This is a great thread. I'll be married 38 years this December. We met at a local hardware factory where we both worked. He was the new stock guy but quickly moved up to being a forklift operator.

I remember walking down the steps to the packing department where I worked and saw this really cute guy sitting by the packing line. The first thought that went through my mind was, "That's the guy I'm going to marry." He looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back and when I could move continued to my work area. Then the thought went away. I was 20 and he was 18. He had just moved to Illinois from Arkansas. That was November, 1969 and we started dating in April, got engaged in October and married in December of 1970.

What drove me crazy was that he was so shy that whenever I asked him a question about himself I'd only get a short reply, but when the older lady who sat next to me asked him something he'd go on forever. Later I found he got nervous when he tried talking to me. He said it was because he was attracted to me. I finally found out he was from a place called, "Clover Bend". Now how beautiful a name and I wa more intrigued than ever about him. It took him forever, it seemed, before he was comfortable enough to sit and talk to me about his hometown and family, but I persevered.

Finally one night my older sister, a cousin and I were taking my twin sister to work in the next town. We stopped first at a root beer stand to get a drink. I saw him there and he drove his car up beside us. He asked what I was doing. I told him and laughingly asked if he'd like to go with us so we could talk some more. He said yes and didn't think a thing about getting into a car with 4 other girls. After dropping my twin off at work and getting back in town, he asked me to have a soda with him so my other sister and cousin took my car home. He asked me out on a date that night and that started it for us.

He's known in the family - to this day - as the pick-up guy.