Romantic Moment on the Brougham Bridge - William Rowan Hamilton

[Artman]

Artman, Congratulations!
I am exactly 2 weeks behind you - 23 years also.

Congrats in advance. I don't know about you, but I'm lucky she's put up with me for that long.

 

[Astronuc]

I don't know about you, but I'm lucky she's put up with me for that long.

Yeah - same here. She married me despite my looks. I guess it was my personality.

 

[Huckleberry]

I am a lucky guy. She is a sweetie. By the way, Sunday is our 23rd anniversary.

I am exactly 2 weeks behind you - 23 years also.

Congratulations to both of you. 23 years of marriage is quite an acheivement.

 

[hypatia]

Back in the early 70's we had 3 day music festivals every month during the summer. One I went to was called the Grass Lake music bash. The guy I went with overdosed the first night, so they took him off to the hospital. Leaving me by myself without food, clean cloths or money{which was locked in his car}.
I was hungry and being eaten alive with mosquitos, when I met his guy, and we started talking...after a bit he told me to stay put and he would be back. When he came back he had corn{oddly still on the stalk}, some tomatos and other food.
So we ate under the stars with Papa John Creech/Jefferson Airplane playing in the back ground. I woke up in his arms, and a few months later we moved in together. A few years later we were married, together 24 years in all.

We're not together anymore..but life is still good.

 

[The Rev]

One moonlit night (the night of October 16, 1843 to be precise), as William Rowan Hamilton took a romantic stroll with his wife over the Brougham Bridge in Dublin, Ireland, the fundamental relationship of quaternion multiplication came to him in a flash of genius
(i^2=j^2=k^2=ijk=-1). Hamilton was so moved by the emotion of the moment, he carved the equation into one of the stones on the Brougham Bridge.

Unfortunately, the romantic conversation that led up to Hamilton's flash of genius has never been recorded, but I'm sure watching Hamilton carve a mathematical equation into a stone had to leave his wife deeply moved.

What's your most memorable romantic moment?

I'm kinda thinking he didn't get any that night, tho. And what good is genius if it doesn't impress the opposite sex?



The Rev

 

[Moonbear]

Congrats to Artman and Astronuc! That's wonderful to know there are still happy marriages in this world.

I wish my romantic tales had a long happy marriage at the end of them. Perhaps some day.

Okay, I'll tell my tale, but don't be too disappointed if it pales in comparison to some of the others here...mine didn't end in a happy marriage.

