Let's hear some stories from the thready-verse about how you guys met your significant other.
For me it was during the first year of COVID, my company asked who from Europe (I was living in Sweden) wanted to go for a three month business trip to coach a big Korean automotive supplier on how to do modern software development. Most of the other people had families and especially during COVID nobody wanted to travel. I said I could do it, even though I never coached before. But because nobody else volunteered they sent me and and another guy who also was single without a family, etc.
I was convinced that the other guy would have good game with the women here, and thought that there is no harm in installing some international dating app and to try my own luck. During COVID I just lost a ton of weight and found new confidence and it was far away from home and what happens in Korea stays in Korea and so on :D
Anyway, to my surprise during the first two weeks I got some matches and I hit it off with one of them. We met and started dating and very quickly fell for each other. Then when the 3 months were over, I asked the company if the customer would still have some use for my skills and they said yes and send me for 3 more months. I had to go back to Sweden to get a new Visa and spent another 2 weeks in quarantine (as the first time). But then the second tree months were over too and I asked again for more. By that time I was really sick of all the time in quarantine and asked if they could move me from the Swedish office to the Korean office and they agreed.
I went back to Sweden, threw away most of my stuff and put the most valuable things up on a friends attic and moved to Korea with one suitcase. I stayed at AirBnB's for two more months and then we found an apartment and moved in together.
She has a daughter from a previous marriage and we now have a 1.5 year old son together and we still live in Korea :D
We met on the internet back when that was still viewed as kinda sketchy.
We progressed very quickly from being friends to deciding we were meant for each other to having a kid on the way and being married at a very young age.
I think most people knew we were doomed from the start.
And I don't blame them for thinking so, but we're planning to renew our vows in a few years, when we celebrate our 25th anniversary. Just to twist the knife.
In all seriousness, I love my wife more than I ever thought I would be capable of loving someone else, and that is a statement that is increasingly true with time, and mutually shared, as it seems we aren't done falling in love yet.
But I hesitate to relate this story, romantic as it is (and it is), because it risks validating what was really a series of poorly informed decisions; partially the passion of youth and partially the ignorance of a sheltered upbringing. It so happens we did and do love each other, but there are many unknowable versions of our story where our love would just not have been able to overcome our circumstances. We are beating the odds so far, but the odds are, yknow, the odds.
But damn I love my wife.