The first time I met my father in law

[thusby]

I was drinking my future FILs beer out of his kegerator in the basement with my now-wife. I didn't even know he was home when I stumbled up the steps to see him in full recline in his underwear. He said "hey", I said "hey". That was it.

Now he is my best hunting and fishing buddy.

 

[noharleyyet]

...always a handy ambiguous salutation.

 

[np307]

I've known my wife since we were in elementary school. We didn't start dating until senior year of high school but went to the same church so there were plenty of interactions with my now FiL before that was in the picture. He's a nice guy. There are several things we don't see the same way, but we both respect each other.

 

[1_pointer]

Met the inlaws on our first date. I was a sophmore and my wife was a senior, both at the same high school. This being pre-cell phone days, I had made tentative plans to take my wife out on Friday night. We had agreed to shore up plans Friday at school. Thursday night my dad asked me if I wanted to skip school to go deer hunting Friday, so I did. Got home after dark, called and asked if she was still interested in a movie and went to pick her up. I didn't know until later that my future FIL wasn't excited about her going on a date with me. Not because of me, but because of my father. Small towns and the two of the running in different circles. 27yrs later we're still together. My FIL has 3 daughters and I married the middle one, but she was the first one to date. To say he was icy towards me in the beginning would be a bit of an understatement...

 

[Nick87]

My dad was late to his wedding because it was opening day of pheasant season. he’d never missed one and didn’t plan to for that. That was 42 years ago and they are still married.

I can appreciate that. Our wedding was end of September had it all planned out it was after dove/early goose season and before my wyoming mule deer hunt. I was supposed to take two weeks off one for the honeymoon then take off to wyoming the week after. Somehow I botched the dates up in my head and realized I had overlapped the honeymoon by a few days, which was across the river from you. Everything was already pretty much set in stone. So we cut the honeymoon short by three days so I could leave for the opener. I have an awesome wife. Hindsight I should have just stayed on the honeymoon, wyoming deer tags come along all the time. You only get married once, and now with the kids it will be a long time before we can do that again.

 

[brockel]

Met my father in law in the spring when we went west for Easter. Met him out in the fields shooting ground squirrels. By the end of the day my thumb was green from the brass loading magazines so much. Believe I turned my 17hmr into a smooth bore after that day.

 

[BackofBeyond]

Before meeting my FIL, my (now) wife warned me he was from the next town over from where I grew up, and as happens in small towns, there was a pretty big rivalry between Kellogg and Wallace. The rivalry had toned down quite a bit by the time I was in high school, but there was plenty of stories of fisticuffs etc. from the previous generations. We met at a restaurant for dinner, and my wife and I got there first. I was squeezed into the back corner of the table, so I couldn't fully stand up when shaking hands. We sat and visited for a while, but once he heard I was from Kellogg, that's when the stories started. I heard all kinds of stuff about "Kellogg people" for a while before I excused myself to use the bathroom. Now I'm 6'3" and at that time was ~220, my FIL is maybe 5'8" with his boots on, and probably 170 soaking wet. Once I got fully stood up, and was walking away I heard him say to my MIL "oh shit, I better shut my trap about Kellogg people before he pops me in the nose. Jeesus Mal, couldn't you find one any bigger???"

Wasn't long before we figured out that we backpacked, fished, and hunted the same areas in North Idaho. We thoroughly bonded over stories of dropping off Surveyor's Ridge into Trapper's Cabin and the cast iron pan, and the best fishing in Idaho (bar none, hands down, forget about it.) He's been one of my best friends since - even though he's from Wallace.

 

[LCH]

The first time I met my wife was a blind date. Her parents were fairly strict, and any boy had to meet them before taking one of their daughters out. My wife knew what I looked like from high school (I was a junior and she had just graduated), but I had no idea what she looked like.

When I got there, my wife and both of her sisters were sitting on the couch. My future FIL, as is his nature, talked my ear off for the first 15 minutes, I think mostly to try and make sure we weren't related. Meanwhile, I was looking at the girls trying to guess which one I was there to meet. They were all pretty though, and fortunately I got the only one I think I'd be compatible with.

I was 17 at the time, almost 34 now, so coming up on half of our lives together.

 

[antlerradar]

My future father in law was thrilled when he met me. I didn't have a high bar to get over as my wife's older sister married five and half feet of human poop with the IQ of a grapefruit.

 

[brushcreek]

I met my FIL at a dinner after my now wife and I had been dating a few months...fast forward almost two years it was apparent we were about to get married and it was time to ask for his approval. He made that so easy for me we were watching tv one day just the two of is and he just said "now if you guys want to get married that would be just fine with me." That was the end of that and I did not have to worry about it. He was out putting up a new deer stand in the fall of 2016 by himself and died of a heart attack. It was a bad deal it took a whole crew of his son, his son's buddies, game wardens, deputies, etc. to find him about 12 hours after he had passed. He was a great guy and I miss him terribly. One of the greatest honors of my life was getting to speak at his funeral (before the preacher) and relate that story about him almost asking me to marry his daughter.

