Sue glanced at her watch. “Let’s toss to see who checks on the dryers. We don’t both need to go.” She lost the toss and left.

Donna came to me and said, “Dave, the guy in the blue shirt, needs a partner for paddleball. Would you be interested?”

We won two games before the laundry was dry. Two years later, in a Gables church garden, Dave finally won me.

Had it not rained, we might’ve never met. Dave didn’t habitually frequent bars on Saturdays, he spent them on Biscayne Bay in that boat I had complained about. Never griped about that boat again.

Marie Grime, Kendale Lakes

Flowers and football

In the summer of 1974, I was fresh out of college, working for a shipping company at the Port of Miami. The company had leased a new ship. I was about to leave for the weekend on Friday when my boss informed me that I was expected on the ship at 7 p.m. for a reception welcoming the new crew. I had a date, but not going was not an option.

I opted to go, meet everyone, welcome the crew, then leave. I met about 50 people.

One of them showed up at my office the following Monday and said: “I saw you across that room Friday night and knew you were the one. I’m going to marry you!”

I promptly informed him that he was crazy.

Not letting this deter him in any way, he embarked on a campaign to win me over, starting with tickets to the Dolphins game. Then came flowers, chocolates, concerts, even taking my mother to the circus and my cat to the vet. He convinced me.

In July of 1976 we got married.

We still go to Dolphins games. And, he still brings me flowers and chocolates.

Helen and Jerry Doyle,

South Miami

The dance of love

The evening was boring. I was at the Tropic Club, a place where seniors meet and enjoy dancing. The problem, I didn’t notice anyone to dance with. I was about to leave when they announced a mixer.

What’s a mixer I wondered? The answer came: “Ladies line up, and gentlemen choose the first lady for a dance. When the song is over, he escorts her to the back of the line and returns to the front for a new partner.”

I tried it, thinking, at worst, it’s only three minutes.

I approached and she was staring at the ceiling and didn’t see me. I stood just looking. I didn’t want to introduce myself. She was beautiful and I was happy just looking at her. Her sister nudged her and she looked at me.

I knew when the dance ended I was suppose to bring her back to the line. I didn’t. We just kept dancing. The evening was no longer boring.

I wanted to see her again and I told her so. We are together for three years now. Both of us are in our 80s and unbelievably happy in love.

Melvin and Joyce Taks,

Sunny Isles Beach

Like a song

I met my soul mate the summer after my first year of law school. I was 24 years old, sitting in a waiting room for a job interview. As I chatted with a young woman waiting to meet her friend for lunch, he came into the waiting room to meet her. It was love at first sight. He left for lunch with his friend, and I went inside for my interview. Somehow I knew that we would end up together.

The next Monday I started my summer job. My “office” was in the library, and coincidentally he kept needing to get a book to “do research.” The attraction was magnetic. When he invited me to join him for lunch at McDonald’s, I set aside my vegetarianism and seized the opportunity, excited to be able to spend time with him. Friday night he took me to dinner, and afterwards we walked to Peacock Park and gazed at the full moon.