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I met this girl working for the summer in a resort town (both employees at the same place). At first I didn't think she was my type, but we kept getting into conversations no matter what we were doing. An acquaintance suggested that I ask her out and we could all hang out watching a movie (we were all just out of highschool). That was a mistake because it was ghetto af. Turned out the friend (ok she was an ex, but she was in a relationship) was interested in getting back with me and was trying to sabotage my chances with this girl. That night I leaned in for a little hug as I dropped her off at her doorstep (next door to my own). She aggressively shoved her hand out to shake mine. I was full of red flags and she was right to push back.

We've been married for 20+ years now.

Obviously there is a lot more to that story but seriously looking back I cannot understand how I ended up with this amazing woman. I was an absolute mess of a person and she sort of saw through that and gave me something to work for. But I caution anyone thinking they can fix someone or use my experience. It just flat out doesn't work that way. My marriage had the odds of working that winning the lottery has. It did, but it was absolutely wreckless for us both at the time and we are incredibly fortunate we didn't destroy our lives and our kids lived in the process.

Edit: autocorrect nonsense