My parents are anything but attracted to each other.
I'm sort of surprised, honestly, that they're even still married because they have nothing pulling them together. They don't like each other, they're nothing alike, they just annoy each other, and I've never really ever seen them (that I can quickly remember) ever act like a couple that was in love.
My mom is a psychologist, she's hyper educated and has her masters degree. She is outgoing, sporty, adventurous, likes groups of people, likes going out, likes doing things, and comes from a strong Mormon background. My dad is dull, dry, doesn't talk, doesn't like doing most/any of what my mom likes.
Now, I know that opposites attract. Just look at Alicia and I, we're not exactly cut from the same cloth either, we've got tons that's different about us, but we at least have SOME things that are in common with each other that we both love and can do together. My parents on the other hand - nothing.
The tricky part about this, especially after family vacations where they are never on the same page and always look like they're about to kill one another, is to remember that at one time, my mom and dad dated.
Every story that I have ever heard about them dating leaves it to be that they met while my dad was trying to meet my mom's roommate. That's right, he wasn't even going after her first, she was a second place prize. Then while going out, they never talk about their dates much, but the next memorable story is the proposal.
I can't remember the exact setting, I can't remember all of the details, but if I remember right, it wasn't any place really memorable, or with any real meaning for the two of them when he popped the question. My dad asked my mom to marry him, and her response was, "I'll think about it."
That's right, she didn't say yes, she didn't even say no, she said that she would think about the proposal.
That's the sort of couple my parents are. They're never in 'love' with each other, it's something that they have to think about, weigh the options, and then, if it's the least offensive option, then they finally do it. I really do think that the reason that they got married is that at the time my mom didn't think that she could do better than him at that time and her biological clock was ticking and she wanted a family. The more I am around my parents, and the more I hear the story (however rarely it is told) the less I think that they were never in that 'head over heels' love. They liked each other, and they were friendly, but love, had little to do with the arrangement.
Everything about my parents run down that line. The only thing that they sort of kind of have in common is that they both liked ballroom dancing at college (don't ask, it's a weird BYU thing that still happens, I don't get it either). Everything else, one of them seems to always be dragging the other behind them (typically my mom dragging my dad, rarely if ever, is it the other way around).
This was supposed to be about how my parents fell in love and the love that was between them, but in all honesty, I don't know how in the world that ever happened, or if it ever happened.
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