The Real Life Love Stories Feed We’re All Obsessed With

"You know how people say when you know, you know? The moment I met Russell I could just feel it in my body that our souls were connected in some way. I was working at Buzzfeed when one of our producers had asked me to step in and be in charge of Crafty for an upcoming shoot- which basically means I was responsible for all the food and snacks on set to feed the crew. I've always loved to host and cook so I was thrilled about the opportunity. It was a 2 day commercial shoot and I prepared a fabulous menu. I put out these Goat Cheese and Blackberry on Brioche Bites and that's when I first met Russell. He was a freelancer at the time working on set. He came over and proceeded to eat about 10 of them and then walked away. I thought he was super handsome- the kind of handsome where I became all nervous and flushed and didn't know how to say hello. That night after we wrapped, I went out and bought more Goat Cheese and Blackberries so I could make the same snack the following day. They say the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach- and my plan totally worked! Russell came over as soon as I started to make them. He ate one and then looked me right in the eyes and said, "These are so good I could just make out with you right now". My face turned bright red. You know when you're blushing and then you realize you're blushing, so you keep blushing even more? Well that's what happened. My face was on fire and I could barely form a sentence. Luckily Russell found it endearing, and broke the ice. We started talking and learned we're both LA natives (a rarity) and had a lot of cool local 'secret' spots to offer up. At the end of the day, he asked for my number and almost immediately asked to take me out that upcoming Friday night. I went into it with no expectations, knowing quite well what a disappointment the dating scene is in Hollywood. But Russell changed all of that. Our chemistry was effortless and we've been together ever since. Today we now live together in a 2 bedroom house in Echo Park and I started my own catering company full-time. I'm a big believer in trusting the timing of life, as it brought me my dream job and dream man all at once."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Jul 22, 2016 at 1:58pm PDT

"This is the story about how a woman from Australia fell in love with a man from Zimbabwe: I agreed to go dancing in the park with some friends the night I met Fini. I must say dancing underneath the moonlight was a pretty magical way to meet. Before even learning each other's names, we were embracing, smiling, and laughing as we awkwardly attempted to dance together and make small talk over the loud music. It turned out Fini was about to start his student placement at the same hospital I was working for at the time. We began a friendship which lasted for about 2 weeks and then it was on. However, like all relationships, ours hasn't been all smiles and laughter. Being that we both come from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds, we knew we were bound to face some challenges. I lost "friends" who held ignorant prejudices against us and disapproved of our relationship. And at one point, Fini faced deportation due to visa complications. But with every obstacle, we grew closer. We knew that the love we shared was worth fighting for. And so fight we did. I even killed a chicken during dowry negotiations and became a vegetarian to prove my love to Fini's elders. Now 7 years and 2 children later, we're still completely in love. What the world needs to know, especially right now, is that no one is born hating another person. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can also be taught to love. Whenever I travel to Zimbabwe, I feel so blessed that I get the opportunity to know my husband a little bit better. The more I understand his roots, the more I appreciate him. I wish everyone could see that it's our differences that make life so interesting and unique. Our son Austin was born with autism and through greater understanding, we have learned how to celebrate all the good that neurodiversity has to offer. Fini and I always choose love and understanding over fear. And together we have witnessed many miracles."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Jul 11, 2016 at 4:35pm PDT

In 2013, After 81 years together, John and Ann Betar became the longest married couple in America. They eloped on November 25th, 1932 after fleeing their close-knit Syrian neighborhood in Bridegport, Connecticut. They drove as fast as they could to Harrison, New York to avoid Ann's father's plans to marry her off to a man 20 years older. Ann: "John was not the boy next door, but the boy across the street who I loved." John: "That's why she married me, she loved that car." To put it in historical perspective, when the couple got married in 1932, the Great Depression was at its worst, Franklin D. Roosevelt had just been elected president, John F. Kennedy was a high school student, and Adolf Hitler was about to come to power in Germany. John: "We have watched the world change together. The key is to always agree with your wife.” John and Ann Betar raised their family in Bridgeport, where John ran a grocery store before becoming a realtor. John: "I was a fruit peddler and we had a lot of vegetables. We lived on vegetables." Ann: "We were lucky to eat!" They had 5 children, 14 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren. Ann: “That’s what makes life what it is. We were fortunate enough to live long enough to see this. It’s really one of the most gratifying things in the world to see your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren become adults." So what's the secret to making marriage last a lifetime? John: "Just contentment....with what you have, what you're doing." Ann: "Don't think that life is great all the way around." John: "It's only about cooking. It's only about cooking, that's the only arguments we had." Ann: "See? That's what he thinks! It's only about the cooking." And the Betar's advice for married couples nowadays: Ann: "Marriage isn't a lovey-dovey thing, you know, for 81 years. Couples expect miracles of each other like 'you have to agree with me, this is what I want to do,' but it doesn't work that way. " John: "You learn to accept one another's ways of life, agreements, disagreements -- disagreements on your children, preparation on bringing up your kids. That was the main interest was our children"