It started out at the rehearsal dinner for a friend's wedding. I was the maid of honor, he was the best man, and we'd never met before. He's one of those guys who looks much older than he is, so when I first was introduced, I thought to myself, "great, I've been paired up with some 40 yr old." It started out like a rather normal event. They took our dinner orders, and I ordered the prime rib, rare. He commented, "A woman after my own heart," as he ordered the same meal. Other than that, we seemed like complete opposites, right down to our attire. I was wearing an off-white dress and he was dressed all in black. At some point, someone commented on the humvee we all noticed parked outside the hotel. We have no idea why it was there, but it became the joke of the evening that it was the "get-away vehicle." The groomsmen all donned their napkins over their faces like bandits wearing bandanas and staged a kidnapping of the groom, to which the bridesmaids (led by me) took up our steak knives to bar their escape. I ended up in a mock duel with the best man that ended with me grabbing him from behind and holding the knife to his heart. This was all just play. At some point, I had learned he wasn't really 40, we were the same age, so he was no longer this "old guy," but someone eligible (this was a while ago...40 isn't old anymore). There was a lot more joking around, and then after dinner, the parents and other relatives headed off to bed leaving us young 'uns to continue partying. We headed off to the hotel bar. Nothing too notable happened until he started feeding the other women cherries (yes, it meant what you think it means). I was left out and had begun convincing myself that he didn't even like me enough to include me in his play. Then I don't even know how it happened, but it seemed like everyone else suddenly got tired and headed for their rooms, leaving just the two of us behind. He was waiting to pay the bar tab, and I was drinking water, trying to rehydrate before heading to bed. He got some water too, and we sat there talking and drinking our water until the bar closed and they told us we had to leave. At this point, I was really falling for this guy and really wasn't ready to go to sleep yet (I was still pretty drunk). After agreeing neither of us was ready to go to sleep, we decided to go for a walk, except there was really no place to walk to. The hotel we were staying at wasn't near anything except a convention center, and it was surrounded by nothing but parking lots. So, we just walked in circles around the hotel...I wasn't very steady on my feet, so he was holding me close, and it just felt really right. After a few circles around the hotel, we decided we should sit down somewhere, and found a set of steps to sit on. I snuggled closer and put my head on his shoulder and decided I would be content to stay there forever and told him so. I admitted I didn't think he liked me earlier in the evening and he laughed that he thought I was giving him the cold shoulder. So, after a while of sitting outside in the summer evening, we finally decided it was time to head back in and get some sleep for the few hours we had until we needed to start getting ready for the wedding. He invited me back to his room, but having just met him, I declined (I know, some of you will be so disappointed to learn I'm not that type of gal). I was sharing a room with the other bridesmaids on a lower floor than his room, so I got off the elevator first and headed to my room. And don't you just hate when those swipe cards in hotel doors don't work?! So, I was standing out in the hallway of the hotel, it was some ridiculously late hour of the night or early hour of the morning, and my key wasn't working, and I was trying to decide whether they had locked the door from the inside that I needed to knock and wake everyone up to get in, or if I just needed to go to the front desk and get the key re-swiped. I ended up literally just sitting on the floor in the hallway for a moment to figure this out (between all the drinking and the late hour, this required a lot of effort to decide), when the door to the stairwell at the end of the hallway burst open and the guy I had just met came running out, out of breath. He seemed as surprised to see me still in the hallway as I was to see him reappear when I thought he had gone up to sleep. He explained, he had forgotten to ask if he could get a kiss goodnight. He didn't think I'd still be in the hallway, but he had to try. Then, when he realized I had been sitting on the floor when he entered the hallway, he asked what was going on, so I explained my key wasn't working, and he just showed up, and it must be fate. We went up to his room together. Though, to his great disappointment, I really wanted to go to sleep. He was the perfect gentleman. I only had with me the clothes I had on, so slept in those, and out of deference to me, he offered to let me have the bed and he would sleep on the sofa in the room. I felt way too guilty to let him sleep on the sofa when it was HIS room, so I pointed out there was more than enough room on the bed for two. Since I stayed in my clothes, he slept in his clothes too (I hadn't asked that of him). I think we did end up cuddling a bit that night, but that was it. I was so amazingly smitten, and he did everything just right. Later that morning, the alarm went off way too early. We got breakfast and then I headed back to the room with the rest of the bridesmaids to get ready for the wedding. I was so horribly hung over and dead tired from too little sleep. I didn't see him again until the ceremony. He was so handsome in his tux! Anyway, fast forward through the ceremony to the reception. We do all the required introductions, speeches, first dances, etc., and then he disappears for a little while and I was wondering what was going on. When he finally returned, he handed me the first gift he ever got me...a packet of aspirin! I hadn't said a word about how horribly I was feeling after the previous night's partying, but he had noticed and went out hunting for aspirin for me. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. We dated for a long time after that.

(At some point, he admitted that the first night we spent together was the most miserable night of his life. It was apparently quite an effort to remain a gentleman when he had every urge not to be, but then I reminded him that if he hadn't been a perfect gentleman, I wouldn't have stayed.)

So, no, it doesn't involve any of the things I always thought a romantic moment would involve...no walks on moonlit beaches, just walks in circles around parking lots; no roses or chocolates, just aspirin. Maybe it's because it wasn't anything like what I expected romance to be that made it so special.

Unfortunately, a few years later, he dumped me for someone else...I'd have kept him forever.

 

[Bladibla]

Congrats to Artman and Astronuc! That's wonderful to know there are still happy marriages in this world.

I wish my romantic tales had a long happy marriage at the end of them. Perhaps some day.

Okay, I'll tell my tale, but don't be too disappointed if it pales in comparison to some of the others here...mine didn't end in a happy marriage.

