HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY 2008!!
We asked our readers to share stories about how they met the love of their life. Their answers warm the heart.

Peter walked into the restaurant, and I couldn’t help but to notice his sparkling blue eyes and salt-and-pepper hair. With a big smile, he apologized for being late, and I was hopeful right away. It was my 16th and final “It’s Just Lunch” date. This particular dating service set up busy professionals, screened and arranged your dates. The coordinator had only told me that he liked jazz, film, golf, exercising and he had one son in college who was 18.

Little did I know it was his first date in 20 years, having recently been separated from his wife. We never talked about his marital situation until our next date.

It must have been fate, because the first date was a near miss since the agency gave him inaccurate directions and the restaurant told him I hadn’t arrived—although I had—when he called to let me know he was on his way. Being considerate, thoughtful and conscientious, he even called the agency to ask them to try to contact me.

Months later, I found out he was delayed because he was fighting a custody battle over their puppy.

She has the puppy, but I have Peter.

Melanie Salvesen

I asked my then friend to a “Backwards Dance” while I was in high school. We had a great time! It ended up being a great choice too. He gave me an engagement ring on Valentine’s Day. We were married after he returned from the service. . . . Oh, by the way, that was 50 years ago. It pays to make the first move at times!

Carolyn Finley

I decided to attend a church singles dance in Westlake and just listen to the music with no intention to dance. Then I noticed a lady, and we danced the remaining dances together. She was from Missouri and was frustrated with the lack of prospects there. So she had come for the summer to stay with a friend. They had been making the rounds to various dances all over Southern California. She was discouraged and had gone to her bishop to see if she should return home. He told her he had an impression she would meet her man. I told her that I would like to take her out. That Friday we went to a movie. The next day we drove to Palm Springs. Along the way, she asked me questions, and we found we had a lot in common. It turns out her bishop had suggested she write down the things she wanted in a husband. She had memorized 21 items and went through this list. At the end of the drive she knew I was the one. We married within three and a half months. We have been married 15 years.

Lynn G. Hodge

Carolyn and I fell for each other within minutes of meeting. Literally! I was at the Moonlight Roller Rink in Glendale. She was sitting in the crowd wearing a scarlet scarf that beckoned to me like a lighthouse. When they announced the couples-only session, I asked her if she would skate with me.

I can’t prove it, but while I was skating backwards, facing her skating forwards, she stuck one of her skates between mine. On purpose. Next thing I knew, we were on the floor laughing.

We have been together almost 33 years and still try to go roller skating every once and a while.

Steve Carr

It was Wed., June 9, 1976, and for the first time I went to this Christian fellowship called the New Life House in Thousand Oaks. The message and singing were okay but not great. Then when the meeting was over I did what I always did: I hugged all the girls.

All except one of them hugged me for a microsecond, then let me go as though I was some sort of nuisance. That one girl hugged me tight for what seemed like forever. Her girlfriends who were with her picked up on this immedi- ately and started singing the Wedding Song.

I thought to myself “No way” because I had told my mom earlier that year that I knew I was never going to get married.

Anyway, I took her to Disneyland on July 4, and on the way back I proposed to her. After many more dates I married her on Aug. 26, 1978.

This year will be 30 years of marriage. Amazing for a guy who will “never get married.”

Jack Pattison

My hubby and I met on a blind date. A very blind date. The friend that set us up even lied to us about our ages. We’re 10 years apart and he thought that would turn us away, but thankfully it did not.

After talking on the phone a few times we finally met on a cool December evening when he picked me up to take me to dinner. We had reservations at the fun and classy restaurant Moonlight Tango in Sherman Oaks.

We hit it off right away and I was head over heels. It was the most fun and exciting first date for us both, and we were engaged nine weeks later when he proposed to me in a helicopter over Marina Del Rey.

Honey, after 19 years you’re still the love of my life, and I’m an extremely lucky girl. I know sometimes I take you for granted, I’m not the easiest person to live with, and we definitely have our differences, buplease hear me when I say you are a man with many special gifts. I love and admire you more than you know. We “get” each other! We truly know what’s really important in life.

Our boys are very lucky to have you for a father. I hope they grow up to be as humble, caring, thoughtful, respected and hardworking as you. Happy Valentines Day, Carl, and cheers to that blind date way back when.

Stacy Schloetel

My best friend Gail told me about a nice gentleman she had just met who had recently moved here from Indiana.

Later that day we were at brunch when my future husband, Glenn, walked up to say helo to us. He said that he knew he wanted to date me the moment he saw me with my friends.

I wasn’t looking for any romantic involvement at the time, but I found him to be such a nice person that we agreed to go out for dinner the following week. To make a long story short, his powers of persuasion must have been very strong, because we married less than six months later on Feb. 14, 1988, and we are celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this Valentine’s Day.

Happy Anniversary, Glenn. I love you!

Linda Reynolds

My husband and I met while working at a television station in Northern California. We had been to some of the same social events, but I didn’t know Andy wel at al. So when he asked me on a date, I wasn’t sure if he meant we would go out as friends or on a real, romantic, date. My question was answered the evening of our date when I saw him walking to my apartment door wearing a suit and carrying flowers.

At dinner that night, I saw Andy delicately dabbing at his mouth not with a napkin but with his tie. I guess his tie was pretty long and hung over the napkin in his lap. He didn’t realize his mistake until he saw me looking strangely at him. Then he became embarrassed and we both laughed.

Several days later, on our dinner date, he took a tie out of his pocket and laid it next to his plate in place of the napkin. I appreciated his ability to poke fun at himself, and we have now been married nearly 24 years.

Diane Crittenden

We met undercover. I was brought into a troubled retail record store, under the guise of a worker doing inventory. Sandy was already employed there, entirely mismatched to the motley crew working in a store suffering a 400 percent shrinkage problem.

When I became the new manager, the salespeople were all interviewed and sacked. All but Sandy. I kept her on. “Marianne the librarian” I’d call her, because she kept the classic 45rpm section perfectly.

Then fate stepped in. I fell in love with her. At first I thought it was a crush. She was resilient and pretty. I asked her to join me for lunch at a local restaurant. That was it. I was hooked.

I received gifts from “your secret admirer.” I asked Sandy if she knew whom that admirer could be. She pointed to her girlfriend, throwing me off track.

Sandy showed up at my apartment with a little Christmas tree, a gift she admitted was just for me, from her. That was when I was told who my secret admirer really was. I was holding her in my arms. That was the best Christmas present I ever received.

We’re celebrating our 25th anniversary this September.

Steve Carlson