends thought we  were dating long before I asked him out. They said we spent too much time together not to be.

Seven years later, we are still happily together.

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