Our WInner

Sunny wins-

Thanks everyone else for your entries. They were all wonderful stories.

Kelly

FULFILLED VOWS

 
My love story is short and sweet, but encompasses the most important aspects of true and lasting love.  I married my high school sweetheart.  We met when I was 15 and he was 17.  I was a cheerleader and he was a basketball player.  We married and had our daughter two years later.  We were young parents, and now after our 21st wedding anniversary we are young empty-nesters.  Our vows have been tested and have withstood the good times and the bad, for richer or poorer, and the most difficult of all, in sickness and in health.  We are best friends and lovers and will support one another until death do us part.
 
Chrissy

From Rise

Hi,
This is about my late father in law.  Although my ex husband & I divorced, his father Manny kept in touch with me and his only grandaughter Lauren.  Before I met Manny he had been married twice, both ending with Manny being broken hearted, one from divorce and the second to cancer.  He was one of the most giving lovable men I have ever met, maybe it was his Portugese  upbringing, maybe he was just that kind of man. 
So here was Manny living in California when he received an invitation to his 50th year class reunion in Rhode Island.  He goes back to remeet with family & friends (many of which have passed away), and he finds his high school sweetheart Rose. They begin a bi-coastal letter romance.  The next thing we know Manny has moved back to Rhode Island & marries Rose.  He was the happiest I have ever seen him.  Manny & Rose were married about 9 years.  We have now lost them both to cancer, having died several months of each other.
When his only grandchild Lauren was about to be married I was able to give Lauren her great grandmother's engagement ring that Manny had sent to me before his death. 

Love & Peace,
Rise' 

Linda's Story of Love

My love story begins with a summer job as a 16 year old working for the Youth Conservation Corps up in Shelton, Washington. I was fortunate to have been placed in a camp that was directed by a Christian couple and the leaders were all Christians as well. I remember really being challenged in my faith during that special summer and being encouraged to find a good church when I returned home. I ended up visiting a small rural church not far from my home on a sunday evening. After the service was over I stood up to leave and saw a red headed bearded young man who was visiting with a group of people near the front. Something about him just really caught my eye and I remember feeling that this man would mean something to me in the days ahead. I ended up approaching him and eventually asking him for a ride home. He just happened to be home from college for the weekend and he was the Pastor's oldest son. He was 20 years old. I have always felt that God had His hand on my life, that nothing ever happens by chance. We ended up dating off and on for nearly a few years and were married in May of 1978. I was 18 years old. We have been married now for nearly 31 years and have been blessed with 13 children. We have came through a lot together. Over the years one of our sons battled a severe kidney disease and we nearly lost a daughter to drowning. Our youngest child Gideon has Down syndrome and has suffered through a serious seizure disorder. We have had 2 children divorce and have also been blessed with 13 grandchildren. I have the best husband in the world. He is a faithful father and husband and has worked very hard to provide a good living for us over the years. He never complains about the money I spend on yarn and happily mails all my packages for swaps for me. He always gives me roses for special occasions and sweet hand written cards. There has been lots of romance and plenty of lust throughout our married life and I thank God everyday for giving me such a great husband!

My Love Story

Ok Ok, so I can't be part of the competition because, well, I'm one of the dyers. But can I still tell my love story? Chris and I first met when we were 15. I was a freshman in highschool and he was a year ahead of me. We went to different schools but one of my best friends had a crush on one of his neighborhood friends, and vice versa. Of course, at that age no one goes on real "dates", instead you hang out in groups. So when my friend wanted to see this boy, she would always drag me along. And Chris got pulled in for the same reason. So as a group we ended up seeing a number of movies and going out for sandwiches and all the other things that 15 year olds do. I couldn't believe that I was stuck "chaperoning" my friend and her crush with only this obnoxious surfer dude for company. Couldn't she have at least chosen a boy with a friend who fit the dark, mysterious stereotype I was into at the time (did I mention that my favorite tv show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer?). But the movies were bad, my friend was consumed by her crush and I eventually had to give in and strike up conversation with this fellow, just to pass the time. Constantly laughing and joking I assumed he must be stupid (again, I was in that phase). And then one summer evening we were all hanging out in Chris's backyard and suddenly he started talking about this book he was reading (he could read?), but not just any book, a book on psychology. And he knew what he was talking about. The next day I called him to see if I could borrow the book.

