It Worked For Cinderella by Linda Hope Lee


     I love to hear how people meet their mates. Was the meeting by coincidence? Or by design?
     Some of the stories I have heard include meeting through a common interest. Introduction by a friend or a relative or an online matchmaking service is often a means.
     Attending the same school also brings people together.
     That was how Maryann met Eldon.
     Maryann went to college in the 'forties. As a new freshman, she attended a dance, in those days known as a "mixer."
     "I wasn't going to go," she said, "but my roommate talked me into it. The dance hadn't been underway very long when the bandleader stepped to the mic and told all the men to line up on one side of the room and all the women on the other. I couldn't imagine what that was for, but then he told us women to take off one of our shoes and toss it across the room to the men. Each man was to capture a shoe and find its owner for the next dance.
     "I was wearing a new pair of high heels, red with ribbon bows. I didn't really want to part with one of them but to be a good sport, I pulled off one and gave it a good toss.
     "The place got pretty crazy with the men scrambling first for a shoe and then to find its owner. People were pairing up and dancing, and I was still standing there waiting. I began to worry. Maybe my shoe landed in a corner and no one found it.
     "Then I spotted a man holding my shoe aloft and searching the crowd. "Over here!" I called and waved.
     "'I found you at last,' he said when he reached my side. 'Now we'll see if this glass slipper fits.'
     "I stuck out my foot for him to put on the shoe. 'Okay, Cinderella,' he said with a twinkle in his eye, 'let's dance.'
     "And we did, for the rest of the evening and for years after that. We've had a wonderful life together. I'm so glad I went to that dance!"
     Do you have a first meeting story to share?
  

Comments

  1. What a great story! I met Duane, my hero, when I was dating a friend of his. Duane didn't really like me and I thought he was a nice "just a friend" type guy. After a noisy, splashy breakup with the former boyfriend and a stint in Vietnam for the hero, Duane realized he really did like me and I realized he was not only a friend, but my very best one. Forty-some years later, he still is.

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    1. Thanks for your story, Liz. Yes, our mates certainly can be our best friends, too. A double gift when that happens.

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  2. There really are Prince Charmings out there. Love your story, Linda. When I met my husband, his sisters took me to the airport to meet him when he was coming home from the military for one of their weddings. And they wanted to break up a relationship he had with a girl they didn't like. Funny, we so hit it off and got married a month later which shocked everyone both of us knew. Some said it wouldn't last---but it did for 51 years until he died. It would still be lasting otherwise. One just never knows.

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    1. Thanks for your beautiful story, Roz. A good example of how fast love can happen and how quickly you just know he's the one.

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  3. I met my husband while working on the first book in my Brookhollow series on an outdoor patio on Whyte Avenue, here in Edmonton. He walked by, I smiled, he kept walking and I was disappointed lol:) Then he walked by again, and this time he did say 'hi' and like Roz-we just knew:)

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    1. Thank you, Jennifer. Your story reminds me of another one I heard in which the families of the two involved were staying in the same resort town. Like with you, he walked by her and said "hi," and that was the beginning. Love it.

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  4. As a freshman at RISD, I joined a group of female students invited to Brown University by a group of men who wanted dates for their Home Coming activities. We were all assembled in this large hall, sipping punch and talking to different students. I was stuck in a corner with one fellow, wondering how come I always ended up with some jerk. I glanced over to this handsome guy coming through the door and wished he’d come over and rescue me. He did. “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” he asked. Of course he didn’t. “Maybe,” I said. It turned into a weekend I’ll never forget. (Unfortunately, not the guy I ended up marrying.)

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    1. Thank you, Marion. I love it that he rescued you. Sorry it didn't turn out to be a forever relationship, though.

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  5. About fifteen years ago I was a workout nut...(I've since recovered from that illness). One day I was working out with the weights and this guy wandered in. He asked me to go out for coffee, but I was busy. He persisted, though and we've been dating for 15 years. No, we don't want to get married...both of us are too stuck in our own routines, and I would drive him crazy with my ADHD if we were together all the time. :-)

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    1. Thanks for your story, Patricia. Sounds like you have a great relationship. Good thing he persisted!

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  6. Ron and I met at the L.A. Times in 1966. He was in advertising and I was in the secretarial pool. He shared his office with the only copy machine in the ten-story building and I was sent to make copies. The copier was a Xerox and huge with all kinds of buttons and trays sticking out. I studied it in confusion. He came over to help - and he's been helping me ever since.

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  7. Linda,
    Have you used it in a story yet? It not, can all the rest of us use it! Awesome

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  8. The question begs to be asked: How did you meet your one true love, Linda?

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  9. I'm saving that story for my next book. But thanks for your interest!

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  10. Love all of these stories!!! Very Heartwarming ;).

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