It started out at the rehearsal dinner for a friend's wedding. I was the maid of honor, he was the best man, and we'd never met before. He's one of those guys who looks much older than he is, so when I first was introduced, I thought to myself, "great, I've been paired up with some 40 yr old." It started out like a rather normal event. They took our dinner orders, and I ordered the prime rib, rare. He commented, "A woman after my own heart," as he ordered the same meal. Other than that, we seemed like complete opposites, right down to our attire. I was wearing an off-white dress and he was dressed all in black. At some point, someone commented on the humvee we all noticed parked outside the hotel. We have no idea why it was there, but it became the joke of the evening that it was the "get-away vehicle." The groomsmen all donned their napkins over their faces like bandits wearing bandanas and staged a kidnapping of the groom, to which the bridesmaids (led by me) took up our steak knives to bar their escape. I ended up in a mock duel with the best man that ended with me grabbing him from behind and holding the knife to his heart. This was all just play. At some point, I had learned he wasn't really 40, we were the same age, so he was no longer this "old guy," but someone eligible (this was a while ago...40 isn't old anymore). There was a lot more joking around, and then after dinner, the parents and other relatives headed off to bed leaving us young 'uns to continue partying. We headed off to the hotel bar. Nothing too notable happened until he started feeding the other women cherries (yes, it meant what you think it means). I was left out and had begun convincing myself that he didn't even like me enough to include me in his play. Then I don't even know how it happened, but it seemed like everyone else suddenly got tired and headed for their rooms, leaving just the two of us behind. He was waiting to pay the bar tab, and I was drinking water, trying to rehydrate before heading to bed. He got some water too, and we sat there talking and drinking our water until the bar closed and they told us we had to leave. At this point, I was really falling for this guy and really wasn't ready to go to sleep yet (I was still pretty drunk). After agreeing neither of us was ready to go to sleep, we decided to go for a walk, except there was really no place to walk to. The hotel we were staying at wasn't near anything except a convention center, and it was surrounded by nothing but parking lots. So, we just walked in circles around the hotel...I wasn't very steady on my feet, so he was holding me close, and it just felt really right. After a few circles around the hotel, we decided we should sit down somewhere, and found a set of steps to sit on. I snuggled closer and put my head on his shoulder and decided I would be content to stay there forever and told him so. I admitted I didn't think he liked me earlier in the evening and he laughed that he thought I was giving him the cold shoulder. So, after a while of sitting outside in the summer evening, we finally decided it was time to head back in and get some sleep for the few hours we had until we needed to start getting ready for the wedding. He invited me back to his room, but having just met him, I declined (I know, some of you will be so disappointed to learn I'm not that type of gal). I was sharing a room with the other bridesmaids on a lower floor than his room, so I got off the elevator first and headed to my room. And don't you just hate when those swipe cards in hotel doors don't work?! So, I was standing out in the hallway of the hotel, it was some ridiculously late hour of the night or early hour of the morning, and my key wasn't working, and I was trying to decide whether they had locked the door from the inside that I needed to knock and wake everyone up to get in, or if I just needed to go to the front desk and get the key re-swiped. I ended up literally just sitting on the floor in the hallway for a moment to figure this out (between all the drinking and the late hour, this required a lot of effort to decide), when the door to the stairwell at the end of the hallway burst open and the guy I had just met came running out, out of breath. He seemed as surprised to see me still in the hallway as I was to see him reappear when I thought he had gone up to sleep. He explained, he had forgotten to ask if he could get a kiss goodnight. He didn't think I'd still be in the hallway, but he had to try. Then, when he realized I had been sitting on the floor when he entered the hallway, he asked what was going on, so I explained my key wasn't working, and he just showed up, and it must be fate. We went up to his room together. Though, to his great disappointment, I really wanted to go to sleep. He was the perfect gentleman. I only had with me the clothes I had on, so slept in those, and out of deference to me, he offered to let me have the bed and he would sleep on the sofa in the room. I felt way too guilty to let him sleep on the sofa when it was HIS room, so I pointed out there was more than enough room on the bed for two. Since I stayed in my clothes, he slept in his clothes too (I hadn't asked that of him). I think we did end up cuddling a bit that night, but that was it. I was so amazingly smitten, and he did everything just right. Later that morning, the alarm went off way too early. We got breakfast and then I headed back to the room with the rest of the bridesmaids to get ready for the wedding. I was so horribly hung over and dead tired from too little sleep. I didn't see him again until the ceremony. He was so handsome in his tux! Anyway, fast forward through the ceremony to the reception. We do all the required introductions, speeches, first dances, etc., and then he disappears for a little while and I was wondering what was going on. When he finally returned, he handed me the first gift he ever got me...a packet of aspirin! I hadn't said a word about how horribly I was feeling after the previous night's partying, but he had noticed and went out hunting for aspirin for me. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. We dated for a long time after that.

