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Sometimes, I honestly feel like love is a spell that some magician casts when you are unaware. Because how else can you explain a sudden rush of passion for someone you never even felt anything for before?
When the spell is cast, two souls meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after. But not all love stories have a fairytale meeting, for some couples find love in the strangest of places and situations. And today’s thread is just about these couples who met in the most unorthodox way possible, only to end up together.
More info: Reddit
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#1
We knew each other only a little bit through friends. I was badly injured in an industrial accident. I needed time to heal. I lived alone, and it was dangerous for me not to have someone who could check on me periodically. She happened to be recovering from eye surgery and wasn't able to to her job or drive for a couple weeks and offered me her guest bedroom until I could safely go home. I think it felt safe for her to make the offer, I was pretty much completely incapacitated and barely ambulatory.
We had an amazing 25 years before she died. I'll always love her.
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#2
I met my husband on a bus tour of Scotland, where we got chatting and sparks flew straight away. We had a whirlwind romance over three days amongst castles, glens and icy Highland streams. We swam in Loch Ness, drank whiskey and learned about tartan together before the trip was over and he had to fly home more than 5,000 miles away. Friends and family didn't think it would work - and neither did we! We were in a long-distance relationship between Los Angeles and Edinburgh for nearly three years with an over-5,000-mile commute to see each other until we got married. But we agreed at the start: we'd stay together until the relationship stopped being fun. We now live together in Scotland with our daughter, and the Skype ringtone still gives me flashbacks. We're still having fun.
#3
I only heard this from a friend, but I find it hilarious:
My friend went to a houseparty with this dude. This dude decided to wear his pikachu costume to the party, although it wasn’t a costume party.
Then he met HER at the party. She also wears her pikachu costume.
I met them once. They were super funny.
They are married. End of story. :).
When it comes to love, many people have extraordinary tales to tell. So, when Reddit user bittyberry asked netizens, “What is the most unorthodox way you know of that a couple has met and fallen in love?” folks happily spilled the tea about their or someone else’s story. And guess what? Even Bored Panda invited a lovestruck couple to share their quirky story with us!
The absolutely charming Sharanya Salehittal and the mischievous Ishan Gandhi were just 8 and 10 years of age when they were fiercely competitive in the local drawing competitions that took place in their neighborhood. But 7 years later, these rivals had a twist of fate.
Ishan’s friends put out a bet that he could never ask Sharanya out and even if he did, she would never say yes. But little did their friends (or even they themselves) know that these two were secretly attracted to each other. So, when Ishan won the bet and she said yes to a date, his friends were shocked. But then, Sharanya found out about the bet, and she called it off.
#4
Fortune Teller: "Ah, the mists are clearing. You are going to meet a handsome stranger. I sense that he is a kind, caring man. The spirits say he has a well paid job, He installs air conditioning. You know, this sounds a lot like my son. I'll give you his number."
They are still together, with kids, twenty years later.
And people think that fortune telling is a scam!
#5
I was a Senior in high-school sitting in math class when my Nextel phone went off. I was getting a call from my paternal grandmother. She was having her roof re-done at the time, so there was a crew of roofing/construction men working on the house.
The first thing out of her mouth in a thick Boston accent “(my full name), get your a** over here right now!!! This man brought his lovely son to work today, he is a hard worker, who is home for college for the summer, and he is a good good man”
I ran out of school to my jeep, threw on a push up bra I had in the back, still wearing the dress I had on at school. When I pulled up I saw him. I was 17, he was 19. And the rest is history. We are 33 and 35 now. We moved out of our small town in central Massachusetts, and live our dream life in Hawaii together.
#6
My Dad was a young catholic priest and my mom volunteered at his parish helping bring food and meds etc. to elderly shut ins.
They met and fell in love. As a direct result of this, my dad was sent* by the bishop to Lima, Peru to (physically, as in construction work) build a school and do some soul searching. .
My dad soul searched and helped build a school. He came back and told the bishop that he no longer wanted to be a priest and wanted to marry my mom.
The bishop gave them his blessing and personally married them in the cathedral. I am named after the Bishop.
So my siblings, my mother and I are all grateful that dad chose us over his marriage to God..
Maybe this isn’t the best story, but it’s the story I’ve got.
*Edit- for clarity, my dad was “encouraged” by the bishop to volunteer with Maryknoll for a period of time.
