Sunday is Valentine’s Day.

For the third year in a row, we asked local couples to share stories of how they met.

George and Julie Otte

Picture it. Downtown Seymour, Indiana, during the summer of 1995. I was cruising town with my girlfriends like we did back then. Parked in front of 13th Floor (I think it was still Hook’s then) was the guy I couldn’t stop gushing about to anyone who would listen. He had never so much as blinked at me, so when he said “pull over,” I freaked.

We quickly finished our lap and got parked. I was so afraid maybe he wasn’t talking to me. Maybe it was one of the girls in my car. I tried to play it cool. But then he walked right up to me and asked if I wanted to ride in his truck. And I was done for.

Kids today may never understand the social significance of cruising town with what you thought was the cutest guy with all of your friends seeing you. It was the ultimate way to show you were with someone. And so we were together.

It didn’t last long, as teenage relationships go. I had just graduated, and he had a semester left in high school and then he was going to college. We broke up, and I was devastated.

But life went on for us both, and I eventually married and had children. I saw him in Walmart for a brief second, and he didn’t see me. I never forgot him, but time marched on.

And then it was 2013. I was going through a rough patch in life. He found me on Facebook and friended me. I remember exactly where I was standing when the notification popped up on my phone. I knew if I spoke to him again, if I saw him, it would all come rushing back. I knew I would be forever changed.

And I was. We arranged to meet in the park one summer afternoon, and we talked for hours. Once again, he asked if I wanted to go for a drive, as it started to rain. We drove around, not saying too much. I felt like he was about to tell me it was nice to see me and that it was time to go our separate ways.

I waited for him to say that, but he didn’t. Instead, he said he wanted to see if there was something still between us. And that’s when I knew I could never love anyone else but him.

We had both changed, and I had three beautiful children. It wasn’t easy finding our way, but we did it. We kept our faith and have learned from our mistakes. He loves my children as if they were his and celebrates everything they do.

He proposed to me on our anniversary in the summer of 2015 in front of that spot we first talked all those years ago, 13th Floor. I had wanted a Cinderella-type wedding, and he never questioned it. He gave me my fairy tale. We were married in front of God and our closest family Oct. 8, 2016.

These days, we find excitement on Friday nights in front of our TV watching our shows with our three cats and one remaining child at home. We travel to Bloomington to see the college kid on weekends. We run a business together. We’re pretty much like anyone else, I guess, but for me, it is still magical when I look at him and know I get to be with him for the rest of my life.

I was always ready to follow him wherever he went, and that is still true. I remember my mom telling me as I cried over him all those years ago that if you love someone, you have to let them go. If they don’t return, then it was never meant to be.

Well, he came back in God’s timing, not mine. And I’m glad he did. We just both had stuff we had to go through before we could be right for each other. I love you, George. Thank you for giving us a wonderful life.

James and Amy Jackson

Back in the spring of 2017, we both worked at a factory in town. I was on first shift, and he was on third.

One day, James was being the goofball that he is and was going around telling people corny pickup lines. I had never met him or knew anything about him, but something about how he joked about juice boxes grabbed my attention.

Within a few days, we were talking nonstop, and come to find out, our paths had crossed so many times before, yet we never met. We even had lived with a mutual friend at the same time for a six-month period; however, because of our work shifts, we were never at the house at the same time.

Here we are four years later with another kiddo and a nonprofit that I could not have built without him. I’m so thankful he is my valentine.

Mark Walsh and Mindy Lasater

In August 2019, my divorce was final. I had two sons and a dog, and I thought I’d never find a man, and that was fine. I was planning on focusing on myself, getting myself in shape and gaining self-confidence to be all that I could be. I started teaching English as a Second Language and loved teaching it.

In November 2019, I moved into a house in town. Then something magical happened: My next-door neighbor started talking to me when I was outside taking my dog to go to the bathroom. That was the beginning of our love story. We have said it’s like a Hallmark movie: Girl falls for a boy next door. Yes, it really happened.

Now, we are in business together making our dreams become realities. I wouldn’t want to be in business with anyone else.

Kennedy Park and Elizabeth Wang

It all started in 2016, our freshman year of college. I was in need of a roommate but didn’t know many potential people at the time. I was told about Elizabeth through a mutual friend, and we hit it off instantly.