 

[Gellar]

I'm guessing you proposed immediately after field dressing the buck... I mean who wouldn't? GF's family has a farm, first time you spoke with GF's dad he requested you come hunt (not the other way around), quick meeting of the family shows they are hardworking country folk and shoot lots of deer. On the surface it sounds like you struck gold in this situation.

It took a little bit, I had to make sure he could produce more deer like that before I fully committed to his daughter.

 

[Gellar]

I met my FIL at a dinner after my now wife and I had been dating a few months...fast forward almost two years it was apparent we were about to get married and it was time to ask for his approval. He made that so easy for me we were watching tv one day just the two of is and he just said "now if you guys want to get married that would be just fine with me." That was the end of that and I did not have to worry about it. He was out putting up a new deer stand in the fall of 2016 by himself and died of a heart attack. It was a bad deal it took a whole crew of his son, his son's buddies, game wardens, deputies, etc. to find him about 12 hours after he had passed. He was a great guy and I miss him terribly. One of the greatest honors of my life was getting to speak at his funeral (before the preacher) and relate that story about him almost asking me to marry his daughter.

I’m sorry to hear that. Sounds like he passed doing something he loved.

 

[Otto Matic]

I met my wife on the job.
I met my fil at our wedding.
We never had much of a relationship.
A very secretive person who divulged his secrets constantly trying to impress others with his intellect.
An extremely intelligent man who spent his life stumbling over his own ineptitude.
Extremely self assured and scared of his own shadow.
Wouldn't say "sooeee" if the hogs were eating him.

 

[Gellar]

I can appreciate that. Our wedding was end of September had it all planned out it was after dove/early goose season and before my wyoming mule deer hunt. I was supposed to take two weeks off one for the honeymoon then take off to wyoming the week after. Somehow I botched the dates up in my head and realized I had overlapped the honeymoon by a few days, which was across the river from you. Everything was already pretty much set in stone. So we cut the honeymoon short by three days so I could leave for the opener. I have an awesome wife. Hindsight I should have just stayed on the honeymoon, wyoming deer tags come along all the time. You only get married once, and now with the kids it will be a long time before we can do that again.

My wife wanted to get married the first or second week of October to get the fall colors in our pictures. After meeting my friends and family she told me she didn’t want to get married in October anymore because none of my friends would come to the wedding during hunting season.

 

[Gellar]

My office manager just showed me a map of morel mushroom findings in Missouri and how they are getting closer and closer. I was reading this thread and it reminded me of a girl I dated in high school. I was a senior and she was a freshman at Southern Illinois in Carbondale. I went to go visit her in April and couldn’t help but notice the morels had to be popping in the woods behind her dorm. She was not happy later that day when I was gone all day and called her to let me back in the secure building. Our relationship did not last much longer, but I found a couple pounds of mushrooms!

 

[EYJONAS!]

Her dad greeted me in his kitchen with a baseball bat.

You too huh?

Haha I love the guy now like a father figure but, when I first met him I thought he was one of the craziest son of a bitches I've ever met. I had a lot of traction to try and gain with him to develop a respect. Matter of fact, he didn't even give me his blessing to marry his daughter. I said well fine...... 17 years later here we are.

The first fishing trip was really the main introduction. He's a huge floater and fly fishing guy, I knew a little bit but not much. Little did I know I'd spend a day on the oars and it was literally like a day in West Point military academy. I've never been yelled at like that before because I couldn't maintain the proper distance to the bank and speed while floating so he could get the right streamer action.... Holy F#@$!

He's a hell of a man though and I'm blessed to have him in my life. I always joke with my wife now because I told her I married her for her dad and brother. With how much we hunt and fish together.

 

[duckhunt]

My wife wanted to get married the first or second week of October to get the fall colors in our pictures. After meeting my friends and family she told me she didn’t want to get married in October anymore because none of my friends would come to the wedding during hunting season.

I work with a kid that was just telling me yesterday that he is getting married the 2nd week of November. Yeah that's during the rut. I tried to explain to him the error of his ways. He just laughed and explained to me that was a battle that he would never win.

 

[Gellar]

I work with a kid that was just telling me yesterday that he is getting married the 2nd week of November. Yeah that's during the rut. I tried to explain to him the error of his ways. He just laughed and explained to me that was a battle that he would never win.

They always say choose your battles, that one would be a war!

 

[EYJONAS!]

They always say choose your battles, that one would be a war!

It's a game of chess to be able to time weddings and the birth of a child for the right times of the year.....

It's almost a miracle if it works out properly.

I'll never understand why people think it's a good idea to get married in the fall from September to December...

Great thread BTW thanks @Gellar !

 

[duckhunt]

It's a game of chess to be able to time weddings and the birth of a child for the right times of the year.....

It's almost a miracle if it works out properly.

I'll never understand why people think it's a good idea to get married in the fall from September to December...

Great thread BTW thanks @Gellar !

Yeah I told the kid to block it off from September 1 to January 1.