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I'll tell you two stories. First mine.

I was in the Navy, stationed on the USS JFK in Norfolk. I went home to NC for a 4-day Thanksgiving weekend, and went to visit a friend who I have known since 1st grade. At one time I had dated his sister. Well, he introduced me to this lovely little woman, who was so shy she hardly said a word all night. We went out Friday and Saturday night, and I found myself going home every weekend that we were in port and I didn't have duty. I even paid someone $75.00 to take my New Years weekend duty so I could go home. I proposed on Valentine's eve, and we married in March. That was almost 17 years ago.

The other story is my parents:

My Dad, from eastern NC, joined the Army in the spring of 1941 to, as he told me "keep from getting drafted". While on maneuvers in TN in 1942, he was detailed to drive a truck in the convoy. Being that he was in the regimental medical detachment, he was at the rear of the convoy, and would slow way down, get behind and then floor it to catch up. The transportation officer caught him, and banished him to the back of the truck. Shortly after this, while passing through the small town of Alexandria, TN on a Saturday afternoon, he threw his name and address out of the truck to a girl he saw on the town square. They started writing, and he started visiting while he was still stationed in TN. They continued to write throughout the war, through the fighting in western Europe, and when he was discharged in September 1945, he went to get her. They married in October 1945, and Dad just passed away one month shy of their 61st anniversary. Mom passed right before last Christmas.