7 Couples Share Their "How We Met" Stories

Some people meet online, others through friends, some at work, and a handful during college or at a bar. But then there is an entirely different group of people that you're maybe just a little bit jealous of. And hey, it's totally normal to have a little envy, but it's also important to recognize the benefit these couples can bring to your dating life. These couples who have "how we met stories" so ridiculously adorable, amazing and unbelievable that you want to call up Nicholas Sparks to write a book (and um, sell a movie) about them ASAP. While not everyone has the meet-cute that we all see in movies and it's certainly not required to have a lasting relationship, we all need those special reminders that magical things still happen... all the time.

These stories of couples who crossed paths many times before they met, were opposites from the start, who were called up in front of a stage of a bazillion people are enough to make you grin. Even if you're a cynic, we can almost guarantee that these stories are enough to make you believe that love happens in the most surprising of ways.

Let these stories of real true love and really unique how-we-met tales inspire you to keep on, keepin' on:

1. Chris & Lindsay

“When I had a few weddings to attend one summer, Southwest offered the cheapest flights at the time from Long Island but to get there we had to go through Baltimore. While another friend and I were in the airport on our way back from a wedding, I saw a beautiful girl (Lindsay, my now wife) and thought to myself, ‘How come I never get that girl to sit next to me on the plane?’

After we boarded, the girl, Erin, that was traveling with Lindsay ended up sitting next to me. We started talking and I came to find out they were sisters! I was introduced to Lindsay after we landed in Baltimore and we ended up inviting them to come to our house for a big barbecue my roommate and I were throwing that summer.

My wife’s version of the story is that she noticed me in the security line at the airport and said something to Erin about me. When Erin sat next to me on the plane before Lindsay boarded, she gave her a dirty look on her way to a seat a few rows behind us. Lindsay also had no interest in coming to our barbecue thinking it would be weird, but Erin talked her into it.

After that, Lindsay and I began to talk a little bit on the phone, but she had just gotten out of a long-term relationship so it didn’t really go anywhere. At the end of the summer after we really hadn’t spoken much, somehow we ended up talking on the phone the Wednesday before Labor Day when I asked her what she was doing that weekend. She told me that she and her sister were running in a half-marathon back in Virginia Beach. Knowing I myself was headed back to Buffalo for a wedding, I asked her when she was leaving. She told me she had to work Friday night so she wasn’t leaving until Saturday morning. I inquired further only to find out that we were yet again booked on the same flight from Islip to Baltimore.

I ended up driving her to the airport, sitting next to each other on the plane, and we began dating very shortly thereafter. I ended up proposing in the same airport a few years later right before we got on the same flight to Baltimore where we’d first met (she thought we were going to visit friends).

We were married last August at Brecknock Hall in Greenport, NY and welcomed our first son Max on June 15 of this year.”

2. Cara & Jon

"It was a typical Saturday night and I was looking for plans, so I ended up meeting my friend at a bar (but I drove so no drinking for me!). We started at one place but as the night progressed my friends were looking for more. First they wanted live music, so we went to a place with a band. Then they wanted to dance so I chose a place where we could dance. Finally, they wanted to meet men, so I took them to a bar notorious for having a lot of men. It was one of the less classy bars in NYC (OK fine, it was downright fratty) and at this point it was about 3 a.m.

As I waited on the sidelines watching my friends do their thing I was deflecting conversations from drunk boys left and right looking for someone to take home that evening. Then a different kind of guy approached me — he seemed nice and he wasn't slurring his words so I thought he would be a perfect buffer! Time goes one, he asked for my number, I gave him my real one (gasp!) and didn't think too much of it. Heard from him the next day… and we’ve been together ever since. Who would have thought that playing wingwoman would land me a boyfriend?”

3. Julie & Rudi

"I was a reporter working a story and Rudi was a cop. I had seen him from afar for years and didn't want anything to do with him. Why? Because I was born in 1944 in the Bronx, NY to Jewish immigrant parents and was taught to have nothing to do with Germans and Germany.

Rudi was born in Germany eight days after World War II ended. His father was a high ranking Nazi. Crazy? Somehow it worked. That was 26 years ago and we just published a historical novel - Stumbling Stone - based on our true story. Rudi says the writing of the book, which took two decades, was a team-building exercise.”

4. Kathleen & Stefano

“It was in Spain, 1988. Stefano was the handsome, Italian elephant keeper, and I'd joined the circus on a whim while hitchhiking across Europe, hired as a dancing girl. It was lust at first sight, which quickly developed into love. We left the Spanish circus together after a month and joined Italy's famous Circo Moira Orfei, where I became an ostrich-riding, shark-taming showgirl. Stefano and I had a lot to learn about making a relationship work (I'd never been in love before), and we had our bumps along the way, but it did work out. We were married in 1991 and will be celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary next year.”

