Men on Reddit shared the funniest, most shockworthy, and dumbest mistakes they made during the beginning of a relationship that actually worked out in the end. Here are some of the best ones.
1. The laughable miscommunication.
"I'm super awkward. I was working for Starbucks. I was new in town and noticed her a couple of times. She was a regular customer and we got to some small talk, chatting about places to eat. She said there's an amazing taco place down the road, we should go sometime. I misheard her, thinking she said, 'You should go sometime.' I replied with, 'I'll definitely check it out!' I handed her a drink and she left very awkwardly. She was back in the next day, and against all odds, I was able to clear up the misunderstanding, and I wrote my number on her Starbucks cup. We went to that taco place for our first date, and she was right, it was amazing. We're three years married."
3. The clumsy embrace.
"On our second date, I arrived an hour late. When I went to greet her with a little hug, I accidentally knocked her phone out of her hand. It hit the ground and cracked the screen, but I wasn't sure if it was already cracked. I apologized; she said it was okay and the screen was already like that. Almost a year later, she confessed that I actually broke her phone that day. She had just gotten it from her mom (all phones she ever had were secondhand, very simple ones), and she couldn't afford a new one at the time, but still she lied and kept using the broken phone so I wouldn't feel bad. My heart sank. We've been married for two years now, and I've given her a brand-new flagship phone every year ever since."
4. The unfazed partner.
"Told my then-boyfriend at the time that I wanted to have sex for the first time, and he made me wait until his Magic: The Gathering tournament was over."
5. The Prince Charming.
"I got fairly intoxicated and decided to tie a towel around my shoulders while completely naked and run in front of her on FaceTime, screaming, 'Look at my dangle.'"
6. The terrible journey.
"Played Weird Al CDs nonstop for a six-hour car trip to the beach. She didn’t ditch me, but I haven’t been allowed to play Weird Al in her presence for the past 24 years. Got tickets to see him this year on our anniversary and knew better than to ask her to join me, so I took a couple of my kids who appreciate the finer things in life. Best anniversary gift ever. Great show."
7. The foot-in-mouth moment.
"On my first date with my wife, we got to talking about tattoos. I have a rule that if I have an idea for a tattoo, I sit on it for a while to see if I really still want it. I mentioned this to her and explained how glad I was that I do this because otherwise I'd be covered in Tool (the band) tattoos or some 'other dumb shit.' She rolled up her sleeve to show me that she had the lyrics to one of their songs tattooed across her arm."
8. The fashion icon.
"I wore jorts on the first date. We were in her bed an hour later."
9. The enormous mistake.
"My husband kept calling me by the name of his previous girlfriend on our first date. I finally told him to give her a call because they clearly had unfinished business to talk about. He did, and she reminded him why he was happy to have her out of his life. And he never called me by her name again. Forty years later and it seems to have worked out in my favor."
10. The misplaced vehicle.
"We drank a lot on our second date, Ubered home. Next day, went back to get his car, and it wasn't there. He was so devastated. He had just bought it recently, and it was stolen. We filed a police report. Took forever and just generally sucked. We walked to his friend's house nearby, and there was his car, perfectly unstolen. He drank so much, he forgot he'd moved it before our date. Now, once in a while when we're trying to find our car in the grocery store parking lot or wherever, one of us will say, 'It's stolen. Call the police.'"
11. The absolute nightmare.
"We were making out in her dorm. I was on top and I shit my pants."
12. The worst dinner.
"Wife was a devout animal lover and activist. Planned the proposal at a fancy Tokyo restaurant that only takes three tables a night and has 11 courses, which are filled with all sorts of innovative things, so you’re never quite sure what’s coming next. In between one of the courses, the chef brings out a cute little glass bowl for us to play with some squid. The chef informs us these are firefly squid that are local to the bay. My wife is delighted and practically names them. Two courses later, they reappeared...as entrées, floating on a glass plate lit up from below and arranged to look like they’re swimming. She still said yes, but she's never let me forget that I took her on literally the worst dining experience she's ever had, and that I had paid the most ever for."
13. The ghost who came back.
"We had a couple of great dates, and things were looking promising. Then I got super busy at work and didn’t contact her for about three and a half weeks without giving her a heads-up. She decided to move during this time. After things calmed down at work, I texted her again. We worked things out long distance and finally got married. She reminds me every few months that I didn’t ask her out again for a very long time."
14. The smoking-hot mistake.
"Accidentally set her hair on fire with a match while lighting a cigarette. Not good. We are still married 29 years later. I don't smoke anymore."
15. The accidental smackdown.
"I was sitting on the couch as we were playing Wii bowling. She was standing behind the couch, lovingly holding me. I draw back the Wii remote, and WHAM! I whacked her in the face with the Wiimote at full strength. Her mom was also in the room."
16. The not-so-smooth move.
"She was about to sneeze, and she was sitting half on my lap, so I kinda thought she was gonna sneeze on me. IDK what I was thinking, but I put my hand up to block her sneeze, except I had a glass in my hand and I blocked her hand from covering her sneeze, and instead she slammed her face into my glass. Married six years now. She still has all her teeth."
17. The obnoxious loudmouth.
"It wasn't until after we were married that my wife told me that I almost didn't get a second date because I talked waaaaaaaaaaaay too much during the movie. I don't really remember it, but apparently I was leaning over every 30 seconds or so to tell her what I was thinking. Also, Valkyrie with Tom Cruise probably wasn't that great a date movie, but it all worked out in the end."
18. The accidental injury.
"Flicked a dime at her head. We were playing table football; not sure what I was thinking. She has a scar. I kiss it every night before we go to bed. We are married and have three kids."
19. The worst first impression.
"For our second date, I had invited her out with some friends to celebrate a friend getting a job. I drank — heavily. She was my DD. She drove me home, and as she pulled up to the curb, I threw open the door, rolled out of the car, and vomited into the gutter. She then offered to help me cross the street, to which I responded by yelling, 'I'M DISGUSTING' and sprinting across the street. Once inside, I brushed my teeth aggressively. She asked what I was doing, and I told her I needed to clean my mouth so I could kiss her. After I was done, I walked to my room, laid down, and immediately fell asleep. She spent the night to make sure I was okay. I'm now holding our baby girl, who was born just last week. I asked her at one point why she stayed with me through that, and she said it was because even though I was piss drunk, the whole time I was still gentle and kind, asked her if she was having fun, and introduced her to everyone I knew."
20. And finally, the huge misunderstanding.
"We were sitting in a movie theater. When the movie was over, she said, 'Wanna mess around?' I said, 'Sure.' It was winter, and I took her to an old parking lot and proceeded to do donuts with the car. She was white as a ghost, and her eyes almost popped out of her head. She then screamed, 'You fucking idiot! I meant fool around sexually!' We'll be married 18 years in few months. Now she specifically spells out when she wants to fool around, and not car-wise."
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.