(At some point, he admitted that the first night we spent together was the most miserable night of his life. It was apparently quite an effort to remain a gentleman when he had every urge not to be, but then I reminded him that if he hadn't been a perfect gentleman, I wouldn't have stayed.)

So, no, it doesn't involve any of the things I always thought a romantic moment would involve...no walks on moonlit beaches, just walks in circles around parking lots; no roses or chocolates, just aspirin. Maybe it's because it wasn't anything like what I expected romance to be that made it so special.

Unfortunately, a few years later, he dumped me for someone else...I'd have kept him forever.

You shouldn't underestimate yourself too much..that was a heart-warming story.

Shame it didn't end happy on the long term

 

[Astronuc]

Okay, I'll tell my tale, but don't be too disappointed if it pales in comparison to some of the others here...mine didn't end in a happy marriage.

Unfortunately, a few years later, he dumped me for someone else...I'd have kept him forever.

Very touching story, and heart-warming as Bladibla mentioned. Well that guy lost out big-time!

 

[Artman]

Congrats to Artman and Astronuc! That's wonderful to know there are still happy marriages in this world...

Thank you.

...So, no, it doesn't involve any of the things I always thought a romantic moment would involve...no walks on moonlit beaches, just walks in circles around parking lots; no roses or chocolates, just aspirin. Maybe it's because it wasn't anything like what I expected romance to be that made it so special.

Your Story reminded me of the movie, "It Happened One Night." I find it very romantic, and I respect your decision to keep him waiting.

 

[Monique]

Sweet story moonbear :)

My story is that I got invited to a party by a good friend, but it got postponed and then I didn't hear anything about it anymore. Then this guy I had only met once, 6 months before at a party, sends a message if I'd like to come with him to that party (we had kept in contact through the internet). So the idea was that everyone had to bring along a date. That weekend he comes to pick me up in his car and we drive to the party and I tell him what has been going on with me and how I was planning to go back to the US, to which he replied: that's a pity, which I thought was sweet :)

We shared a lot of interests and talked all night and played some piano. That evening I told him we should meet again. It happened sooner than thought, the guy who had originally invited me asked if I wanted to come along to the beach. I asked who else was coming along, my previous date was.. after verifying whether he really was coming, I went along ;) The three of us went out to the beach and sat down in the sand and watched the stars (it was friday evening) and talked and laughed a bunch. All the while I was thinking how I could get closer to the one guy, without the other one noticing it.. I was sitting in the middle so that was kinda hard :| After coming home we arranged to meet that weekend.

So that weekend he teaches me a song on the piano (fading like a flower by roxette). Later we drive over to the lake and stop at a spot, he explained he used to spend a lot of time at sitting and thinking. So we walk down to the water front and sit down on a stone. After talking for a while he starts talking from the heart, how he's been liking me for a while already. It was so sweet :!) while driving home we saw the sun going down, so we drove to the sea to sit at the beach and watched it

Many trips followed and he still is sweet as ever. Today his cheeks looked rosy, which I commented on. He asked whether I had ever noticed him blushing when I just met him, which I hadn't.. he commented that he must've seemed more self-assured than he really was. He had been thinking of me since that very first party and remixed an Indian love song during that time (which I had given him). Ah, I'm going to cry now, isn't that sweet?

 

[Moonbear]

Oh, that's very sweet Monique. He sounds like a great guy!

 

[Evo]

Aww, that's really sweet Monique.

Well, I thought about it really hard because you'd think in all these years I'd have had at least one romantic date.

Nope, zero.

Ok, I'm REALLY depressed now.

 

[Jason]

Evo,

Something tells me you shag like a minx...

 

[Evo]

Evo,

Something tells me you shag like a minx...

Does that mean what I think it means?

