I'll Never Fall in Love Again

Timeless Love

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 09:31:45 -0400

My father was a true baseball fan, in fact that was how he met my mother. They were at an American Legion game in Memphis. My mother was there with another guy and got tickled about something and turned around, my dad was sitting behind her and she hit him on the knee.

Not long after that, the other guy went on a trip to Florida with some buddies. One of my mother’s friends thought it would be hilarious to put laxative in their fudge.

He didn’t think it was very funny. So she found someone with a better sense of humor - My father.

They were married for 49 years when he passed away in September of 2006. They would have made the 50th May of 2007.

I'd walk a thousand miles...

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:13:21 -0400

I’ve just gotten out of a 6-year relationship about 3 months ago. I wanted to marry this guy, however, he said that he always felt that there was something missing in the relationship, and he never felt complete when I am with him, so he broke up with me. I was distraught. He wanted me to date other people…so I slowly tried to move on…

One week after the break-up, I met a gentleman at my God-brother’s wedding. He was sitting in the same table as I was. He happens to be my God-brother’s cousin. He was a very nice person, and a very easy to talk to, so we decided to keep in contact with each other through facebook. For the past 3 months, we’ve just been talking to each other casually through wall posts…then fb messages…then aim…then phone calls…then skype. I never saw him as being more than a friend until now. From talking to him so much, I realized that we have soo many things in common..it’s scary!

He’s very easy to talk to, very understanding, very smart, and very funny. We have been chatting every night in the past week for hours and hours. One time, we were chatting so long, I saw the sun started to rise! I think I’m love with this guy. I look forward to talking to him every night. I would really love to date him, however…I live in NJ…and he lives in Texas! I don’t know what to do. I just got out of a serious relationship. Am I ready to move on?

Can long distance relationships work? Well, right now, I’m just going to continue to talk to him every night. He’s a wonderful friend…I just wish he could be more than that…but due to the circumstances I’m in, would I be able to date this guy?

A wonderful man

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:42:57 -0400

In 2001, I “met” a wonderful man. I say “met” because we found each other online in a chat room. It was a voice chat and as soon as he spoke I sent a private message to a friend asking her if she knew who he was because his voice was working for me. We quickly connected and talked often online. He was in MI and I was in NJ. After months of talking online and running up phone bills over $600 a month, we were in love and crazy about each other but had still not met in person. I couldn’t move because I had 2 young boys from a previous relationship so after about 6 months he decided to move to NJ.

I loaded my boys in my car and drove 12 hours so that we could meet and he would come home with me. When we met we shared a hug but we didn’t kiss. When we did kiss that first kiss was sweet and tender and full of love. He came home with us and filled a void that I didn’t even know was missing. He was a wonderful man and became my best friend and partner in everything. We were happy and in love. We had been living together for about 18 months and no one believed that we hadn’t been together for years. We were just such a tight couple and the love and affection were apparent to complete strangers.

Then he got sick, really really sick. After almost a month in the hospital I got a call that the end was near. I was told he had a week so I spent as much time with him as I could. The day after I was told that he had a week he was barely lucid. He whispered that he loved me and fell asleep. The nurse was in there so I ran outside to have a cigarette. I came back and the nurse told me that he stopped breathing as I walked out of the room. She thought he didn’t want to leave while I was there. I was devastated. 7 years later and I’m still devastated over the loss of him. He was my best friend and partner and I loved him and he loved me. Now that I’ve known real love I am not willing to settle for less than what I had with him and I have begun to doubt that it will happen again for me, but I’m still hopeful.

He Loves Me, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:02:39 -0400

When I was 15, I was busy loading up my college application with tons of academic competitions. I noticed this one boy, Leo, at every single one. I developed a little crush on him, due to the fact that he looked exactly like Paul McCartney, my favorite Beatle. One day at a certain competition, I was listening to my iPod to the song “She Loves You” by the Beatles, and I didn’t realize I was humming along to it. Next thing I knew, he was sitting across from me and smiling. He waited until I turned off my music and asked “Who loves you?” I laughed and we started talking and he asked me if I wanted to go to a showing of “A Hard Day’s Night” at a local theater. It was a successful date, and we started seeing each other more and more often. Now, even though we compete in at least three various local competitions, we have been dating for 7 months and are completely in love at this point. And I will always have the Bealtles to thank for my first great love.

