These love stories prove that the Capital City's dating scene is not all bad news and disappointment

Do you love me?

Will you love me forever?

Do you need me?

Will you never leave me?

Will you make me so happy for the rest of my life?

Will you take me away and will you make me your wife?

-- Meatloaf

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

I didn’t expect the response I got from my recent the dating article (“If you believe these testimonials, the Capital City needs to be working harder on its dating scene” (https://cutt.ly/DwGqTcp).

Tons of people said they’d met in Cheyenne and had successful relationships. Some lasting decades. The

relationships even happened using some of the pitfalls mentioned in the last article – dating in the workplace, online dating, bars, etc. The names have been left in as that’s how they were sent to me. 

Without further ado, I give you Cheyenne’s dating success stories:

Childhood/college

-- Charlie and I grew up playing together. We met when we were 4. Our family were friends. We have been together for eight years and married for four.

-- I met Tommy when I was a senior in high school here. We ended up being best friends. I was dating someone for that whole time and I always knew he had a crush on me. It wasn’t until he came to visit me in college and tried hooking up with my roommate that I figured out I liked him back because that made me a little jealous. The rest is history from there, and we have been happily married for 17 years. We got married when we were 21 and everyone thought we were too young. But here we are 17 years later still happy and still married.

-- Robert and I met on the East High Speech and Debate team. We were really good friends. I dated one of his friends on the team. I didn't realize it at the time, but Robert had a thing for me. I was a grade ahead of him. After I graduated, we didn't see each other for a year or so. We eventually bumped into each other again at LCCC. We dated and got married five months later. We have been married for 26 years. It was not easy financially here, but we stayed so our children would be close to their grandparents. Both of our kids turned out awesome. They are both caring and self-reliant people.  Robert and I are still very much in love with each other and plan to retire in about 15 years in Roswell, N.M., about halfway between our children.

-- I dated my husband when I was a freshman at McCormick, and he was a junior at Central.  Fast forward 4 years. We ran into each other again and here we are still together after 26 years!

-- Does a love story of childhood puppy love/best friendship from junior high then being sent to another state and losing touch and running back into each other almost 10 years later to fall back in love after a failed and abusive marriage count?  Did I mention he's practically adopted my daughter!

-- We met the summer before my senior year in high school. He was dating my sister's friend. I went to hang out with him at his girlfriend's house to wait while my sister went to a Cutco meeting and he was waiting for the cable guy. I thought he was hot, and I was a total skater boy fan. He was with someone and so was I. We both ended up single within a short time and we're both hanging out at my sister's apartment all the time. It was weird cause we both had just come out of long-term relationships and liked each other, but I had a kid and he had plans to move to California to skate. We just decided we would hang while we could, and it wouldn't be anything serious. Our occasional hangouts turned into more often hangouts … He was amazing to me – kind and sweet, fun and wild – everything opposite of what I knew growing up Mormon. He was an adventure and I was ready to take the wild ride with him. By August of that summer, we became inseparable and spent every moment we could sneak together. He instantly loved my child and the three of us were bonded so quickly. We got engaged that New Year’s Eve and married that April Fool's Day, a month before I graduated HS. Everyone thought we were crazy and that it would never last. But we will have been married 25 happy years this next April Fool's. 

-- Dylan and I went to junior high together at Johnson.  We lost touch but found each other again at an Ernie November’s concert.

Online dating

-- I returned to Cheyenne with a person who I thought was the love of my life.  I started working at a major Cheyenne employment place. Long story short, she left me for a coworker. Heartbroken and negative toward love, some high school friends did an online profile for a dating app called, “Plenty of Fish.” I met many Colorado ladies, but nothing that made me leave the Cowboy State for a “greenie.” But then a local gal sent a message.  She was mysterious and did not fall for any of my pickup lines. Michelle was my passing ship in the dark.  We went to the same high school and we are both lesbian and Hispanic … what in Wyoming? Yes, we met, and it was love at first sight. I have raised her two boy since, ages of 6 and 4. We never thought of marriage because the government never saw our union as “legal.”  We’ve been together 10 years and married for five years. Yes I met my wife in Wyoming. We are Mexican, lesbian, America WOMEN who take our culture and family to heart.

At a bar

-- Kim and I met in a local bar and started drinking together. Here we are almost 10 years later still drinking. Power couple. LOL!

