I had always been a shy, gawky adolescent, sure no boy could ever find me attractive. As I grew older, that insecurity with men remained and I had few dates.

Then one day I met Richard. He was sitting in his car at the gas station, waiting on the pump to fill his tank. I was having trouble getting the gas cap back on my car and he noticed. He hopped from his car and ran over to help me. He couldn’t fit the cap back on either, and we stood there laughing at our mutual incompetence, glancing at each other in surprise.

Waiting for the attendant to help us, I found out that Richard worked as a foreman at the tool and die factory where I myself worked as a bookkeeper. Both of us were tall, shy and skinny–too conscious of our own appearances to notice each other at work. Something sparked when we met at the gas station, thought, and our first dates were spent exhanging tales of the funny and embarrassing situations our shyness had gotten us into in the past. We recognized the great similarities in our life histories, and suddenly the world wasn’t such a lonely place.

Richard and I were married last year, and our first child is due soon. Though we are still timid when apart, together we are a dynamic duo, a team of kidders, able to bring a group of friends to tears and laughter with our “I was a teenage wallflower” stories.

What’s more, he thinks I’m the most beautiful woman on Earth, despite my skinny calves and knobby knees. I’m almost beginning to believe him, too! Suddenly, two social outcasts have become the life of the party. That’s how I know I’m in love!

Submitted by Adrienne P of Green Bay, WI

Previous submissions can be found here on, How I Know I’m In Love