Hey! 3 months ago (edited)
My cousin was also a priest. Back in the days, in Quebec, the first born either became a priest or went in the army. He fell in love with a nun, and vice-versa. They married and had a son who did not become a priest. But my cousin became one of the most loved mayor in Ste-Foy. Edit: my cousin is the same age as my late parents were so I don't know the whole story like you do!
Well, that’s when Ishan came clean that it was not all for the bet, but he was really attracted to Sharanya. And after weeks of apologies and grand gestures, she forgave him. Well, there was no looking back after that, because it’s been 11 years since the incident and the power couple is still going strong. In fact, they even got married last December, on Christmas!
It somehow always warms our hearts to know that real love still exists even in a world where so many terrible things take place. “When I first met him, I never thought I’d end up with my rival. But love finds you, or rather, sneaks up on you, no matter what,” Sharanya told us heartily.
#7
Not necessarily how they met, but how they got together:
My grandmother had recently broken up with her boyfriend and her ex's best friend asked her to hang out for the evening to cheer her up. He'd had polio as a kid and had just spent the previous two years *in an iron lung.* He was tired of being confined and decided to just live out what was left of his life without the lung. His doctors had given him two years, max.
My grandmother felt sorry for him and announced that she'd marry him and spend the little time he had left with him. The married *that night.*
Yes, he really had been given two years to live, but he managed to live fifty more. Yes, they stayed married.
#8
My brother and I took our 3yo niece to a toy store. I needed to pick something up for a baby shower, and my bro was flying a small plastic Incredible Hulk drone, that was on display, just to keep my niece entertained.
The drone got tangled in this random girl's long flowing locks.
My brother tried to help her get it out. He made it worse. The girl was getting pissed...and that was BEFORE my impatient niece got a hold of the controller and tried to make the drone fly while it was still tangled in the girl's hair.
Somehow, out of this, my brother managed to get this girl's number, a date, and now they're married and about to give me another niece.
#9
So I have a mate of mine from work who's a Nepalese immigrant, and I asked him one day why he came to our country (we were talking about another coworker who immigrated more recently). He replied "I could find another job here, but I couldn't find another wife at home" because his wife had come to Oz with their child to become a...nurse I wanna say? Don't quote me on that.
And so I asked how he met his wife, and he revealed that when he was in his early thirties his mother basically went "You should be married" and found him a wife almost immediately. Like from the point she said that to the wedding was two weeks, no joke.
You hear a lot about arranged marriages going badly, but I've met both his wife and his daughter and how the couple speaks of each other you can tell they're madly in love.
Especially him. Every time he speaks on his wife, even if it's just telling me about something she did at work or what she's cooking that night, his entire body and voice screams of how much he loves his wife.
It's honestly super adorable, and I hope their love lasts forever.
The couple’s delightful story definitely makes us believe that how you meet the person doesn’t really matter, does it? Even Ishan smiled and said, “If it’s meant to be, it will happen. And nothing in the world can stop it from happening.”
And it does seem to be true if you take a look at all the wildly interesting stories in this listicle. But to be honest, these meetings, no matter how bizarre, always end up as golden memories. Even Ishan and Sharanya admit that because of the unusual events that unfolded in their love story, it has been immortalized in their minds.
#10
My great-aunt went to Paris to study art in the 1950s, sunk into a depression, and went out to throw herself into the Seine.
Along came a frenchman who was fresh out of the foreign legion. He talked her off the bridge, talked his way into her heart (pants), and they both moved to Sweden together and lived happily painting together for about forty years.
#11
When my nephew was in college they had a snow day and they cancelled classes. The students decided to put on a mock wedding just for fun and they picked two students to "get married." My nephew and a girl were chosen. A few years later, they did it again, for real.
#12
A great grandma had an arranged marriage at 18 to a mean drunk who was 25 years older than her. After several kids and 20 years of marriage, he thankfully died. Several years later after my grandpa graduated university he invited a college friend to visit. One thing lead to another and my grandma and my grandpa's friend got married. It was quite the scandal for the longest time-great-grandma was the ultimate cougar.
But they had a happy 40 year marriage and he was the caregiver to my great-grandma when she developed Alzheimers. Never put her into a home and she was always clean and well groomed. He lived about 20 years after that and though a lot of the family was scandalized, I always thought my great grandma won the jackpot with her second husband.
Janelle Collard 3 months ago
She absolutely did! A reward for having been married to a horrible man the 1st time.