Love is Blind (Really, Really, Really Blind...)

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:45:33 -0400

In high school, I met this wonderful, gorgeous, theater-smart guy. I promptly fell head over heels for him. I thought he was absolutely perfect—he was in drama club, he was in the musical, he could sing, and he was extremely attractive. It was too good to be true.

Unfortunately, I was right in thinking so. During rehearsal one night, one of my friends was kind enough to enlighten me upon the fact that this perfect person was, in fact, gay. I was utterly disappointed and my heart was broken. I vowed that I would get over him the next day and it would never happen again. (Of course, neither of these things happened. I continued to like this guy more than anyone should. And since then, I’ve fallen for two other gay men.)

I guess that’s what you get for being involved in musical theater.

Almosts

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:28:07 -0400

After an intense six weeks of school, I was headed to go away with some friends for the weekend. It was going to be just the break that I needed - get out of the city, relax, and catch up on sleep. However, I found out a few days before the trip that I had to attend a manditory seminar all day on the Saturday so I wouldn’t be able to go. I wasn’t pleased and considered my weekend ruined.

I was wrong.

After the seminar I had a group meeting in the campus bar. A few people decided to hang around after the meeting was done for some drinks. I decided to join them, which was completely uncharacteristic of me as I barely knew them, but I figured I’d try to make the best of the situation.

Everything was going well when some friends of a group-mate showed up, one of whom happened to be very cute. They invited us to a party, and for some reason, even though again, it was completely unlike me to wander off with a bunch of guys I didn’t really know, I decided to go.

I spent most of the party talking to the cute friend about anything and everything - it was as if no one else existed. And now, almost a year later, we’re still together.

I always think about that night and how almost fated it seemed. He thinks so too, as he almost didn’t come to the bar that night.

One thing’s for sure - the weekend that school supposedly ruined turned out to be kind of amazing.

A Chance Encounter

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:30:47 -0400

So there I was, in my student accommodation building in Kingston, London, just wandering past the door down the hallway back to my room at 3 in the morning. There were two small windows in the door to our flat, you could barely see anything through them, but I thought I saw someone standing outside in the corner of my eye. So I turned around and went back to open the door. It turned out to be a guy, a teeny bit drunk and therefore also a teeny bit lost. He was clearly on the wrong floor or something. But when he realised that this was, in fact, NOT his friend’s flat, it became increasingly clear to me that he just didn’t want to leave. He was stalling. We eventually started talking.

We conversed in English at first, because when you’re in a town in London where there are only approximately 150 other students who come from the same country as you do, it seems reasonable to assume that English is the way to go. But about 5 minutes into the conversation, he mentioned that he was from Norway. And just like that, the language switched from English to Norwegian.

We ended up talking until 6 in the morning. He spent 3 hours talking to some girl he had never met before, in the middle of the night, just like that. He listened to all my problems, told me he knew where I was coming from because he had been in a similar place himself, and said so many nice things to me that no other guy has EVER said to me before. This was an entirely new experience for me, as I don’t really expose myself to guys. I have terribly low self-esteem, and I’m terrified of falling in love. So I never have, and I told this guy I probably never will. No chance that I will ever developing feelings like that for another human being.

But of course, I already had. I just did my best to hide it, and I succeeded. I usually do, with most of the things I feel. I hide my feelings until I can’t bear it anymore. It’s what I do, because I just think it’s WRONG for me to actually feel things. Especially having feelings for someone else, because there is no reason why they should feel the same way about me.

