When my beautiful wife posted this on Instagram on our anniversary in June, I was completely blown away. It's not that I didn't think I deserved it (hehe). It was more that she is a very private person. So to put herself, and us, "out there" like this could mean only one thing - she believed it!
This anniversary marked 37 years of marriage. But this week marks 40 years of partnership, in the fullest sense of the word. A partnership that began in college and has seen every season since. In that spirit, I thought I'd share a few tips that may help you increase your odds for finding the love of your life, like I did.
Find and attend all free showings of "Night of the Living Dead" on your college campus the week before classes start in your sophomore year. You may meet your soulmate there with a casual, over-the-shoulder request, "Can you save our seats?" as she and her roommate get up and disappear into the crowd.
Major in physics. Then, in front of the physics building, make friends with a huge, old shade tree that keeps company with a comfy wooden bench under its canopy. Regularly stretch out there as you dive into relativity theory and quantum mechanics. Your soulmate may jump off her bike and trip as she bounds up the outside stairs to the nearby college administration building. She may notice you and giggle from embarrassment, or recognize you, even though she didn't return to the seat you saved for her a few nights earlier.
Enroll in a tennis class that meets before lunch. Make sure you're paired with an unskilled beginner with no skill. That way, you can easily scan the other players and have plenty of energy remaining to invite your potential soulmate to hit with you at the end of the first class. If she accepts and then goes all out, clearly having the potential to claim she beat you to a pulp even decades later, you may have met both your match and your soulmate.
Commit her name to memory as you walk her to lunch after working up that tennis sweat. Say it over and over again to yourself under your breath. You may appear distracted, but you'll need this information later. She's a freshman, so she'll probably just assume all physics majors are both weird and charming. Go with it. If she introduces you to her new freshman friends and invites you to join them at their table, mission accomplished. You may have found both your soulmate and your key to an active future social life in spite of your nerdy tendencies.
If you find yourself in 1976, keep the directory of all dorm hall pay phones handy, particularly if you live off-campus. Cross-check names with dorms and note the phone numbers. When you call, stay on the line long after it's answered and you've heard the yell, "SARAH! PHONE!" Of course it would be wise to use her actual name when you call, unless it coincidentally happens to be "Sarah." If she's in her room or on the hall, she'll eventually come to the phone. Freshmen girls are way too curious to not respond to a phone call.
Finally, call on a Friday just before dinner. After "Hello," identify yourself and use these words, exactly, and without hesitation, "Would you like to be bored with me tonight?" When she accepts, you've found her! She obviously just wants to be with you. You'll dine at Wendy's, listen to Boston, talk all night, fall in love, listen to Kansas, not talk all night, stay in love, and set sail on the journey of a lifetime with your best friend and the love of your life. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. Full sails. Forever.