Within 3 months, our special couple for today is set to celebrate 12 years of togetherness. We hope that they experience many such anniversaries in the years to come.
And now, we want to focus our attention on you. Have you ever been in love? If yes, how long have you been with your significant other? Come on, feel free to pour out your heart and spill the tea about your strange meetings and love stories. Just scroll down to the comment section and type away!
#13
My sister swiped the side of a guy's brand new car.
She said he got out of his car, stormed over in a rage...and had a comical change of expression/demeanor as soon as he got a look at her.
They've been together three years.
Also, I'm too good a driver, that's my problem.
#14
My grandparents told me about a woman who met her fiancé's cousin during the rehearsal dinner (night before the wedding).
Everyone noticed they spent an inordinate amount of time chatting that night but no one thought anything of it.
The cousin went to talk to the bride just before the wedding and...the two of them left together.
They've been married 62 years.
#15
There was a tornado and the only safe rooms in the building were in the bathrooms. The women’s room was already packed, so I had to go into the men’s room instead…which is exactly when and where I met my husband and had my first conversation with him, twenty years ago this year.
#16
My parents...back in the 70s met whilst being penpals from a certain UK newspaper. My dad was in the forces, and they basically fell in love over the course of writing letters to one another. They got married whilst only having met in person a few times, and the marriage lasted almost 30 years until his death at a relatively young age (52).
#17
One day my friend at work asked me “ you single?” I was seeing someone but it wasn’t serious.. so I said “I can be, what’s up?” She went on to tell me how she thinks her friend & I would make a great couple.
We talked for a while..she showed me his picture, I said he was cute.. I told her to set something up.
Months go by..I had totally forgot about the whole thing.
On New Year’s Eve, while looking for places to party- my friend from work also worked at a bar.. I walked in.. went over to say hey & grab a drink.. she says “OMG HES HERE! HES HERE!!” Took me a minute to remember what she was talking about.. then she took me to meet him… 10 years & 2 kids later we have never left each others side since that night.
#18
One of my cousins fell in love with my other cousin's "mail order bride." The feelings were mutual.
So we had a wedding and one very unhappy cousin.
#19
My college roommate Jeremy saw a ridiculously beautiful woman in Target pharmacy area senior year in high school. He walked up to her and matter of factly said "so you do d***s huh?"
They've been married 15 years with a few kids.
Edit: He was a senior in college not high school lol.
#20
My high school chemistry teacher took her husband square dancing, and they met another couple there. They decided they liked each others' respective partners more than their spouse, so both couples got divorced and remarried. The four of them still meet up to go square dancing.
Janelle Collard 3 months ago
When they say, "Change partners" they mean it! Glad it worked out for everybody. :)
#21
My dad as an upperclassman was an RA of a college dorm. My mom was dating one of the residents of his floor. My dad took a shining to her. The end of the school year comes, my mom breaks up with her boyfriend. Early summer, my dad calls her up to ask her to be his date to a friend’s wedding. Turns out my dad shares a first and last name with a guy from my mom’s hometown who was not a good person. She thinks it’s hometown guy and declines. My dad persists and calls her back and the misunderstanding is straightened out. It turns out my mom was going to be attending that same wedding anyways as her cousin is the groom. They go to the wedding together and would be married 50 years next summer (dad passed away a few years ago).
#22
My SIL's mother used to tell her she needed to get out more or she'd never get married. My SIL wasn't some shut-in. She had friends and spent a normal amount of time in and out of home; she just wasn't super social. Her exact words to my SIL were, "Prince charming isn't just going to show up on your doorstep,"
Well, one year my brother comes to visit me to go to Phoenix comicon with me and we pick up my SIL on the way.
The two of them spent the entire weekend together. They are now married with 2 kids.
So yeah, Prince charming did just show up on her doorstep.
#23
I met my wife through online dating. I signed up to the website, saw her profile that evening, and she was the only woman I wrote a message to.
So I have a 100% success rate at online dating.
That seems quite unorthodox.
#24
My grandparents grew up in refugee camps after WWII.. and then in 1950, both of their remaining families got the chance to board a boat, not knowing at the time if they were headed to Canada or Venezuela.. they met on the boat, and became friends for the duration of the journey.. they then landed in Canada, and went their separate ways..
