An opportunity encounter on the bus, and in downtown Seattle: Native {couples} share how they met

Seattle Dating Scene features readers’ thoughts and stories about what it is like to date in Seattle. For our next feature, follow this prompt: Are you trying to resolve an argument with your significant other? Do you need guidance on where to have a socially distant date or do you need other advice? Send your questions to our columnist Marina Resto, who runs the lively Instagram account @Dating_in_Seattle.

Please send your questions to dating@seattletimes.com or an Instagram direct message to @dating_in_seattle by Thursday, March 18. Marina may answer them in a future issue of The Mix.

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How we met

We asked readers to submit stories about how they met their significant other. Here are some of your success stories!

Answers have been edited for spelling and clarity purposes.

Scott and Barbara

“In late 1978 I was an accountant for the city of Seattle, but I was hoping to get a job with the International Development Agency. My interview with the agency had been canceled when the assassination of the ambassador in Afghanistan had prevented all recruitment “for the foreseeable future”.

I continued my daily hike from my Queen Anne apartment to Seattle City Hall and caught a bus on the corner of Queen Anne Avenue and Mercer Street, a great location as three bus routes stopped there. But one of my criticisms of driving the bus was that I always left my lunch or my umbrella on the bus, sometimes both. One too many times I left my umbrella and decided to go to the King County Metro, lost and found, to see if I could find it. The next morning I left about 45 minutes earlier so I could stop at the lost and found items. I took bus 1 and saw Barbara for the first time. You couldn’t miss her beauty or her smile, and it was because of both that I changed my routine to see if I might have a chance to meet her. As luck would have it, she was the regular rider of the 1.

Finally, I handed her a business card with my phone number on it and asked her to call me so maybe we could go to lunch. She surprised me – actually shocked me – by calling me the next evening. In the back of our minds, we both had the same fear that the other might be too young for the other. She got straight to the point and asked me my age. I said ’25’ and she was relieved. She asked me to guess how old she was and I said ’22’ even though I was afraid it might be younger. Barbara shocked me again and told me she was 27.

We started dating and shortly afterwards I finally got my interview. I thought I didn’t do that well at the interview, but they offered me a two-year job somewhere in Equatorial Africa.

A definite crossroads in life. While a career in overseas service offered the prospect of work in exotic locations, I knew it would ruin our burgeoning romance. In the end, it wasn’t a competition. Four sons and (finally) a granddaughter later, when we celebrated our 40th anniversary on February 21st, I know I made the right choice. In retrospect, it seems like the biggest bus / umbrella love story since prolific Graham Gouldman wrote ‘Bus Stop’ for the Hollies, at least from our point of view. “

– Scott

Deborah and Dan

Deborah and Dan were friends for a long time before they started dating. They are celebrating their 30th anniversary this month. (Courtesy Deborah Call)

“As a park ranger, it was very scary and strange for me to venture into a big city. Since I didn’t know a single person, I turned up on my first day at work in a cement city skyscraper.

When I met my new colleagues, a big-bearded man took my hand and while we were shaking, he asked if my father was ‘Ron’.

I was overwhelmed that someone in these foreign lands knew my father! They had worked together since he was a fire service supervisor and my father was a pilot who flew firefighters to forest fires. Needless to say, I was surprised and delighted.

We were workmates for a few years, then we became best friends, and five years later we became husband and wife. It’s hard to imagine a wildland firefighter and a park ranger met for life in a high-rise in downtown Seattle! This month we’re celebrating 30 years (wow!) Of a fun and adventurous life together. “

– Deborah

Here is the monthly schedule of the Seattle Dating Scene:

• First week: Dating Question of the Month – Readers respond to a dating question we asked.
• Second week: “How We Met” – Do you have the perfect sweet story? Or a great first date? Tell us in less than 500 words how you met your significant other and send us your story and a photo.
• Third week: “Best Date / Worst Date” – Tell us an anecdote about your best or worst date in less than 250 words.
• Fourth week: “Ask Marina” – Marina Resto, who runs the lively Instagram account @Dating_in_Seattle, answers reader questions about dating – or finds a special guest to answer those she can’t answer!