"Some Enchanted Evening" Submissions
Set 4

"Some Enchanted Evening" Home

Kurt and I met on our first day at college in 1993. We were both assigned to work in the security department for our work study jobs. I was the only girl in a room with 14 boys (most of them ,or so it seemed, named Mike. I spent the first few days thinking Kurt's name was Mike). Kurt and I were paired up to practice self defense techniques. We made quite a funny picture since I was 5'2" and 120 lbs and Kurt was 5'10" and 200 lbs.

We didn't know it at the time, but we had encountered each other many times before we finally met. We were both involved in the same activities in high school and we later discovered that we had attended at least 5 of the same events at the same time but never met. We started dating two weeks after we met and have been together ever since, happily married for 2 years.

Melanie Kremer, Lakeville, MN

I fell in love with the water man. He came to my house to read the water meter. Who says you have to leave your house to meet the man of your dreams?

Kate VanSickle, Starbuck, MN

"Romance among the Rickshaws & Ramen"

I stumbled upon my future mate, David Colby, not in the corner coffee shop or the local laundromat, but in bustling, exotic Xi'an, China. It was the spring of 2000, and we were both part of a team of volunteers teaching English to Chinese youths, through a program offered by Global Volunteers of St. Paul.

Even though David and I were part of the same volunteer team and both from the Midwest, our paths didn't cross till we arrived in China. If it wasn't love at first sight, at least it was the start of a good friendship. Because we were involved in the project, we instantly had something in common. Our relationship started slowly. We began by just hanging out together in Xi'an and enjoying each other's company.

Friendship blossomed into romance and we were married a year later on March 31, 2001. We moved to the shores of Lake Superior and settled in the community of Silver Bay, Minn., to start a new life together.

Naturally, international volunteerism holds a special place in our hearts and together we continue to explore the world. Since that momentous China trip, we have traveled to 22 countries together including a round-the-world trek. Together we have participated in short-term volunteer programs in the Cook Islands, Spain and India. And we're returning to Xi'an in May as part of the 100th Global Volunteers team to China.

David likes to tell people we are no longer investing in the stock market. Instead, we're investing in travelers' checks!

Kay Colby, Silver Bay, MN

I like to tell our friends that I met my wife at reform school. We were both attending Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. It's affiliated with the Reformed Church of America.

Orange City has an annual tulip festival. The streets are lined with tulips, and the whole town puts its Dutch heritage on display. One day while we were eating lunch in the cafeteria, Belinda mentioned a town in her home state, Washington, called Humptulips. I burst out laughing, and, seeing my reaction, she quickly said, "You should see their tulip festival." I knew at that moment she was a girl to stick with. We've stuck together for 18 years.

Chip Burkitt, St. Paul, MN

We were both living in Bismarck, North Dakota of all places. In fact, we'd been in college at NDSU and Concordia for two years and had never met, so it took Bismarck to bring us together. I worked in Maxwell's Books at the mall and Martin worked for Senator Dorgan. As we are both redheaded English majors, books play important roles in our lives. Martin came to the book store and often required "help" from me in finding things and I looked forward to "helping" him when he came in. He asked me to dinner and I turned him down flat, but then called and relented later.

The rest is history — we live in West Fargo now, with a 14 month old redheaded daughter Saela and a 4 year old redheaded golden retriever. We can only assume they will both be English majors in college.

Cassi Fredricks, West Fargo, ND

My husband and I met on a cold Saturday morning, in Edina, Minnesota, just about two years ago, February 26, 2000, to be precise. He was 52, had just moved from 52 years of living in California and I was 49, lived in Minnesota all my life. It was our first day of a six month Landmark Education Corporation leadership training program. For me it was definitely not love at first sight, although I did very much like his lovely grey beard. I was pretty much busy sharing and talking about all the great things I got out of participating in the Landmark Forum, like a breakthrough in my ability to be sensual, have fun, experience romance, and not really noticing Richard. Well actually, I did notice him, as he is kind of hard to miss, (6" 5", well over 250 lbs, clear blue eyes, large grey beard, loud and intoxicating laugh) but I was not interested in getting to know him, if you see what I mean. (I asked him later what he thought when he heard me talking and he replied "she's advertising" and also "I thought we'd probably go out on a date.")

Now this program was very challenging; in fact the whole purpose of it is to break up your own notions of who you know yourself to be. One of our assignments in the program was to have a conversation with someone you found particularly difficult to talk with, someone you found it challenging to be related to. A no-brainer for me would be that the conversation would be with a man, especially an outspoken, gregarious, extroverted kind of guy, interested in football, not to mention physically large, and so I chose Richard. I called him up and asked him to dinner. Turns out he was, and still is, a wonderful and interesting dinner partner. I clearly remember him telling me he would like to have dinner with me once a week, in between reciting Chinese poetry and asking me about the art museums in town. So, after that, I called him often, to hold him to it, okay maybe to get a free meal, he had such good taste! The Dakota Bar and Grill, August Moon, Café Brenda, Red Fish Blue Fish, Chipotle, Arrezzo, Asia Grill, Thandho, The Good Earth, Daniel's, Big Bowl, The Mudpie, several holes in the wall with forgettable names. I assured my friends that Richard and I were "just friends" but they say now they could see it coming.

One balmy summer evening, after dinner, we stopped by the Landmark Center in Edina to pick up my daughter. We were early, but not a problem for Richard; he stood under the street light in the parking lot and recited Shakespeare, lines from the ghost in Hamlet. Well, by Thanksgiving 2000 I invited him to my house and family celebration, just to be sure he had a place to go, okay maybe to meet my friends and family. My sister emailed me the next day with thanks, ending prophetically with "Marry Richard!" He declared us a couple, at a restaurant of course, in the winter of 2001 and moved himself and his 3,000 books into my small house in the autumn. We were married (Richard for the third and last time, Joanne for the second and last time) on the beach of my favorite lake in Minnesota on Summer Solstice, June 22, 2002.

Joanne Prillaman, Plymouth, MN

"Some Enchanted Evening" Home

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