1. Before I met him, my love life was...

... slightly turbulent. I had boyfriends on and off (but mostly on) from my sophomore year in high school, to when I met him. With a very short break in there somewhere... 
I was pretty concerned with the thought that I might never meet the perfect guy, and that I might be stuck settling for someone with only some  of the requirements on my (rather long) list. If I recall correctly, there were three or four young men that took me on what might be considered "dates" in that period of 5 or 6 years. Maybe more. I try not to think about it. There was (what was supposed to be) a six month break in there somewhere, when I went traipsing off to Africa to be guy-less, which went great until I met a guy. It didn't work out, obviously. 
<--- Creepy picture of me in Africa with 187 braids.
I came home from there, spent a couple months wondering when the heck I would find "the one" - in hindsight, I wish I would've just cooled it with the agonizing and just been happy with being my lone self, but that's not how it went.
For the next six months I dated several people on and off. And then something happened. Something huge. (Literally, he was 6'6"). Someone walked back into my life, and here is where we have to go back to how this person walked into my life in the first place.
Which is an entirely different story...

What happened after the braids.