We still have that book. 

Our 1st Love Story (ies)

My love story is actually the story of how each set of grandparents, my parents, and my husband and I all met and fell in love, since I happen to think all of these stories are fun. You will notice a theme of blind dates here!

My mom's parents met on a blind date to a donkey basketball game. I don't know a lot of the details on this one, but I know it was love at first sight and they were together for over 50 years when my grandpa passed away. My grandma has since remarried...through a semi-blind date. Her new husband was my mom and uncle's school teacher for years in a small town. Interestingly enough, each of their spouses passed away 4 days apart and happen to be buried next to each other in the cemetery. This is small town living at it's finest. Grandma and her husband are having a lot of trouble trying to decide how they should be placed when it is their time because they each want to be by their former spouses, but they also want to be together. Too bad grandpa and Mary don't have a few spaces between them...

My dad's parents met when grandpa was...wait for it! He was grandma's school bus driver! Yes, grandma fell in love with and married the young man that drove her school bus in high school. They both passed away rather suddenly last spring. Grandma went on Tuesday, grandpa two days later on Thursday. Those two days were probably the longest time they were ever apart and I know they are happy together now.

My parents, well this is another blind date. My mom was a single mom and I was about 4 years old. She was meeting dad for the first time on a blind date, but it was not scheduled for the one night a week when she would get a babysitter, so I got to come along. Well, the place we went was a small airport with an attached bar and restaurant. I was sitting out on the steps watching the airplanes and mom was just inside the door watching me. Dad walked up and saw me sitting there, seemingly alone. He proceeded to stomp in the place and ask who had left this little girl unattended! Long story short, they met, fell in love, eloped, nearly got divorced a few years ago after being apart for about 5 years, and are now happily retired and crazy in love again. Oh, and dad officially adopted me last summer at the age of 31!

And for me, well, I am the final blind date story. My mom was working as a bartender in the teeny little town where we lived. Nearly every night, there was this very handsome man that would come in and hang out and visit with her and with dad (dad spent many evenings there while she was working so that he could see her when he got off work). Even though he was 10 years older than me, mom kept thinking that this was the perfect guy for me. When she finally mentioned this, he informed her that this was "absolutely disgusting! She's too young!" It took a while for her to figure it out, but she finally realized that he had only met my sister who was about 14 at the time!

Eventually she got across the fact that while I was not in fact old enough to be at the bar, I was 20 and thus plenty past the age of being jailbait. After a few tries, she finally found a time for us to meet, and since then we have been inseparable for over 11 years now. And shortly after meeting, we all found out that the reason he spent so much time there was because he enjoyed spending time with his new buddy (my dad) and trying desperately to flirt with the pretty bartender (my mom). All that time he never had a clue they were married, and she never had a clue he was hitting on her. Poor guy, he's REALLY bad at flirting and at picking up on things so I guess it's good mom paired us up because he would probably still be single due to lack of skill!

And those are my love stories...

From Sunny

A new contest

It took me awhile to think of a good contest for the Lust theme. I guess you all know that Lust is the next sin since it is the only one left. :)

In honor of Lust and with Valentine's Day around the corner: You will have 10 days from now to tell us your favorite love story. It can be about how you and your significant other met, or something else wonderfully romantic that has happened in your life.

Don't have a personal story to share? That is OK-- tell us your favorite love story about someone else.

You can e-mail your submissions to me (kelly@theuniquesheep.com) and I will post them to the blog. 10 days from now we will draw a random winner from all the entries.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Kelly and Laura