A couple years later, my Oma received a phone call out of the blue - from my Opa, who had spent months tracking her down through the German refugees spread out in Ontario.. and he invited my Oma, her sister and their parents to join him where he was living, because there was lots of work on the tobacco farms.. so, they went..
They reunited, fell in love and were married in 1954.. it'll be their 70 year anniversary this year..
My parents have been married for 42 years this year.. and my dad proposed after only six weeks.. he wanted to propose after two weeks, but, my Nana convinced him to wait at least six.. because that's how long my Papa waited before proposing to her..
#25
My parents met when my Dad was living with another woman and my Mom was engaged.
They worked at the same department store (my dad had been their longer)... she didn't like him him when she started there. They were in separate sections of the store and they were always trying to outdo each other.
Shortly after their mutual relationships broke up, they joined the same company softball team. My dad was the coach, my mom was the pitcher. She was great in practice and absolutely tanked their first game... and he was very nice in front of the team, but absolutely roaster her at the bar afterwards.
They played one on one tennis on their first date... and eventually these two SUPER competitive people raised a child who grew up to be a game designer.
#26
When my sister was in college she was crossing the street when she was hit by a car, driven by an illegal immigrant who ran a red light. She went flying 10ft, landed in some bushes, and was miraculously unharmed aside from a few scrapes. The driver tried to flee because he didn’t speak a lick of English and obviously didn’t have a license.
A random guy, who witnessed the whole thing, reached through the open driver’s side window, grabbed him by the collar and started shouting “you make a habit of running little girls over and fleeing the scene, b***h?! Get the f**k out the car!”
To be clear, my sister was NOT a little girl, she was a 20yo women who happens to be exactly 5’ tall & 100lbs.
My sister didn’t want to call the cops because…she’s very soft hearted and “didn’t want to be responsible for this man being jailed or deported when he might be supporting his entire family back home.”
The random bystander, who threatened the driver, insisted on walking her to the campus clinic (she didn’t want to bother getting checked out…until she noticed how cute he was).
Doctor told her she may have a concussion and she should not be alone. So she went back to this strange guy’s apartment (seriously) cause she was already head over heels (no pun intended) for him at that point. They talked and watched movies all night. When he fell asleep, she texted me his pic with the caption "meet your future brother-in-law."
They're still together. Their politics are pretty far apart but they seem to genuinely enjoy arguing over shite.
#27
NOT my story, but someone posted on here about how their parents met. Before his dad met his mom he had a long term very serious gf he was on the verge of proposing to.
The two of them were supposed to see the Back to the Future sequel together the night it came out. But the dad had a family emergency (his grandfather had a stroke or something). He asked his gf to hold off on seeing it until they could go together. She reluctantly agreed.
He later found out she had gone with a male classmate she was friendly with (and who he did not like at all).
He was pissed. The girl said it was selfish of him to expect her to wait just because he had to. She offered to go see it again with him but he said he'd rather go on his own.
At this point the dad was upset, but he fully expected he and his gf would move past this.
Then he went to the movie and met OP's mom. It was love at first sight and the gf was history.
I'm oddly fond of the story.
#28
This one is tricky, so I’ll do my best to explain it clearly.
My maternal uncle dated his younger sister’s close friend after college. She was lovely and kind. But, they mutually broke up when he decided to become a priest and she decided to teach overseas. He flunked out of seminary school and married someone else (who became my aunt). My mom (that uncle’s sister) married a guy (my dad), they had two kids, one of them was me.
Mom died when I was 6. Dad kept in touch (of course) with my uncle and aunt. Lovely woman who had dated my uncle and later left to teach overseas got married to a guy, got pregnant, and he panicked and bailed. So she came back to the US to have her baby and divorce the bastard. Which she did.
So, widower dad with 2 kids (one of them me), abandoned/divorced mom with one kid (lady who dated my uncle and went overseas)…uncle and aunt decide, hey, those two might hit it off. Set up a dinner. They got married a year later. Boom. New family that worked out well. Step-mom passed away about 10 years ago. But I always thanked my aunt and uncle for setting up my dad with my future stepmom.
And, every once in a while, as all of us cousins are going through our family photos, we find photos of my mom with my stepmom when they were friends. It’s neat but kind of weird.
TLDR: uncle set up my dad with uncle’s ex-girlfriend/his sister’s former bff. Marriage ensues.
#29
The husband of one of our friends died suddenly and unexpectedly (only 36). They had 2 small children. The son of one of our couples in the friend groups son (18) was asked by his mom to help out her newly widowed friend, especially with the 2 young sons he was close to. Yep, the son and the widow(40)began a secret affair. They eventually came clean after about a year of suspicion. Got married about 5 years later. 28 years later, they are still married. His mom never spoke to the friend again.
Salty_Sasquatch 3 months ago
I met my now-husband through a friend. We've been married 28 years, although I've lost contact with my friend. I really miss her a lot, I think of her often. She was my best friend for decades. Louise, please find me? I am very sorry for what I did.
#30
I met my ex-wife on a Southwest flight evacuating a hurricane. I didn't even expect to get a ticket, but after 5 error messages while trying to book, somehow it materialized. It was the last flight on the night before projected landfall. And, given that it was Southwest, she picked the seat next to me and it was a crazy story from that point forward...
What do you think ?
Donkey boi 3 months ago
My old man was a milkman. One of the ladies he used to deliver to asked him if he could help her with her weekly shop as she'd just had surgery on her arm. Dad agreed to meet her at the shop that afternoon. When he got there the lady said, 'This is my daughter. Here's a shopping list. See you in a bit.' My dad, confused by the situation just went along with it and did the shopping with the lady's daughter. He found out that the daughter knew nothing about the whole thing and that the lady had lied about having surgery. Realising that it was a set-up, and both stating that they were not looking for a relationship and were happy living alone, they agreed to go on some dates and pretend that it was going great, before staging a huge falling out in front for the lady to 'get their own back'. 4 weeks later they were engaged, then married, then had my sisters and I.
Hey! 3 months ago
Fake relationships are popular in romance novels too! That's really funny.
Load More Replies...
Sky Render 3 months ago (edited)
Back when I was 21 (around 2002), I was in a depressive funk and didn't want to talk to anyone. I had just given up on a translation project I'd started because my help has vanished without a trace. And then I got an unusual email from a 16-year-old about the project, written very humorously. Normally I ignored emails asking about the project at that point, but this time I decided to reply and explain the situation. Within 2 weeks she'd contacted a translation group for me and got me in direct contact with the group's lead coder. About a year later we released the translation and that girl and I became lifelong friends. We moved in together back in 2015, had a wild bout of self-discovery from 2019 to 2021, and finally got married in 2021.
Bec 3 months ago
During college I had a job with lots of other students. One guy and I had similar sense of humor and music tastes, but he was married with kids. At my going away party, his brother tagged along and we really hit it off, but the next day I was leaving town. A few weeks later, my former work friend reached out to me to ask if he could connect me with his brother. We'll celebrate 20 years married this weekend
Donkey boi 3 months ago
My old man was a milkman. One of the ladies he used to deliver to asked him if he could help her with her weekly shop as she'd just had surgery on her arm. Dad agreed to meet her at the shop that afternoon. When he got there the lady said, 'This is my daughter. Here's a shopping list. See you in a bit.' My dad, confused by the situation just went along with it and did the shopping with the lady's daughter. He found out that the daughter knew nothing about the whole thing and that the lady had lied about having surgery. Realising that it was a set-up, and both stating that they were not looking for a relationship and were happy living alone, they agreed to go on some dates and pretend that it was going great, before staging a huge falling out in front for the lady to 'get their own back'. 4 weeks later they were engaged, then married, then had my sisters and I.
Hey! 3 months ago
Fake relationships are popular in romance novels too! That's really funny.
Load More Replies... Sky Render 3 months ago (edited)
Back when I was 21 (around 2002), I was in a depressive funk and didn't want to talk to anyone. I had just given up on a translation project I'd started because my help has vanished without a trace. And then I got an unusual email from a 16-year-old about the project, written very humorously. Normally I ignored emails asking about the project at that point, but this time I decided to reply and explain the situation. Within 2 weeks she'd contacted a translation group for me and got me in direct contact with the group's lead coder. About a year later we released the translation and that girl and I became lifelong friends. We moved in together back in 2015, had a wild bout of self-discovery from 2019 to 2021, and finally got married in 2021.
Bec 3 months ago
During college I had a job with lots of other students. One guy and I had similar sense of humor and music tastes, but he was married with kids. At my going away party, his brother tagged along and we really hit it off, but the next day I was leaving town. A few weeks later, my former work friend reached out to me to ask if he could connect me with his brother. We'll celebrate 20 years married this weekend
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