I was bullied in secondary school, when I was 14 and 15. They told me every single day how I was too ugly to be alive, and that I wasn’t worth anything, and so on. I told this guy about those years, and how they shattered my self-esteem and completely ruined my life. I’m still trying to deal with it, 6 years later. And he said I shouldn’t believe those things just because those people said it, because they were not worth listening to. It’s not true, he said. You are beautiful.

I have no idea why he said that. I mean, sure, to make me feel better, but why did he stay for 3 hours, why did he say a million nice things to me? Why? This scared me more than words could possibly express. I tried to act as if I was unaffected. Piece of cake.

About a month or so later I moved back home because I was sick and depressed and couldn’t put up with the pressure of living on my own in a foreign country anymore. I never saw him again, apart from passing him a couple of times on the street. But I never stopped thinking about him. I found out that not only are we from the same country, we’re from the same COUNTY as well. He lives about an hour away from me. Of course this practically blew my mind. What are the odds?

Right before he left me that morning, he told me I could come down and see him whenever, if I wanted to talk. I knew I would never, because I wouldn’t dare. He had changed something in me, and I wasn’t sure I liked it. It wasn’t safe.

Several months later, in early May, I was back in Kingston visiting some friends of mine. I got a bit drunk and decided to text him, just to say that I was back in town and would like to see him. So I asked a mutual friend of ours for his number. How silly, right? Of course he didn’t respond. It broke me. After so many months of not being able to get him out of my mind, I finally made myself contact him. Just DO IT, you know? I had somehow managed to make myself believe that he was different from other people.

Well, he wasn’t. The guards are back up. I refuse to let someone get to me like that ever again. I just couldn’t cope. It’s too painful.

I’m so afraid to trust people, and I struggle to see the good in them. I wish I could, but it’s so hard. Besides, guys never pay any attention to me. HE was the only exception, and he probably just felt sorry for me. I’m going to end up alone, aren’t I?

Thought He Was True to Me

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:56:49 -0400

I had dated this guy for almost a month and he took me to the prom which was fun. I honestly thought that when we were together he was devoted to me because he seemed to always gaze into my eyes like he loved me. But two days after prom I found out he had been flirting with a friend of mine the week before prom….Then I found out a lot of other things I didn’t like. Pretty much he was a sneaky boy that shouldn’t be trusted.

It absolutely broke my heart that he had been doing things behind my back. I ended it that day! Which was TWO days after prom. I feel now I don’t know if I can ever trust a guy again knowing how sneaky they can be.

She Likes Basketball

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:14:13 -0400

Well this I find kinda ironic because of Promises, Promises.

So my dad was invited to a party by his college roommate, Thor. The host (I don’t think I ever met the guy) said there was this girl there that he wanted my dad to meet. My dad goes to the party. He meets my mum.

His pickup line: “Do you like basketball?”

WHAT KIND OF GREETING IS THAT?! Funny enough, my mum loves basketball! Her dad was the basketball coach for Dickinson College and before that the high school. My mum herself was in the first girls basketball team for her school. OF COURSE SHE LIKES BASKETBALL! (cue song SHE LIKES BASKETBALL) They have been married for about 30 (or somethin’) years and are still together.

So the funny thing: dad goes to his friend and says that yes he did meet the girl and he really likes her. His friend said that she wasn’t it. Well I guess that’s actually good luck on his part.

True Love

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:31:58 -0400

A swish of a skirt. The slap of footsteps on the tile floors. He cathes up to Her, and pulls her in for a kiss. She doesn’t protest (too much). First love, romance, and all in 3rd grade.

Thats the story of my parents first romance. Since Kindergarten, they’d been going to the same school, had shared a kiss in 3rd grade, and dated on and off through out middle and high school.

Now, senior year: My dad and my mom had had some sort of fight. My dad asked her if she would go back out with him. She said no. My dad asked her if she’d marry him. She said yes. today, over 30 years later, they’re still together happily, and just as in love as ever.

