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Here Say is a project in community storytelling. We travel to a new place each week and ask people to share true stories about things we all experience: love, family, learning, etc.Click here for a full-screen or mobile-ready map.00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2fad0000

Here Say: Your Stories about Dating, Told at Goodrich Forum 8

Claire Banderas
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KBIA

Here Say is a project in community storytelling. We travel to a new place each week and ask people to share true stories about things we all experience: love, family, learning and more. To see where we've been, check out our interactive map. And to hear your favorite stories from last season, you can find our free podcast on iTunes.

 

Dawn Steele and her boyfriend Milton have been dating for three months. She told us how a chance encounter brought them together.

“We actually met each other in the store. I had saw him once before, but I hadn’t said anything to him and I said to myself next time I see him I was going to say something. But then when I did see him I had my granddaughter with me and she’s four and I kind of chickened out at the last moment. And he let us go ahead of him in the line. And then all of a sudden, after I’d paid for something, she wandered off again, actually to go get some grape juice, and came back and he asked can he pay for it. And I said yes. And then I introduced myself, you know I had to introduce myself after that. And I left and I walked out the door and he came out the door with the sign like ‘Call me,’ and I rolled the window down and said ‘Well hey I don’t have your number.’”

Credit Riley Beggin / KBIA
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KBIA
Steven Denney

We met Steven Denney, who told us about the dating challenges he has faced since he started using a wheelchair.

“There is a time where I had a crush and actually it’s right now. But I just feel there’s a disconnect because I am in a wheelchair, so it’s harder for me to meet women. Because women have a preconceived notion of somebody in a wheelchair is somebody who needs help with everything. And not everybody in a wheelchair is the same, everybody is different. So, I really don’t need help with anything. I drive, I do all kinds of things for myself. So that’s the hard thing actually, is getting people to not think of those preconceived notions.”

Credit Molly Olmstead / KBIA
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KBIA
Emily Currier

Emily Currier, a student at the University of Missouri, told us about how she lucked into a campsite and, inadvertently, a boyfriend.

“I had gone to a country music festival with my friend, we had decided to go that day. We ended up getting there and deciding we wanted to stay for the next day. But we didn’t have a place to sleep because you had to buy camping tickets weeks in advance. So I had seen this kid from high school and I asked him if we could park our car on his campsite and sleep in our cars. Basically using him. And he agreed and we stayed on his campsite and then six months later we started dating and we’ve been dating for four years. So good thing I used him for his campsite.”

We met Wendy Shipp, who told us about how she and her husband met and married the same year.

Credit Claire Banderas / KBIA
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KBIA
Wendy and Shawn Shipp

“Our marriage proposal was kind of really interesting. We were on the way back from his uncle’s retirement party. We’re driving down the interstate and he just kind of looks over and he said “what would you think about getting married?” and I was like “Wow, really? That’s the way we’re going to do it?” And it was so sweet, so sweet. Apparently it just popped up. When we stopped for gas, after I of course said yes, he went and got in a little quarter machine, because he had no idea he was going to propose, and got me a 50 cent little ring. We went ring shopping and I still to this day have that 50 cent little ring.” 

 
 
 

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