-- We met at the Hitching Post. We dated for a year and a half and have been married for 15 years. It would have never happened if there was a smoking ban. That’s why people are lonely now. 

-- I met my hubby, a military man, at The Hitching Post 29 year ago listening to Michael Degreve.

-- On Spring Break in 2011, my friend and I did a little day drinking at the Winds. Afterward, I went home and napped.  I awoke to her, the guy she was dating, and his friend insisting I go to Tusker Tuesdays with them. Being it was Spring Break, I said why not? We grabbed a table at Tuskers, played some songs on the jukebox, and chit-chatted. At one point, some super drunk guy who knew Matt came up to us and slurringly asked if I was Matt's wife. Gwen Stefani was on, and Matt told him yes, I was his wife Gwen (even though he knew my name). About six weeks later, my friend and I threw an Easter party. Matt and Shawn, who was still seeing my friend, showed up with drinks. By the end of the night, we were "attached at the lips," as our friends liked to say. We were living together by November, engaged in 2012, married Oct. 18, 2014, and we're the proud parents of six furry children.

-- We met at Jackson's. He was wearing a Superman T-shirt and wanted to go to Metropolis, Ill. I threw my arms around him and said, "I'm totally going to marry this guy!"

Employment

-- Peter was home from basic training for the Army and was on recruiting duty at the LCCC career fair. He walked up to me and said, "Do you want the best job in the world?" Well, he successfully recruited me to be his wife. Ha ha, cheesy I know. But I had to share since you were asking!

-- My significant other and I met at Sea Galley. I was the bar manager and Jason was the assistant kitchen manager. 25 years later, here we are!

-- I worked at the Wrangler and Chuck worked at Corral West on Dell Range. We’ve been married 32 years.

-- He was a bouncer at Goofy’s and he showed me a magic card trick in front of everyone and totally made me swoon!

Volunteer work

-- My husband and I met while volunteering for Frontier Days in 2008.  We got married in 2014 and still volunteer every year!

-- Nathan and I met in Cheyenne through work and volunteer activities. That is how I’ve met everyone I’ve ever dated. I don’t know how people meet at a bar. Even the group I regularly drank with at the Underground weren’t dating material.

-- Scott and I met at the COMEA shelter while we both volunteered there. We have been together for almost four years. Neither of us was looking to date, but we were great friends. One day we just found ourselves spending time outside of COMEA together and then we started dating. Neither of us had had very good relationships before so we were cautious and now we are the best of friends and hope to get married.

Park

  -- I met Charlie at Lions Park. I was at the old Botanical Gardens and he was fishing. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, and I just felt like I had to talk to him. So I asked if he'd caught anything, to which he responded, "Not yet, but I'm hoping I can at least get a phone number." Married with two kids going on eight years now. 

Out and about the town

-- My wife and I met at EconoFoods.

-- I met my hubby at Roller City 32 years ago.

-- Ernie November is the place to meet a significant other apparently! Hali Henson and I started dating after seeing each other at a Casket Huffer show!

-- Juston and I met in Cheyenne, and the rest is history. It's a great story on how he got me to go on our first date. Considering I had planned to be in Cheyenne for only one winter, it was definitely a success.

-- My husband and I met here in Cheyenne. We both had just gotten out of a shitty relationship and were homeless. I was couch surfing at a college friend’s house, and he was staying in their basement (he was friends with my college friend’s fiancé). I was finishing up my undergraduate and trying to get my stuff from my ex, who I had to get a restraining order for. I worked full time as well. He literally walked away from everything he had because he found his high school sweetheart cheating on him. He was starting over from scratch. We helped build each other up, both moved in separate to our families’ homes until we go on our feet. We continued to talk and see one another. Then six months later decided to get a place together. Shortly after we bought our first home together, he proposed. Now we are newly married and going on three years together.

Friends

Chris and I met in Cheyenne through the grapevine of people. It wasn’t until many years later that I seduced him with my dragon prowess and took his soul as mine.

I guess that's it. Thanks you to all of you who shared your stories with me. It made me a hopeless romantic. 

I know I didn’t write much for this article, but with this much love, did I really need to?

Richard Johnson is a former City Council member from Ward 3 on Cheyenne’s eastside.