Sweet Dreams

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:11:47 -0400

I had quite the crush on this guy I was doing a show with back in college. Unfortunately his girlfriend was not a fan of me. Honestly, I crushed on him from afar. His other half wasn’t very, um, kind, and not long after our harmless flirting began she oddly enough began spending a lot of time around the theatre. She started bringing up very random instances that occurred during rehearsals. Small things. I had complained that my back was bothering me one day… the next afternoon she asked how I was feeling. Clearly he was talking about me at home around her. As rehearsals wore on she continued to lurk in the shadows. On opening night, the when everything came to a boil.

I had arrived to the party with my best friend and found “the crush” to already be completely inebriated. I was doing my best to be pleasant with his girlfriend when he stumbled over to join us. He interrupts the conversation – Babe, tell her what happened the other night in bed. She glares back at him with this fiery hatred – I’m not going to repeat that – she mumbles (barely audible). Oh come on, he goes on, it’s funny. To my surprise she caves in and says – Fine, the other night when we were going to bed he said in his sleep “Oh Kerry*” [that’s me]. He starts laughing hysterically while she looks absolutely mortified. My friend and I just stand there not knowing what to do. The fact of the matter is she points out that he said “Oh Kerry” and not just “Kerry”. Yeah – you see the difference. Needless to say, when they got married a year later she made sure I was NOT on the invite list as much as he insisted. AWKWARD. I wouldn’t doubt he still dreams about me. I mean, who wouldn’t.

*I changed my name since this is anonymous. :)

Equine Infatuation

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:30:53 -0400

There is nothing quite like a horse crazy young girl’s first equine crush. For me, that was an aged Welsh Pony/Arabian cross named Peanuts who I met at summer camp and later rode in riding lessons. He was the first horse who I developed a working relationship as a young teenager and I am forever thankful for having the opportunity to get to ride him. He taught me how to post, how to canter, and how to vault - or perform basic gymnastics moves on horseback. He was an old, generous soul who was entitled to be a bit cranky and tired with life as a camp and lesson horse… but he never was. He let us paint him (being white is quite convenient for this purpose!), ride him around without a bit, many other activities that most ponies will not tolerate. He was endlessly patient with the whims of horse-crazy campers and gave me so many wonderful memories of my childhood horse experiences.

Now I am a more experienced horsewoman and rider, and my relationship with the horses I ride and work with is much more practical. I have experienced loss and disappointment and am much more likely to hold back the unabashed infatuation that I had as a young girl. I don’t think I will ever fall in love again with a horse the way I did when I was younger, but I will always treasure that memory.

Tumble Dry Love

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 13:17:56 -0400

Many years ago, I was doing laundry on a cold night in a 25 cents a load laundry shed, down to wearing my last clean outfit. In comes a cute boy who looked exotic and started talking about the chemistry book I was studying because he had the class the year before. Then, he left his sock in the dryer so I took it out to him and he ended up helping me get all my laundry home in the winter dark while we chatted.

Talking with him was so natural and fun, my new roommates assumed we were longtime friends. Now it is 20 years later and we are happily married, still always have plenty to say when our 5 kids aren’t interrupting us and still lose our socks in the laundry. By the way, I took my 3 girls to the first show after the Tony awards and there was such an amazing energy and excitement from the crowd, the cast took that wave and rode it on in. What a talented cast and Kirsten sounds even more awesome in person than I dreamed!

True Love Finds a Way

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:36:26 -0400

Best love story I’ve ever known of was the one between my great aunt and my great uncle. My great aunt was born in 1899 and my great uncle in 1902. They met when she was 21 and conducting the pit orchestra where he was playing the violin. During the speaking parts of the show, they would hold hands. By the end of the show he had asked her to marry him. She said yes, but that he would have to ask her mother. She was youngest child of her family. When he asked for her hand, her mother said no because they did not attend the same church (he was Presbyterian and she was Lutheran). The real reason was she was supposed to stay home and take care of her aging mother (her father had passed away.) They honored the mother and didn’t marry. He dated other women and before he asked another woman to marry him, he went back to my great aunt and asked if there was anyway they could be together. She said no, so he married another and she never married. 57 years later they ran in to each other in a grocery store. They had not seen each other during all these years as he had just moved back to their home town. He had been in the military and lived all over the world. His wife had passed away one year earlier. They went out to dinner the next night and stayed up talking until 2:00AM. They decided that night to marry and they did. They were married 10 years before he passed away. She passed away 3 years later.