After being roommates and becoming exceptionally close for about six months, we both confronted each other about our romantic feelings for one another.

Years later, we are approaching our four-year anniversary and are engaged. Love can truly show up in the most unexpected places.

Robert and Brenda Green

My husband and I met in the summer of 1986 cruising downtown Seymour. He was from Columbus, and I was from Commiskey.

He and his best friend hopped in the car with me and my friend, and we went for a couple of laps around town. He sat in the back seat and never said a word.

Even though I never saw him for quite some time, it was a memorable night because the friend broke the window crank off of the back door of my father’s car. I remained friends with his friend, who had a girlfriend.

In December 1986, the friend asked if I would like to go out on a double date with him and his girlfriend with Robert. I said sure. That date happened Jan. 2, 1987. Robert asked me to marry him April 1, 1987, and we were married Jan. 2, 1988.

We renewed our vows July 5, 2002, so we could have a summer anniversary also. Now, 34½ years after that nice, quiet night of cruising downtown Seymour, we have two beautiful children, Bobbi Sellers and Shawn Green. Our kids have given us the joys of our lives, three beautiful granddaughters, Mackenzie Sellers, Kaitlin Sellers and Serenity Green.

Sean and Kristal Hubbard

I worked as a closer at Taco Bell, and I would stop in at Nolting’s grocery store on my way home to get some snacks. Sean worked there as a third shift night manager.

One night, I went in there and Sean wasn’t up front at the courtesy counter, and I wanted to see him, so I grabbed the store intercom and said, “Kristal needs help at the courtesy counter.” Sean came walking up to the courtesy counter, and he waited on me, and I went on my way.

I went in another night and the same thing. No Sean, so I got on the intercom again and said, “Kristal needs help at the courtesy counter.” I didn’t realize Sean had been on his lunch break, so that’s why he wasn’t up front or stocking groceries. Sean told me not to do it again. He told me later he was thinking about barring me from the store, so I decided I better not press my luck.

That was the night I asked Sean if he wanted to go out with me, and he said yes. We had our first date Aug. 18, 1993, and we’ve been together ever since. We just celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary Jan. 21.

Shawn and Dana Christian

We have been married for 12 years and been together for 15 years. I am 40, and he is 44. We raise two children, 17 and 21. Our son is a U.S. Marine. Our daughter goes to Seymour High School and plans on being a nurse. We live in Vallonia.

I told my best friend after our first date that I was going to marry him, and it happened, and we have been going strong since then. We have been through many hard times, but it has only made us stronger. We both agree we fall more in love every day.

Dennis and Elyse McGill

My husband and I met at my 25th birthday party. A friend of mine invited him because she thought we would hit it off. We ended up talking until 5 a.m. By the next date, I knew he was the one.

Eugene Harris and Jasmine Mills

Our story is a bit unconventional but I think has gained popularity in more recent years. We met on POF (Plenty of Fish), a dating website. I was 19, and he was 21.

He sent me a message. It was really sweet, although I couldn’t tell you what it said after this long. We talked for a month before he came to visit me. I’m from three and a half hours away. We never should have met really, as we both had our accounts set to like a 50-mile radius.

Anyway, we hit it off, he stayed for a few days and then I came up and stayed for a few days. We went back and forth for about four months, and then I took the leap and moved up here.

We’ve been together nine years this May, so I guess it worked out.

Lom and Olivia Nguyen

Sometime in the spring of 2018, I had gone to see These Fine Gentlemen play at Southern Indiana Center for the Arts. After a couple of songs, it began to rain very heavily. I decided to go to The Brooklyn Pizza Co. for my favorite pie, The Bo.

It was very busy. I ordered my pizza from a handsome man who didn’t look up from his little notepad while taking my order, but he recognized me as a Facebook friend once I said my name.

He messaged me that evening, we hit it off immediately and were married last June. I will always credit our chance encounter with my craving for The Bo.

Brandon and Marlana Rice

I was a widow with two young daughters. When a mutual friend knew I was ready to date again, she went, unknowingly to me, and got his phone number for me.

She told me details about who he was and told me to look him up on Facebook to see if I was even interested. I was highly suspicious of being set up with anyone. That can be risky, you know?