5. Sheryl & Allen

"I lived in Alaska and had just broken up with a long time boyfriend. My pastor suggested I make a list of my perfect husband so I did - complete with a picture of a Fruit-Of-the-Loom model. Weeks passed. Nada. Then my pastor told me I had to work on the kind of woman that that man loved and be where he could be found.

My girlfriends and I were part of a running club called 'hot to trot' because it was unsafe to run trails alone. We had a blast. There was a fundraiser coming up to support the arts and you had to be dressed in something from the year 3000 or for Halloween. We went as space Cadets in Jane Fonda silver leotards and tights with dilly bobber head pieces like antennae.

We were sipping Dom Perignon champagne when I looked down from a balcony and there he was - Fruit of the Loom Man - in a cone head and wet suit.

My friend said, "Mmhmm! That's him. Let's say hi.’" She grabbed my arm and went up to him. A dance had just ended and his partner went off. My friend said, “Hi, my friend thinks you have a nice butt.’ He sized me up asked me for my number and we danced.

I moved to MN with him about six months later. We married five years later. We just celebrated 27 years!”

6. Chelle & David

"How my husband and I met is an unlikely funny story! Three years ago he tweeted that he was moving and had a bunch of horror DVD’s he needed to get rid of. At the time we didn’t follow each other, so a mutual friend responded to his tweet and included me in on it.

Being a horror movie fan myself, I then agreed to pick up these DVD’s from his front porch, while he wasn’t home. For some reason I wasn’t worried. We then tweeted back and forth about the movies, and he asked me out for a beer over Twitter to ‘interview’ me for his next business book. I met him and he proceeded to ask me all sorts of questions about my business and took notes the whole time.

At the end of the meeting he then asked what I’d like to do for our first real date. I had to laugh! I truly thought he really wanted to interview me and that was it. After several months of dating, I asked him when he was planning on writing this book. That’s when he told me there was no book, he just needed to make sure that I wasn’t crazy. It’s been true love ever since!”

7. Allison & Beth Anne (BA)

"New York has a funny way of bringing people together when they least expect it. Beth Anne (who goes by BA) and Allison didn't know each other when they both moved to NYC in 2011 to pursue the next stages of their education. Despite living one block away from each other during that first year in the city, their paths never crossed — BA was logging long hours as an Internal Medicine resident at Columbia University and Allison was busy pursuing a Master's degree at Teachers College.

Fast forward two years when Allison and BA, both fresh out of long-term relationships, decided to give online dating a shot. One month and seven first dates later, Allison finalized plans over OkCupid with her eighth first date, Beth Anne, who piqued her interest on the dating website with her witty profile and easy-on-the-eyes profile picture. Meanwhile, Beth Anne geared up for her first OkCupid date and hoped that it would be worth her time because this girl she didn't even know was asking her to meet at a bar in Brooklyn of all places. But she agreed to the plans despite feeling absolutely confident that a Brooklyn-Manhattan relationship was never going to work, especially with her demanding work schedule.

Allison showed up to their first date straight from the gym (with her hair still wet from the shower, as BA never lets her forget). To her horror, the cozy bar she picked out for their first meeting was hosting an office happy hour, so it was absolutely packed and conversation was near impossible. Both BA and Allison still remember the first time they caught each other's eyes at the bar. After just a few moments, they quickly switched gears and headed to a nearby restaurant.

Over wine, an arugula salad, and a margherita pizza, they realized something was different. As they swapped stories and life anecdotes for the next few hours, two things became abundantly clear: the tone of the conversation did not feel like they were getting to know each other, and Allison knew she was on her last first date and BA started to re-think the importance of boroughs.

By date #2, they took down their OkCupid profiles — and yes, if you're keeping score, that means that BA went on exactly one OKCupid date. That's a 100 percent success rate! About a month later, they exchanged "I love you’s" in Allison's kitchen and Allison relocated to the Upper West Side to live with BA that summer and proposed to her in November 2014 just as BA completed the NYC Marathon. A month later, BA counter-proposed to Allison on the Brooklyn Bridge. They're now busy planning their Valentine's Day 2016 wedding and chasing after their dog, Cody, in his relentless pursuit of Riverside Park squirrels. Where are they getting married? Brooklyn, of course!"

Want more of Bustle's Relationships coverage? Check out our video on what it's really like to be a bridesmaid for hire:

Images: Courtesy of Chris; Courtesy of Cara; Courtesy of Julie, Courtesy of Kathleen; Courtesy of Cheryl; Courtesy of Chelle; Kelly Leggett Photo; Courtesy of Jessica