I love to tell the story of how my husband and I met,
because it’s practically a romance novel in itself (although I’ll try to keep
it to a short story level here).
Once upon a time, he graduated with a history degree, which
lends itself to approximately three career choices, none of which interested
him when he was twenty-two. Fast-forward nine years, and he went to
broadcasting school, because he’d finally figured out what he wanted to do with
his life. I happened to attend his graduation ceremony because one of my best
friends had also returned to broadcasting school after college.
At the time, I was living in Louisiana, working in public
relations for a nonprofit organization. My family and the friend who was
graduating from broadcasting school all lived in Michigan, so I burned my two
weeks of vacation to go visit everybody.
I went to the graduation after party with my girlfriend and
her brother, and her brother and I sat at a table in the corner and proceeded
to put back drinks, while my gf flitted around dancing and chatting with her
buddies. After a while, she came rushing up to our table and said, “See that
guy out on the dance floor? He wants to know if you’re interested in a
one-night stand!”
Sidebar: This is the conversation my husband insists
actually happened:
“Hey Lisa, who’s that hot blond with your brother? Is that
his girlfriend?”
“No, that’s my friend. She lives in Louisiana.”
“Oh, too bad. Maybe she’s into one-night stands.” (Cue
laughter, because he was trying to be funny.)
I, naturally, even though I wasn’t remotely put off by
one-night stands, decided to act affronted... So I headed out to the dance
floor to flirt with him. We danced. And talked. And danced. At some point in
the evening, he fed me cheesecake, and I was a goner.
The next day, I met his parents and introduced myself as
their future daughter-in-law. We discussed bridesmaids and groomsmen for our
wedding. I met his best friend, who had to approve because my husband
apparently had a history of dating poor quality women.
We had an actual date. And then we proceeded to spend every
single day of my two-week vacation together. As I prepared to go home to
Louisiana, I casually mentioned that the general manager of the local Fox affiliate
was a member of my board of directors. You know, in case he was looking for a
job. So he gave me his demo tape and I went home, and we decided to try out
this whole long-distance relationship concept.
For a minute.
Until a month later, when he flew down to Louisiana for an
interview, landed the job, and gave two weeks’ notice at his current gig. And
then moved in with me.
Yep. Six weeks after we met, we were living together. Six
months later, I had an engagement ring on my finger. Six months after that, we
said our vows and were officially married. That was twenty years ago.
I like to tease my husband and tell him this is the longest one-night
stand ever.
~Tami Lund, romance author, award winner, wine drinker, happily ever after survivor
P.S.: There's a new release coming out soon. Check out my website for details: https://tamilund.com/
