💘It’s a modern day Seattle love story

As the famously adored Mister Rogers once said: “You know, I think everybody longs to be loved, and longs to know that he or she is lovable. And consequently, the greatest thing we can do is to help somebody know they’re loved and capable of loving.”

That’s just one of the myriad of reasons The Evergrey’s celebrating your love stories this February.

Inspired by The New York Times’ Tiny Love Stories, we asked you for your 100-word love stories about how you’ve experienced love while living in Seattle (pet love, lost love, friend love, relationship love — we didn’t discriminate) — and you all delivered. From the love of partners to the joy of Seattle’s outdoors, you got us feeling some kind of way 😻 . Here are a few of our favorites… 

🍦 I should have known my girlfriend was the one when we first got ice cream at Molly Moon’s — we both have a sweet tooth and our motto has become “dessert first.” Since then, we’ve had treats everywhere from Joe’s Pizza in New York City to churros and blue milk in Disneyworld and everywhere in between. Nothing is sweeter than building a life with someone you love, and I’m grateful that I get to do that every day! — Aleenah A.

👋 On a Saturday in 2001, we shared a smile while walking past each other at the Fremont Fair. Then had our fist conversation while listening to Jason Webley do his thing. That Tuesday was our first date, at Myrtle Edwards Park on the true summer solstice. We had dinner at the now closed Tup Tim Thai in Lower Queen Anne. She told me not to get too excited as she was moving to London. Then 9/11 happened and she stayed in Seattle. We’ve been together ever since, happily married now for 17 years, living in Wallingford with our son. —Leonard D.

🎶 “Uh oh.” 1996. U-district. A combined band rehearsal. Something about his nose told me we were to me married. I knew nothing about him. I had been seeing a writer with an incredible intellect, but she didn’t smell right. When we couldn’t stop speeding up while playing the reel “Johnny went to France,” on his bouzouki, my fiddle, everyone in the bands also knew. At the concert after-party, we made out against the washing machine, then drove to his apartment he shared with an ex-Navy buddy. I decided to save him from the “No Farts” poster in the bathroom. Forever. — Christine T.

🚗 Eight years ago I drove cross country from my hometown in Virginia to what I felt was my utopia: Seattle. And in that time, Seattle has challenged me, expanded my horizons, and offered opportunities that I still have to pinch myself to believe. Moving to Seattle on a whim is the thing I’m most proud of from my early 20s. Eight years later, I’m more in love now than I’ve ever been in my life: I have the world’s BEST partner, a goofy sweet dog, a perfect little house, and the chance to continue creating the life of my dreams. — Gabby J.

💍 My fiancé and I first met in the Amazon building Blackfoot in 2014. He was “the Hot AV Guy” and I was “the new southern girl”. He had a hard no dating at work policy, but when I told him I was running a program in Costa Rica he was quick to hop on the next flight to San Jose, CR with moi! 8 years later we own a home together, got engaged and are planning our wedding! —Madelyn M.

🏔️The mountains out. No, not that one — though that one is a grand site. I mean the mountains. With an ‘s’. The full range of peaks, clouds weaving through, shining out to say hello. Sending their snow caps right into your soul to find whatever adventure remains after duty has drained you. After the dark or the rain or the freeze or the commute or the work have made you wonder why you’re even here. They always come back to remind you. That’s how Seattle loves. — Carmela O.

🗺️ We met on a fluke in Virginia and learned we were both moving to Seattle. I third-wheeled his date on our first hang and we thought we’d be friends. We explored the PNW together – falling in love with the mountains and turned out… each other. He worked the Ballard Locks while I shuffled spreadsheets in South Lake Union. He became the basil to my pho, the ginger to my poke, the cashew mylk to my Storyville. We said “I love you” in Sevilla, married in Florence, and named our daughter Nora. Our Seattle roommates also married – each other. — Svetlana L.

🎤 In the spotlights of a Karaoke stage, after almost thirty years of living in the same town but never meeting, I found her. She is radiant, fearless. A first kiss under the Lenin statue in Fremont. Our wedding in rainbow colors. Boats, planes, and strange new cities were our first homes. We found family, celebrated, grew, grieved together. We’ve slowed now. Life contemplates her machinery more carefully. Lost loved ones, haunts and familiar faces slipped away. She is undaunted, stronger, glorious. We watch the sun rise and set together, eager for the next adventure. Soon, my heart. Soon. I love you. — Charles C.

📣  Dear Seattle, though I lived for half-year in the city as then public service member, from my journey this I remember. Learned from colleagues, students, and the community where I served, When the pandemic hit, all of us were concerned. Honestly, the global health crisis was a series of issues beyond that, Even in times of uncertainty and challenge, communities know between statement and fact. As the 2020’s started, social justice was again and continues to be tested, It should not take tragedy for leaders in power to recognize and be invested. Be more intentional, actions speak louder than words.— Sara R.

🍳I used to cook at the Green Cat Cafe.  During that time my husband worked across the street at the City Market grocery store. Later I moved to an apartment in Beacon Hill.  My husband also moved to Beacon Hill.  We lived four blocks from each other. I moved back to the Hill and got a job cooking at Cafe Venus.  My husband moved to the same building; his apartment and the cafe shared a wall. I think about how we followed each other across Seattle, always getting closer, until finally we got so close we had to meet. — Jenny V.

😘 Shortly after moving to Seattle in 2016, I met one of my neighbors at a meet and greet hosted by our apartment complex.  It turns out that she and her wife had recently moved to Seattle from the same area of the country I came from.  She had most of the same values as me.  She quickly became my Seattle soul sister.  Then, just as quickly she had to move out of state. I miss and love you, Patti Brendler-Hall! — Tiffany C.

🍸 My former officemate & his current smoking buddy was our shared connection. She insisted we meet. We liked some of the same stuff. We had started working the same week in the Columbia Building but neither of us knew the other existed until two years later. Our team had moved to Union Station by then & we would talk for hours at Bookstore Bar every week after work. Just friends, we thought. It was 9/11 when we stumbled up from Marcus’ Martini Heaven into our first kiss. Twenty years later, it’s still the best thing I ever got from Amazon. — Amanda P.

⛰️ We met at Asa Mercer Middle School on Beacon Hill. He was very funny.  Turns out we were both Jewish and lived in Mt. Baker. We carpooled to Beth Am Synagogue.  He went to Overlake and I went to Franklin. Our first kiss was at Denny Blaine in August of 1982. A short fling, some heartbreak but reunited and married in 1990.  A wedding at Beth Am, guests slept on a tugboat on Lake Washington and a party at Pier 70. We marvel at 31 years together, living again in Mt. Baker and admiring the beauty of our beloved mountain.— Lisa K.

 Thank you for sharing, Seattleites. Your stories give us reasons to fall in love with Seattle now and then, again and again. 😘