Additional Coverage:
- I met my husband on a bus. We’ve been together for 21 years. (businessinsider.com)
It was 2005, I was 30 and single, and I’d resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably never find “the one.” I was so over the London dating scene that I was planning a permanent escape – a job in Sydney, Australia, 10,000 miles away from all the heartbreak. Little did I know, my life was about to change on a crowded London bus.
My commute home was usually a solitary affair. Wedged behind the driver, I’d lose myself in music, daydreaming out the window.
But one warm June evening, a man squeezed in beside me, and everything shifted. He was tall, dark, and handsome – a cliché, I know, but it’s true.
More importantly, he had a kind face and a calming presence. A strange thought popped into my head: “Oh, there you are!”
It felt like meeting an old friend.
I brushed it off as wishful thinking. Fresh from a difficult breakup, I was convinced he was probably married or otherwise unavailable. I caught his eye, we exchanged smiles, and I turned away, blushing.
Then, fate stepped in. My iPod died, then my phone, and even my watch had stopped.
Needing the time, I turned to the closest person – him. He told me the time, we smiled again, and just as he started to say something, his stop arrived.
He shrugged apologetically and got off. “Back to his girlfriend,” I thought sadly.
But moments later, a frantic knocking startled me. The bus doors reopened, and there he was, pushing his way back to me.
He confessed he’d never done anything like it before, but he had to ask: Was I single? And if so, could he have my number?
After a slightly awkward exchange of details (and a concerned fellow passenger warning me about the dangers of strange men), he was gone again. As I walked home, I called my sister and declared, “I just met the man I’m going to marry.” To my surprise, she didn’t laugh.
Five months later, we were engaged. Instead of my two-year Sydney plan, we compromised on a six-month backpacking trip through Australia and New Zealand.
We did get married, and 21 years later, he’s now tall, gray, and handsome. And we’re still very much in love.
The funny thing is, we later discovered several coincidences that led to our meeting. He was helping a friend who’d just moved into my neighborhood, so he wasn’t usually on that bus route.
He’d missed his usual bus by seconds while I’d skipped my after-work drinks (a rarity for me) and just managed to catch the bus we both ended up on. Meant to be?
I certainly think so.
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- I met my husband on a bus. We’ve been together for 21 years. (businessinsider.com)