Love has a funny habit of arriving when we least expect it. No matter how determined we are to stay unattached while chasing careers, degrees, or meaningful causes, affection often finds its way into our lives and upends our plans.
When it does, we’re frequently no match for its sudden sweep.
“I’ll never date a freshman” — Mike’s vow
Mike kept telling his friends, “I’ll never date a freshman.” As a senior and student body president, his focus was set on graduation, law school, and a future in politics.
After several rocky relationships, the straight-laced Mike had little interest in getting tangled in another emotional mess. “Eyes on the prize” became his mantra, even as a stream of young, available classmates filled the leafy campus.
Read more: 15 Useful Tips for Dating a Divorced Woman
Sally arrives — free spirit and coffee in hand
Sally came to college with a carefree spirit and a strong urge to help others. Her bohemian clothes and habit of carrying a coffee cup everywhere made her stand out on the relatively conservative campus.
At first Mike didn’t notice her — women were always orbiting him, trying to capture the attention of the campus’s high-profile senior. Then, one Friday afternoon, everything changed. Mike saw Sally for the first time as he prepared to speak to the student body.
She crossed the quad with an assured stride that struck him as otherworldly. “She looked like a dreamer,” Mike would later recall. “Sally moved like someone tuned into the universe.” It turned out Sally had noticed Mike, too.
Mike’s quiet fear of getting close
Beneath his confident exterior, Mike was painfully shy and terrified of letting someone in. Though they exchanged a few friendly words in the days that followed, Mike convinced himself she wasn’t interested. In truth, Sally was attracted to him. What began as a secret mutual pull would soon become obvious — and in a delightfully unusual way.
Sally’s clever plan to get his attention
Mike played sousaphone in the college marching band — a massive brass instrument with a bell that faced the sidelines.
Sally cooked up a playful scheme to catch his eye. Before and after performances, she started flicking small pieces of ice into the sousaphone’s bell. Like a practiced point guard, she could precisely land the ice inside the instrument.
At first Mike didn’t understand what was happening, but then he heard the giggles. A group of girls on the sideline were pointing and laughing as he exited the field — and at the center of the commotion was Sally, the freshman.
From that moment on — a pairing forms
From the second half of that football game forward, Sally and Mike became inseparable. Their quirky “how-we-met” story bonded them, and their shared desire to do good brought energy to their relationship as they continued their studies.
They soon discovered they came from very different backgrounds: Sally, despite her hippie image, was from a wealthy, well-established family; Mike was a first-generation college student from a working-class home.
They made it work and agreed that Sally would finish her undergraduate degree and Mike would complete graduate school before they even considered marriage.
Read more: 7 Tips for Finding Your Soulmate
The proposal — full circle on the football field
After three years of a successful long-distance relationship, Mike proposed. He brought Sally back to the football field where the ice incident had occurred, with his old marching-band friends nearby.
After a tender instrumental serenade, Mike lifted a borrowed sousaphone from his shoulder, reached into the bell, and produced a one-carat ring — a literal “piece of ice.” It was a beautifully symbolic moment.
Married on the quad and off to serve
A year later the unlikely couple wed on the college quad. It was a gorgeous spring day, the azaleas and dogwoods in bloom, and the marching band played a mix of ballads and dance tunes for the celebration. The couple danced and celebrated under the moonlight for hours.
The next day, still riding the high of the festivities, they boarded a plane with backpacks and set off for Africa to begin a two-year Peace Corps assignment.
A sousaphone, two worlds, and a lifetime
Who would have guessed a sousaphone could spark romance? Mike and Sally — from different backgrounds and brought together by a spontaneous Saturday on the football field — fanned a small spark into a lasting love. And as they say, the rest is history.