Anyway, because I cared for my friend, I did look him up. While I was looking on his Facebook, he private messaged me. He had apparently been looking on my Facebook, as well. He asked if he could call me, and we went on our first date a week later. He was a perfect gentleman, and he was everything I had been praying for and so much more.

We knew after several weeks, we didn’t want to be a part any longer, so our first date was Feb. 13, 2010, and our wedding anniversary is March 12, 2010. We have been married more than a decade. In that decade, we have had two sons, and he has officially become the dad to my two daughters, as well.

Our mutual friend, Jeni Elkins, died during this pandemic, but when I look around at our life together, I can see her influence everywhere. We are forever grateful to her for bringing us together, and we know she is in heaven smiling while she watches over us, even now.

Bert and Joyce Corya

In May 2019, I decided to do some long-overdue outside work to my home in Seymour to replace a long driveway, two sets of steps and a retaining wall in the back by the alley and remove some overgrown shrubbery and replace with new landscaping.

The project was started in early July and took three weeks. The concrete contractor was kind, had an infectious laugh and our conversations about the project were easy and friendly. My project also included other contractors: A landscaper, a brick mason and a tree removal service.

However, upon the completion of the project, the concrete contractor, named Bert, came by the house to collect payment. That Saturday morning, we sat outside and talked more than three hours, this time not so much about the project but about ourselves.

He had been a widower for four years. I had been a widow for five months. We caught each other up on our previous 60-plus years of living during those three-plus hours. We discussed dating in general, but both said, “I have no interest in getting married again.”

A couple of weeks later, we had our first date. There was a lot of positive energy, conversation and laughter. As the weeks passed, we each began noticing a spark of a deeper caring and interest and laughed saying, “This can’t be the ‘L’ word can it?”

We kept seeing each other exclusively. In March 2020, we were engaged with the approval of our collective five adult children and were married in May 2020.

We have been married for eight and a half months. We laugh a lot, and we still shake our heads remembering we had each said we never wanted to remarry.

Our similar life experiences of having lost a spouse — him after 35 years of marriage and me after 41 years of marriage — is actually one of the healthiest bonds we share. We understand the blessing of enjoying life every day. We share our Christian faith, our friends and family and love of music.

I have never understood how a person can remarry after the loss of a spouse and be happy again — until now. A person can be happy. The memory of the former spouse travels with them into the new relationship, and each person continues to grow and have a deeper appreciation for life with some tears and lots of laughter and memories.

I smile when I realize the broken driveway and crumbling steps of my home was my bridge to a new chapter in my life.

Jeremy and Jessica Wetzel

In the fall of 1999, I met the man that would become my husband. I was working at McDonald’s at the time. He was working at Baird Homes. He would come through the drive-thru every day, sometimes more than once a day.

He first asked me if I would go to a bar with him, but I couldn’t. Then he asked me to go to the Christmas parade with him, but again, I couldn’t. So finally, on Dec. 10, 1999, I was to leave work early to take my grandmother to Indianapolis. He gave me his phone number and told me to call him if it wasn’t too late.

So while riding back with my aunt from Indianapolis, I called him. It was 10:45 p.m. I asked if he thought it was too late. His response was “It’s never too late for you.”

So from then on, we were a couple. Then April 21, 2000, he proposed to me at the very same place we met. We have now been married almost 20 years.

Dan and Deb Schwartz

We have been married almost 39 years. We met on a blind date at Ball State University set up by his brother. Our date lasted the whole weekend. I was in Muncie, and he lived in Corydon.

Four weekend dates later, we were engaged, and eight weekends later, we were married. Later, my dad said he knew it was a serious relationship because he found out Dan would drive four hours one way to see me.

We have two children and guardianship of another, three grandchildren and another one or maybe two grandchildren on the way this year. Both of us retired from the National Guard with more than 20 years of service. We love to travel, tell jokes, listen to music of all kinds and cook. We have great friends in this community and love to give back to our community.

We have had our share of ups and downs, but the really cool part is we have maintained our friendship through the years. He is my best friend. I think I am his. I will need to ask him.

I asked him. His response was “Why? What do you want?” Isn’t that what best friends ask? Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetie!