How old were you when you met your partner...and how did you meet him?

[prettyfiestyforasmallone]

hi everyone

I have been single for about a year I'm 35 and all my friends and married so at a very different stage in life to me...

I'm ready to meet someone special I've tried online dating but it's just not for me.. I've tried match.com ok cupid and pof had lots of response but I like funny men and it's so hard to find that through online messages..

so you wise lot what do I need to do to meet someone... I'm also feeling that at 35 I may have missed the boat
so tell me your stories of how you met your partner especially if you were over 35

(or alternatively if anyone has any single male friends send them my way)

I was 22; we met in a railway station ticket office, enquiring after a cancelled train. We've been together years and years, shortly to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

15

I met him one Christmas in a supermarket. Romance, eh?

38 and a half. We were neighbours, both recently out of LTRs. Despite being neighbours, we 'met ' through GuardianSoulmates! Already knew each other though so it was kind of a joke that we set up first date through the site. He saw me on there and emailed me!
Been together 4.5 years and have baby boy of 16 months.

31 at a mutual friends birthday do in a club in town. I was very drunk, but had decided that I needed to change the type of man I went for. That was over 18 years ago!

OP, do you have a fixed idea of the kind of man you are looking for? I work with a lovely 30something who has such a fixed idea of her ideal man, and who only really socialises with her same old groups all the time.
Step out of your comfort zone and keep an open mind!

29. I worked in a mainly female environment so tried a Christian Dating Website called Fusion, though many of the men who messaged me had very dubious ideas about Christianity. I messaged DH first after a close friend picked him from my short list and we hit it off straight away. Have now been together 5 years and married 3.5 years.

Met at 18 at uni, together 19, been together 6 years and married 18 mo, about to start ttc.

You say you are in an all girls office - have you actually asked around if anyone knows anyone they think might suit you? My best friend met her DH through a colleague, she wasn't looking for anyone but this saintly colleague basically forced them to meet up (neither were keen), they spent 11 hours together the first time they met, were engaged on their 6mo anniversary, have been married a year after living together for 3 years, he's 43, she's 28 - sometimes our friends know us better than we do as they are not blinded by 'but I only like dark haired guys!' etc

I was 29, he was 24. I came home one weekend and went out with my sister, we met some of her friends from school days, he was one of them. It was lust at first sight. That was 20 years ago, been married 17, still lusting.

Met DH aged 28, we have a shared hobby and were on a social night out. Together for 10 years, married for 5.

I spent most of my 20s dating casually, including online dating and just generally having fun. It helped me sort out what kind of man I wanted and get all the things I wanted to do out of my system! I would recommend online dating but be relaxed about it and not necessarily expect anything long-term to come out of it. I don't think I would have ever settled down with any of the men I met online but I did enjoy being taken out regularly!

You are all giving me hope

no set ideal man.. I like funny men who have a good work ethic other than that I'm easy

I couldn't ask my work colleagues... I've only been there for a couple of months and work very much on my own... I'm not sure I know all of there names yet

Prettyfiesty, make sure your own internet profile is funny and then ask that the guy HAS to have a sense of humour. It weasels out the miserys for sure.

I had a couple of guys replying who'd tell me joke after joke - not good but DP contacted me, his profile was as stupid as mine and we shared the same humour exactly. We both knew that if we didn't fancy each other in RL then we'd be friends for life.

Mention comedians you like, a lot of searches might pick up on the more obscure ones!

Met when I was 13, he was 11. Close friends for years. I went on to marry and have children with a twat. Close friend still a close friend throughout 20's. Mid thirties I left my XH and Friend and I became close. 2 years later and we're happily living together. He was right under my nose for all those years

I got with him aged 21 he was also 21 I knew him briefly a few year before as teenagers he used to date a college friend. We were both at a mutual friends 21st when we got together, started as a 1 night stand and has lasted over 8 years

We have got 4 children together plus my daughter from previous relationship, married 3 years

Through match.com, was emailing this guy who was smart, funny, articulate and a great reader which ticked all my boxes then he said he was interested so ended up going on a date with a guy who couldn't type, never reads and sent short messages only, the whole not spellchecking used to drive me wild but was at a low point. Turns out he is smart, funny, articulate and we have been together five plus years and married for three. Met when I was 35 and now have a DD and trying for no two, so my advice would be to keep trying and drop your standards, at least for the first date!

That should have been not interested, not proof reading when complaining re not spell checking

squeaky... I'm not sure I can drop my standards much lower

17 in a hospital canteen, Dfriend pointed him out and even at that age l thought l would marry him one day. We started going out 2 weeks later and married 29 years now.
Apparently he thought the same

I was 20. We've been together 14 years. We met in the local pub through mutual friends.

I've known him since I was a young child, he is one of my brother's best friends. I finally asked him on a date when I was 17 as I'd fancied him for a very long time. Many years and 2 children later here we are. [Edited by MNHQ to remove some RL information]

Is there anyone you have known for a long time who perhaps you wouldn't have thought of as having a relationship with that has maybe been there all along you just haven't realised it?

I was 18 when I met DH, in a nightclub where I had been set up with a friend of his. Decided I liked DH best and 20 years later I still do!

My Mum was recently divorced with two young kids at your age OP. She fell in love with a friend of a friend and was married to him within 6 months. That was 30 years ago now, and they are still happily married. She wasn't looking for love, it found her when she least expected it having come out of a fairly unhappy marriage to my Dad. It does happen, don't give up hope.

I was 35, married at 37 after 18 months. Now have 2 DCs and still v happy.
Met through a dating agency (on line not so common back then, and seemed a bit random for me) Best money I ever spent!
It's never too late.

Thanks woodsies... I'm torn between not doing anything and seeing if someone nice finds me or starting to actively search

Met at 26 (me) 29 (him) in a bar in the City after work. Turned out he lived around the corner from me. Been together 12 years, married 8 and 2DCs.

Neither of us was looking to get involved so no pressure, but after 4 months we realised that was it and bought a flat a year after meeting.
Our first date was at Buckingham Palace - no joke. His Mum had won tickets for the Queen's Golden Jubilee concert. I thought he was far too keen

36, met him playing an online game. We chatted on there as friends for about 18 months. I was in a relationship, he was abroad. My relationship broke down, he was in the UK, I fancied a revenge fuck.

We married less than 3 months later and we're still together 7 years later.