Editors of Readers Digest - What They Did for Love: The Extraordinary Ways Ordinary People Express the Hearts Finest Emotion

A READERS DIGEST BOOK

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

What they did for love : the extraordinary ways ordinary people express the hearts finest emotion / editors of Readers Digest.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-62145-136-5 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-62145-147-1 (e pub)
1. Love--Literary collections. I. Readers Digest Association. II. Readers digest.
PN6071.L7W46 2014
808.803543--dc23
2013032848

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What They Did for Love

by andy Simmons

He Posted a Plea

On a Sunday evening last November, Patrick Moberg, 21, a website developer, was in the Union Square subway station in New York City. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed this girl, he says. She had bright blue shorts and dark blue tights and a flower in the back of her hair.

New Yorks fun if youre a guythe citys lousy with gorgeous women. But this one was different. She was his perfect girl. When the number 5 train pulled into the station, the two got on.

I was enthralled, he says. I noticed details like her braided hair and that she was writing in a pad. I couldnt shake the desire to talk to her.

Taking a deep breath, he headed her way. Just then the train pulled into the Bowling Green station. The doors opened, a rush of humanity swarmed in, and then suddenly, she was gone.

He considered giving chase, but theres a fine line between blind love and stalking. He thought of plastering the station with posters. Then a brainstorm: the Internet. It seemed less encroaching, he says. I didnt want to puncture her comfort zone.

That night, the world had a new website: nygirlofmydreams.com. On it, Patrick declared, I Saw the Girl of My Dreams on the Subway Tonight. He drew a picture of the girl etched in his mind, along with a portrait of himself with this disclaimer pointed at his head: Not insane.

The website spread virally, and soon he had thousands of leads. Some were cranks, and some were women offering themselves in case he struck out. Two days later, he got an e-mail from someone claiming to know the girl. He even supplied a photo. It was her. She was an Australian interning at a magazine, and her name was Camille. And she wanted to meet too.

Their first meeting was awkward. And why not? It was set up by Good Morning America . Like the rest of the media, GMA saw a great love story and pounced. But being sucked into a media maelstrom isnt necessarily conducive to a nascent love affair.

There was a lot of uncertainty on how to act around each other, Patrick said. And in the back of Camilles mind, a nagging thought: Who is this guy?

The media circus eventually moved on, giving the two a chance to talk without a microphone present.

Everything I found out about her was another wonderful thing, says Patrick. She was smart, funny and a big personality, a nice fit for this shy guy. And, he continues quietly, weve been hanging out together every day since. Thinking back, he sighs. Its amazing everything went without a hitch.

He Got Her Jazzed

I really cant think of anybody who wouldnt appreciate being met at the airport by a jazz band, says writer Calvin Trillin. I suppose there might be some people who are in the witness protection program.

But Calvins wife, Alice, wasnt some hood in hiding, and she would, he knew, most definitely love being feted by a jazz band.

The year was 1972, and Calvin was in Louisiana covering a crawfish festival. Back in New York, Alices parents were both ill, and she was coming down for some much-needed R&R. Calvin wanted to cheer her up. He called a friend at Preservation Hall about getting a band. But Jazz Fest was in full swing. All the good ones were booked. So he took what was left.

When Alices flight landed, she deplaned and walked smack into a wall of soundbrass, to be exacttooting a rousing rendition of Hello, Dolly! For her. And she laughed.

She saw it as a grand gesture. And I dont think she cared that the cornet player was actually an antiques dealer. In fact, he wasnt even from Cajun country. He hailed from London. And the trombone player? Norwegian. They happened to be in town for the festival.

Calvin and Alice strolled arm in arm through the terminal, trailed by their personal band blasting out standards. Along the way, passengers fell in behind and began second-lining all the way to the baggage area.

Usually not the most interesting of times, waiting for your bags, says Calvin. But they kept playing.

Alice died a few years ago, but Calvin clings to the memory of that day. She was a very engaged person, he says. Having a jazz band meet her fit her personality.

So what if he couldnt land a Satchmo or a Wynton Marsalis? As Calvin reminds us, Imperfect gestures are still nice gestures.

He Puzzled Her

Aric Egmont knew he had to calm down or he was going to blow it. After all, who breaks out into a flop sweat doing the crossword puzzle? If he didnt relax, he was sure to clue his girlfriend, Jennie Bass, into the fact that this was no ordinary Sunday Boston Globe . This was his marriage proposal.

The two, both 29hes in communications, she studies public healthhad dated for four years and never seriously discussed marriage. Why mess up a good thing? went the thinking. But Aric had second thoughts. And since they were fanatics, he says, proposing via the tiny boxes of a crossword puzzle was a more natural idea than it might seem to others.

So last June he contacted the Globe and told them about his idea. They bit. Aric fed Globe puzzle writers Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon personal info to be turned into clues, then he waited... for four torturous months.