A Bad Romance

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:28:18 -0400

My boyfriend and I met through a mutual friend, and it was love at first sight. We were inseparable and loved being around each other. We had SO much in common! I knew he was the one for me, it was just SO good! And I knew I loved him with all of my heart and soul. We started talking about getting married, and even had some names picked out for our future kids. It was perfect, but I started to wonder if things were too good to be true. Sure enough, it was.

I found out he was cheating on me with his ex, almost as soon as we got together. I dumped him right then and there, so what do you get when you give your heart? You get it all broken up and battered. That’s what you get—a heart that’s shattered—I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.

Ich Vermisse Dich (or, "I Miss You" in German)

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:20:20 -0400

The scene is the summer of 1970, New York City. I was fresh out of secretarial school, Katharine Gibbs on Park Avenue to be exact. Eagerly anticipating my first day as a secretary at BBDO, 383 Madison Avenue, I arrived at work and sat down at my desk! All of a sudden, WHAM, BOOM!!!

“HE” stepped out of his office and walked past my desk. My heart started to flutter like the wings of a butterfly… I stammered a quick hello and heard a fabulous accent, foreign, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at first… then I realized that his blond Adonis was German. I asked one of the other girls his name and she told me….. it was definitely foreign to me„ and she explained that HE actually worked for our company in Germany, but was in our NYC office for a few months to learn the American way of advertising! I quickly announced, well, that is the man that I am going to fall in love with and he is going to fall in love with me!! Throughout the course of the next few weeks, I made sure to find out as much as I could about HIM, and finally, one wonderful evening, we both happened to be taking the elevator together! I struck up what I thought was an inane conversation, “how do you like the city?”, “where do you live?”,
“do you have many friends here?”, “what do you do on the weekends?” Those simple questions, I suppose with my great smile and beautiful big brown eyes hooked him! And just like that PRESTO! we began a whirlwind romance. I was 19 year old, he was a suave sophisticated 28 and we began a wonderful love affair. He lived in the west village in a basement brownstone, and we became inseparable. I lied to my mother and told her that I was staying at a girlfriend’ house so we could be together day and night. As the months passed, we knew the inevitable was going to happen.

On Christmas Eve, as we were gathered with my big, crazy Italian family in Jersey City, he gave me a ring. A gorgeous gold and green tourmaline ring. I asked him what it meant and he said that that tourmaline stones were to ward off melancholy, since he knew how said I would be when he left. I couldn’t go with him. I was just 19 and air travel isn’t what it is today, and I thought (stupidly at the time) that if I left and went with him I might never be able to come back to the States HE would be going back to Germany and I would be here. So, on the eve of his supposed departure, we had a wonderful dinner at LUCHOW’s and then he took me to see PROMISES, PROMISES!!! I’ll never forget that night, a magical night for two people so in love and so happy and full of life!!!! As we walked back to the village, yup! that’s right - walked from the theater district to the village, hand in hand, arms wrapped around one another, eyes only for each other. By morning, we were in the midst of a huge blizzard and HIS flight was canceled. We were blessedly give one more day by the SNOW GODS to be together. Later that evening, we somehow managed to find a taxi that would take him to the airport and HE left to go back. I cried my eyes out for days. I just cried and cried that the love of my life had left me forever…

As time went on, I did, of course, meet someone else who became my husband, but I never, ever forgot HIM. I was married for 25 years, had 4 beautiful children„, but unfortunately, my marriage didn’t work out. One day about 12 years ago, I sat down at the computer and put HIS name into a search engine. Believe it or not, again, my a few strokes of the keyboard and some magic computer god„ I found his nephew in Germany who contacted HIM and put the two of us in touch with one another!!! It was as though time stood still, we reconnected by phone and had a wonderful conversation reminiscing about all of the wonderful times we spent together. HE is happily remarried and we still occasionally keep in touch through cards and emails. HE will always hold a special place in my heart, and I hope in his.

Fast Forward to the revival of PROMISES, PROMISES. My kids always knew how special this show was to me, because I used to tell them the story of how I fell madly in love with someone, and how we shared his last night in NYC at the show. This year for my birthday on April 8, they surprised me and brought me to see the show again! I had a wonderful time and it was wonderful to just close my eyes and remember how it was with HIM in NYC over 30 years ago……

As to the question whether or not I’LL EVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN???? I am wide open to the possibility and have hopes and dreams„, because without hopes and dreams you have nothing!

Thanks for letting me share my story! and if HE is reading this„„, thank you - you will always have a special place in my heart…. :-)

Love Struck Off Stage!

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:26:30 -0400

I just ended a relationship - I was so mad about men and mad at myself that I was not pleasant to be around and thought everything related to love sucked. This all happened days before opening night of a show I was working on. Rehearsals were crazy. The night before we opened, I struck up a conversation with the lead while a bunch of the cast was out after rehearsal. I hadn’t worked with him at all because I worked with the chorus of dancers, but I felt like I knew him for years.

We exchanged some flirty glances and talked about shows and life all while I was trying to hide the fact I had dental work done that day and had an ugly hole in my mouth! The next night we opened and the cast was electric on stage - especially him. As he came out to meet his group of adoring fans, he walked right up to me and invited me out with them. With so many people in the room praising the show and his performance, he only had eyes and ears for me. By the end of the weekend we knew. Months later we were married and after 7 years we are still going strong.

Love At First Sight

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:54:34 -0400

Me and my husband worked for the same company, different buildings, until I moved into his…I was unpacking boxes when he walked by and saw my ANKLE….he said he knew he wanted to see more of me….within one month we were engaged, within one year we were married and one month after I was pregnant. So many people thought we were crazy, that it wasn’t real love.

15 years later we are still together….Life isnt what we thought it would be though…my husband has been disabled for the last 13 years. YES almost all of our married life he has been living with chronic headaches and backaches, due to many back surgeries. His doctors are shocked we are still together…they have told us many stories where couples split up because the spouses cannot manage to live through all the turmoil….We’ve almost lost our home…he has no job….we are living paycheck to paycheck, but through it all our LOVE keeps us together. We have a fantastic 14 year old son who sees our determination to keep things together and get through lifes ups and downs. So when people ask me if I believe in “Love at First Sight” I definitely say YES!!!

How I Knew He Was The One

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:36:14 -0400

My boyfriend was at my house, early in our relationship. It was one of the first times he was spending time at my house. My dog, who was 12 years old, was an excellent judge of character, and she liked him. A LOT. He was not a pet person. However, I left the room for a bit, and when I came back down the hallway, from the other room I heard, “Who’s the man?” <squeak> <squeak> Whoooo’s the man? <squeak> <squeak>” When I walked in, he had one end of the dog’s squeaky toy in his hand, she had the other end in her mouth, and he was sweet talking her and playing with her. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. He was making the effort to play with my dog, without expecting me to see him doing it. I knew I would marry him right then and there.

My Parents

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:54:44 -0400

My parents met in the 1960s on Dec. 5th (which happens to be my birthday). They grew up in the same town less than a mile apart. However, my dad went to Catholic school and my mother public, so they never got to meet before then. They both signed up to go on a youth group trip for the day. In the parking lot, my mother was with her friend. My dad and his friend were tossing a football back and forth. One of them overshot to where my mom and friend were standing and my mom got it. They brought it back to them. The 4 people paired off into couples. My mother has been married to my dad for 41 years and her friend also married my dad’s friend and are still together.