Is this Fate or what?

In Yahoo headlines yesterday: Dreamed up phone number leads man to a bride. Did any of you read about this? Hopefully the link is still good, if not, you can go over to Skylar's and read the full article. That's just straight up wildness, but you'll know it'll make a great story for them to tell their kids.

For those of you that don't know, I met my husband thru Matchmaker.com. And instead of summarizing how we met, I'm going to cut and paste the story I put up on our wedding site (courtesy of AZ Weddings.com):

HOW WE MET:

Almost 5 years ago, Steven and Celise met online at Matchmaker.com. After her 7-day trial period had expired, Celise decided to renew for 30 days. In her search for Mr. Right, she had five dates, one guy who stood her up, and one persistent suitor who gave her the willies (and ended up being reported and kicked to the curb by the moderator). A few days before her 30 day renewal, she received an intriguing email from a guy named Steven. In the subject line, it read "Your smile..." and when she opened it, the message continued with "....is captivating me."

Her captivating smile grew bigger as she read the rest of his email. He seemed handsome enough (she only emailed prospects who posted their pictures), so she checked out his profile and emailed him back. She told Steven her 30 days would be up soon, that she wasn't planning on renewing, and gave him her personal email address. They had been corresponding for a week when, on January 12, 2001 ( a Friday), Celise and a friend of hers went dancing at a club in Scottsdale. Standing at the railing, watching the dancers on the floor, Celise happened to glance to her left and saw a cute guy wearing a brown shirt with Chinese dragons etched on it.

"Cool shirt," she told him as he walked by.

The guy grabbed her hand and said, "Thanks. Do I know you?"

"Uh, no," Celise replied. She would've remembered meeting this cutie--line or no line.

"What's your name?" he asked.

Being a single female in a meat market...er, that is...a nightclub, Celise NEVER gave out her real name. She's a writer, after all. And a fiction writer, at that. Making up names is her forte.

"Isis," she stated.

"Oh. I'm Steven. You look just like a friend of mine. Sorry," he said, then walked away.

A while later, Celise glanced over her shoulder and saw Steven standing by the bar. Frowning in confusion, she mouthed "I thought you were leaving?"

Steven walked over and asked, "What?"

"I thought you were leaving?" she repeated.

"Oh, well, my friend Sean is still talking to those two girls over there. He's probably telling them about the school we're going to," he explained.

"What school is that?" Celise wanted to know.

"Rainstar University," he told her, staring at her intently.

"Really? I have a friend that goes there," Celise said.

"Really? Huh."

During the course of their conversation, Steven tried to drop as many hints as possible. Tried being the key word here because, unfortunately, not even Vanna White could've bought Celise a clue.

"Do you mind if we keep in touch?" he asked as a last ditch effort. "Would it be all right if I got your phone number?"

"Sure," Celise agreed.

At the bar, she asked the bartender for a pen and proceeded to write her REAL number and her FAKE name. (At this point in her life, Celise thought if he calls, he calls. If not, so what?). Needing to find out if this was "Internet Girl" (as his friend, Sean, referred to her), Steven leaned in close and asked, "Do you like oatmeal?"

Celise froze.

She'd recently spoke of her love of oatmeal. And she'd recently mentioned that to only one person. She turned to look at him in disbelief, feeling her jaw drop open and swing down to the floor. Well, maybe not that far down. More like just past her kneecaps.

"Are you...?"

Steven nodded, smiling.

"From the...?"

Steven nodded again, his smile growing wider.

"Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod," Celise shrieked. Repeatedly. For ten minutes.

Truthfully, Steven enjoyed the exchange. Her emails made him laugh and her current reaction was no different. She was obviously shocked. Conversing with her after that revelation proved to be interesting, seeing as how almost every other word was "Ohmygod." At least until she stopped freaking out. And even then, she was saying it every 5th or 6th sentence.

Their first date was the following Saturday, where Steven brought her a single red rose. They tried having dinner at P.F. Chang's, but the wait was too long. So they dined at Red Lobster then saw a movie. It was the best date of Celise's entire life. Steven had a great time, too.

Celise knew she loved Steven after just one week, but didn't want to say the magic words until he said them first. Steven said the magic words a month later, but it was worth the wait.

THE ENGAGEMENT (also taken from the wedding website):

August 19, 2005 - Tucson Omni Resort in Oro Valley, AZ

After a wonderful--and pricey--dinner at the hotel restaurant, Celise and Steven went back to their casita for dessert. There, on the cozy balcony, she opened the plastic container of her favorite pie--Marie Callendar's Cream Cheese Pie--and found a beautiful diamond ring resting on top.

Down on one knee beside her chair, Steven asked his beloved to marry him. And crying as if her heart would break...with happiness, of course...Celise said "Yes."

Then, with a sheepish laugh, Steven says, "I'm sorry, babe, but I don't know what finger it goes on." That's all right. Celise still thinks he's the bomb diggity.

A few more details:

~ I had no idea Steven was going to be at the nightclub that night and vice versa. He had given me his phone number in an email he'd sent that day, but I didn't check it until the next day.

~ The owner of the place where Steven works does an Employee Appreciation thing every year. We get to stay at a nice hotel for the weekend, eat a nice dinner the following night and get a certain amount of money to spend on whatever we want at the hotel. The Tucson Omni happened to be the hotel of choice that year.

~ He asked my Dad's permission in the DVD aisle at a store on Luke's Air Force Base. My Dad's retired military and sometimes they go there to buy stuff. I wanted to get a laptop and my Dad told me I could get one for cheap, no tax, on the base. My Dad's response? "It's about time."

~ A couple of weeks before the trip, I happened to be throwing something away in the garbage in the kitchen and happened to look down to find an empty water bottle from The Shane Company. At that point, I didn't know if he'd actually bought the ring or had put in on layaway.

~ I knew he was going to ask me to marry him sometime that weekend and thought for sure it was going to be while we were eating dinner.

~ The fake name I gave him at the nightclub, Isis Black Hawk, became the name for the character in my second book, Dance Jam Productions. Except I changed her first name to Mataya. You can visit her HERE.

Labels: Life in General