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Mar 1, 2016 at 2:10pm PST

"Thomas and I met on an online dating site while he was living in Canada and I was living in New York City. We fell in love within a week. We texted, Skyped, and talked on the phone everyday until we decided to make a plan to be together. Three weeks later he left everything behind, except for his dog, and flew to New York City to be with me. The first time we met in person was the day I went to greet him at the train station. That's also the day we moved in together into a 300 square foot studio apartment with 2 dogs. People thought we were absolutely insane. But it was the best decision we've ever made. He proposed with a cherry ring pop and we were recently married at City Hall, just us two and the dogs. It was our dream wedding. We are the kookiest couple I know and I wouldn't have it any other way."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Jan 3, 2016 at 1:29pm PST

"We met at a Mexican restaurant in Austin. She was sitting with a friend of mine from college and I ended up talking to her for the rest of the night. She was nervous around me, mostly because I was super gay and she wasn't...yet. We had an instant connection but it took 5 weeks of friendship before she finally admitted to having feelings for me. She had never been in a gay relationship before. She was the head cheerleader date the football player kind of girl. She never in a million years thought she would end up with a woman. Over the next 6 years I would chase her pretty much across the country. She moved to 4 different cities for work and wouldn't move back to Austin because there wasn't enough "fashion" (oh, if you only knew her). We did long distance for years. I finally convinced her to move back to Texas, we agreed on Dallas, where I started my own apartment locating company. For years she struggled with being gay. It wasn't something anyone expected, including her, and her friends and family weren't very accepting at first. Her mother pretty much refused to acknowledge that I even existed for the first 3.5 years of our relationship. I would have to leave our apartment when she came to town for Christmas, and Kayla would have to take down all our photos from the fridge and hide my clothes. It wasn't until my own mother passed away in 2013 that things changed. Kayla's mom sent flowers to the funeral and texted me- something she had never done before. After that, our relationship changed and Kayla's mom wanted to be a part of our lives. Now she calls me more than she calls Kayla! We are closer than ever and It's amazing. I asked her for her blessing to propose to Kayla and she couldn't be more excited to plan a wedding. I am so thankful we were able to move past our jagged history because many families are not able to. I proposed to Kayla in St. Thomas in the ocean. I told her she better put the ring on her finger before I drop it. Finally after six years of dating, I get to marry the girl of my dreams." (📸: @imsteph)

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Dec 22, 2015 at 3:48pm PST

"We met at the airport on Christmas in December 2013. I flew to Ireland to spend Christmas with my now ex-boyfriend. Things had been rocky between us, but I made a last minute decision to book a non-direct flight from Boston to Philadelphia to Dublin. I noticed Ronan immediately as we lined up to board, but I forced myself to focus on my crumbling relationship. Ronan apparently noticed me too and spent our connecting flight to Philadelphia plotting how to talk to me. Windy weather in Dublin delayed the flight to our final destination. Since Ronan arrived at the gate before me, his big opening line when I walked by was, "Excuse me, weren’t you on the flight from Boston?” to which I simply replied with a stunned, “Yes.” He then informed me of our delay and we made small talk as I wrestled with what to do. Eventually, I sat four seats away from him and mentioned I was visiting my boyfriend overseas, but that didn’t stop us from talking for hours. Ronan had just moved to Boston from Ireland, but was heading home for the holidays. After landing in Dublin, Ronan waited for me to get off the plane. He walked me to immigration, waited for me to endure the long Non-EU line, and then was waiting for me in baggage claim before we parted with an awkward goodbye. Months later, I broke up with my boyfriend. I had never stopped thinking about the ‘cute airport guy’. By this time, I’d been selected to represent Boston in Ireland’s Rose of Tralee International Festival. I reached out "professionally" to see if Ronan could make any connections in the city. After mentioning I was single at a networking event, he didn’t waste any time. He escorted me to my car after the event and kissed me in the parking lot with an, "I've been waiting to do that since Christmas."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Dec 21, 2015 at 3:53pm PST

"Ben was my first love. We met and started dating in 1999 but he broke up with me after only 3 weeks. As teenagers, we dated on and off a few more heartbreaking times until he left for University. I had a daughter when I was eighteen years old, and raised her as a single parent for the majority of her life. However, I still went to university and managed to get my degree as well. Then in 2010, eight years after Ben and I last spoke, I was doing an internship in London when a mutual friend told me that he now lived and worked there. I looked him up and invited him out to dinner with no ulterior motives or expectations. We talked and laughed all evening, and promised to do it again soon. The following weekend, he came to see me and met my daughter who was five at the time. The three of us took a rowing boat out on the lake, and Ben bought my daughter a music box. Ever since that day, we have been inseparable. After five years of dating, Ben proposed on San Pietro Island. I had just woken up from a nap that afternoon when Ben convinced me to go for a walk. He took me to the top of the guard tower, the highest point on the island, where him and my daughter had a hidden picnic awaiting my arrival. Not only did he get down on one knee and give me the most gorgeous engagement ring, but he also gave my daughter a little rose gold aquamarine ring. He told her, "because it's not just mummy I'm asking." Our little family is now official."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Dec 7, 2015 at 4:20pm PST

"It just so happens that we found each other in the ocean doing what we love. I accidentally hit him in the head with my board while surfing. I was a beginner at the time and as I was riding a wave, I jumped off and failed to grab my board. So I went one direction and my board went the other- straight for his head. Sometimes people don't know what love is until they're hit over the head with it."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Nov 17, 2015 at 4:43pm PST

"In 1975, we exchanged addresses through a Barbara Streisand fan club and began writing each other. Together we had a combined collection of 15,000 pictures. We were pen pals for five years before ever meeting in person. I lived in England at the time and she lived in Brooklyn. The first time I met Jackie in person was when I flew to New York in September of 1980. I returned to England afterwards feeling very love sick. The second time I went to visit her was in December over the Christmas holiday, and that's when I asked her to be my wife. I was a bit worried that I was rushing into it, but I knew she was the one for me. On my third visit to New York, we were married at The Plaza Hotel, which is where Barbara Streisand's famous movie "The Way We Were" was filmed. We were married for 33 years until sadly she passed away in 2013. I share our story in an effort to keep her memory alive and to inspire all the other hopeless romantics out there."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Oct 7, 2015 at 1:32pm PDT

"I saw her for the first time in 1957. I went to my mother's church to eat lunch and saw her walking down the stairs. She was wearing a pastel blue dress, white shoes, and a purse to match (yes, I remember everything about her that day.) I told my mother, who was one of the cooks in the church cafeteria, that I wished the young girl I saw was older because she was the type of girl I would marry. My mother asked me to describe her and when she realized who I was talking about she said, "she's not as young as you think, she's 17." I was 19, so we were perfect for each other. I was introduced to her shortly thereafter and made a terrible first impression. For 7 years, I chased after her until she finally said yes to a date. Three months later we were married. That was in 1964 and here we are, still in love."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Aug 25, 2015 at 1:11pm PDT

"I met my boyfriend in 2009 while I was working as a part-time cashier at Walmart. One night before leaving, I offered to cover another cashier's check out lane during her fifteen minute break. I suppose the world was on my side in that moment because Calvin just happened to be one of my customers. Six years, two dogs, a house, and a million memories later, I've never been more thankful for my decision to "check out" Calvin that evening in Lane 29."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Jun 26, 2015 at 2:20pm PDT

"We met back in elementary school. I fell in love with her in 3rd grade and wrote a song for her. We dated from 5th through 7th grade. We went our own ways for high school and college but remained friends, occasionally catching up here and there. After we graduated college, we reconnected and that's when we really hit it off. We decided to make it official (for the second time.) When we got back together all of our friends said, "It's just like 7th grade all over again!" Both of our parents like to say that they picked us for each other back in middle school and were right all along. Our relationship was all about timing. We just moved in together and are excited to see where life takes us next."

A post shared by The Way We Met (@thewaywemet) on Sep 18, 2015 at 1:58pm PDT