 

[Jason]

Originally posted by Evo:
Does that mean what I think it means?

To quote Austin Powers--my God Christi's got a fabulous body. And I bet she shags like a minx!

 

[Knavish]

I thought you were just being plain rude.

Hmm.. I'm a sucker for these. 17; never had a gf. Yep. And sadly, that's from choice. I don't know why, but I like to wait.

 

[Evo]

To quote Austin Powers--my God Christi's got a fabulous body. And I bet she shags like a minx!

I guessed correctly.

At least you got me out of my depression.

 

[Evo]

Hmm.. I'm a sucker for these. 17; never had a gf. Yep. And sadly, that's from choice. I don't know why, but I like to wait.

It's better to wait. Filling your life with meaningless relationships isn't a good idea.

 

[Jason]

Evo,

I am hopefuly about to turn 38 in November. How old are you? Simple question...

 

[Evo]

Evo,

I am hopefuly about to turn 38 in November. How old are you? Simple question...

I have answered that at least twice already. I was 49 until my last birthday when I turned 28.

Zoobyshoe can confirm this.

 

[Jason]

Chère Evo: Your new photo is even sexier than the last one. Whew!

As always, I applaud your astute commentary and stinging prose. You rarely ever confuse the trees for the forest, and woe to those who would challenge your place in it.

Your posts purr with the lethal prowess of a tigress (eh, voilà, la tigresse dans le fôret). How could I not surrender? I read it again... and again. And between every word, one heard the slightest rustle in the leaves, in the wood, and in the wind. Deadly. Enigmatic. Engaging. C'était très sexy, bien sûr.

Nice. "Verb age." OH, VERY nice. All seriousness aside, I see you like to string theories along, and probably quite a few men and women, too. That's very sexy, you know.

 

[Evo]

Chère Evo: Your new photo is even sexier than the last one. Whew!

My current avatar is my daughter The Evo Child. This is me as of this morning.

 

[Huckleberry]

Now that's romantic!
Did you havea role as an extra in 'The Fifth Element?"

 

[Math Is Hard]

I'm 38 also, Jason. But I pronounce it twenty-eighteen.

My goodness, Evo! Can I get you a cup of coffee?

 

[Evo]

Now that's romantic!
Did you havea role as an extra in 'The Fifth Element?"

Now you know the real reason I'm all alone and have never had a romantic date.

 

[SOS2008]

My current avatar is my daughter The Evo Child. This is me as of this morning.

Evo, you should put yourself on the list for funniest member! Also, with all the hunks you've known, who needs a specific romantic moment, hmm?

 

[Jason]

Evo,

You can tell me your fantasies, and I'll be strung like a theory. I would reciprocate in kind with real fantasies, or at least stories with many the wink and smiles, or at least many the kink and similies. But I would only want to do so if you were in bed...

In return: Pentrating thoughts, seeds of an idea, or the sticky, sweltering, and sweet bitterness of the lick of the lips at the halo between her thighs, and the lick of the lips deep in her heart in darkness? Well, yes, I would such a tale and then turn tail. But only if I can, tuck you...in...

Bon soir, et toutes les reveries douces et chaudes ("Good night to sweet, sultry dreams").

 

[Huckleberry]

Now you know the real reason I'm all alone and have never had a romantic date.

Hey, I'm right there with ya. Pull up a chair at the late night Denny's table of loneliness. The company is good. The food is cheap. And the doors are always open.
By the end of your meal you'll be glad that you have as much as you do.

 

[Math Is Hard]

You can tell me your fantasies, and I'll be strung like a theory. I would reciprocate in kind with real fantasies, or at least stories with many the wink and smiles, or at least many the kink and similies. But I would only want to do so if you were in bed...

In return: Pentrating thoughts, seeds of an idea, or the sticky, sweltering, and sweet bitterness of the lick of the lips at the halo between her thighs, and the lick of the lips deep in her heart in darkness? Well, yes, I would such a tale and then turn tail. But only if I can, tuck you...in...

Bon soir, et toutes les reveries douces et chaudes ("Good night to sweet, sultry dreams").

sometimes there's a fine line between romantic and creepy.

 

[Huckleberry]

sometimes there's a fine line between romantic and creepy.

I was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to be the first to say it. :shy: