"Some Enchanted Evening" Submissions
Set 8

"Some Enchanted Evening" Home

His hair was longer than mine, he wore a black leather jacket and boots. I wore lace up boots to my knees and black tights with words written in white all over them with black skirts. We were both in the music department at the college we attended. The first time we talked I asked him for the time and he gave me his theory on watches and why he chose not to be a chained prisoner of them. That was fall.

On the Spring Break trip with the music department we ended up talking late at night while rolling down the highway in the bus and ended our conversation with a few kisses.

Seven years later, we were both still hanging out with people we had met through the music department at the college and still had many of the same acquaintances. On Tuesday nights we'd all be at one local bar for open mic night. One night I noticed him watching me and then another. Soon we started chatting a little bit more each week. Then finally he asked me for his number. He is not a shy man, except when it concerns something like this. I made sure I had his number as well and had to be the first to call.

His hair is shorter now. Now, he wears a watch as he's a responsible music teacher. He still has the same black leather coat. I lost my boots and tights and rarely wear skirts that come up more than an inch from my knee. My biggest complaint is why we didn't just start things seven years before.

Melissa Rueb, Rochester, MN

I was a new girl in town. Attracted to the sunny city of San Diego, I made the move with my friend Vicki. Yeah, we were sick and tired of long cold Minnesota winters so we decided to go to graduate school somewhere warm; someplace where the beaches are white and I don't mean white with snow.

Our first week in town included free tickets to hear the San Diego Pops Orchestra. It was beautiful! An outdoor venue on the beach with fireworks over the ocean. And so, the excited Midwestern girls sat attentively while Rita Moreno put on a spectacular show with the San Diego Symphony. Then it happened. During intermission, a sexy orchestra member strolled our way. He looked so cute in his white tux carrying a bass clarinet case through the crowd. I couldn't take my eyes off of him! He walked right up to us and said, "You must be Kathy and Vicki". It turned out that one of our new teachers had sent Frank our way in order to protect us from the potential dangers of big city life.

Frank was our guardian angel. From making sure we didn't get an apartment on Euclid Avenue to introducing us to the best carne asada on earth, he was our new big city buddy. One day Vicki wasn't able to hang out with us and it happened. Frank took me for a walk on the beach, we ate Mexican food at a wonderful taco shop dive and talked all day and half the night. We were really intrigued with each other and continued to hang as a duo. The rest is history.

It has been fourteen years of love. I dragged him back to Minnesota (too much warm weather can make a person nervous) and he stayed. Now that's true love!

Kathleen Neff, Duluth, MN

My husband and I met during theatre auditions for "Camelot". I was playing piano for auditions when he walked in and blew us all away with his rendition of "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" from Les Miserables. He finished and left - all I could think was "gosh, he's cute. Too bad he's shorter than I am - he'll never ask me out." I'm nearly six feet tall - my experience has been that shorter men rarely ask out taller women. At the same time, he says he was thinking "gosh, she's cute. Too bad she's so tall - she'll never want to go out with me." He found out that I was a former pageant queen and was positive that I wouldn't even look at him.

Well, we both ended up in the show - I was cast as Guinevere and he was cast as Mordred (King Arthur's illegitimate son). We had a lot of fun during rehearsals and post-rehearsal cast outings to Perkins. One night, after sitting and talking in my car for 2 1/2 hours and eating a pound of M&Ms (by the way, they do melt on your hands if you're nervous), he asked me out. I said yes so fast he looked stunned.

Of course, as soon as the cast found out that Guinevere and Mordred were dating, the jokes began. It got even funnier on opening night. The actor playing Lancelot had invited his wife to the final dress rehearsal. After she saw the show that night, he never kissed me on stage again. Hmmmm. The passionate hug he gave me after "If Ever I Would Leave You" just didn't make it. So Mordred, deciding Lancelot was a wimp, decided to take romantic matters into his own hands (offstage).

So here we are 13 years and many shows later, happily married with a four year old daughter. As far as theater goes, we've never had the opportunity to play opposite each other - in fact I've played his mother two or three times. But in our real life, which is what really counts, we're playing as a team and intend to continue doing that for as long a run as God grants us.

Merri Lee Bremer, City, MN

My husband and I were both recently out of college. I was working as a nanny and he was working as an assistant manager at a Super America. My best friend was a co-worker of his so we had met before and become acquaintances on various group outings with mutual friends. We were both involved in music and he was looking for a teaching job and I was thinking of getting into teaching, so we had some things in common to talk about.

But I knew he was "the one" the cold, snowy day I went into the Super America and I needed a snowbrush (mine had just broken). I grabbed the first one I saw and went up to pay for it. He was working the register and saw what I was buying. He said I shouldn't buy the one I had picked out. He said there were better ones in the back room, and he'd go find one if I could wait a minute.

He searched, moved things around and ended up climbing over a pile of boxes, reaching to the far back of the top shelf to find a better snowbrush for me. I thought that was very sweet (or maybe the cold had gotten to me). Either way, 9 years later we have two beautiful children and will soon celebrate our fifth year of marriage.

Now we always sigh when we go by a Super America. By the way, I still have the snowbrush, and it works great.

Janel Dysart, St. Paul, MN

I am a confirmed bibliophile, so it came as no surprise to anyone who knew me very well that I met my husband in a bookstore.

Upon moving to Minneapolis to take a job with a local nonprofit, I followed my mom's advice and got a part-time job at a bookstore to offset my moving costs and hopefully meet some people in my new hometown. One day a co-worker and I were wasting time in the "new age" section looking up our horoscopes. When another co-worker walked up and noticed that I was reading a book on Aquarians, he asked if I was reading his instruction manual. I replied that no, my birthday was in February. When was his? Evading my question, he asked when my birth date was. February 10, I replied. What a coincidence! His was February 9. What a small world! Small talk ensued.

Only later did I become suspicious. How easy, I thought, for him to fib about his birthday once he found out when my birthday was. So the next time I saw him I asked to see his driver's license. He good-naturedly agreed. His birthday really is February 9!

A year and a half later, we were married in that same bookstore where we met, but that's another story entirely!

Angie Arnold, Minneapolis, MN

I met my wife about twenty-five years ago at Kowalski's Supermarket on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul. At that time it was a Red Owl. She was an elementary school teacher and worked evenings and weekends as a cashier. I had talked to her several times in the check out line. After building up courage, I eventually asked her for a "date" and she said I could find "dates" next to the prunes and dried fruit in aisle three. Needless to say I was put off.

When I saw her a few days later, she smiled quietly and said that when she thought about it I must have meant to ask her out on a date. We went out dancing the next Friday and were married about a year after that.

Alan F. Musielwicz, St. Paul, MN

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