Imogen: I was working as a nurse in Longreach- the second stint of my rural nursing graduate year. As everyone who’s from a small country town understands, you never know who you're going to run into down at the shops. A five minute trip to pick up some milk can turn into a 30 minute social affair. For me, the Longreach IGA was where I first saw Lachie. I first noticed his wonderful smile. It was the kind of smile that filled his face and, when I met his eyes, I blushed. But that was just the first contact. I was sure those shy glances wouldn’t amount to anything until he tracked me down on Facebook a few days later. He seemed so keen, I was worried. Surely he couldn’t like me that much? On our first date I was nervous, but he made me laugh straight away, putting me at ease. His sense of humour was my favourite kind and pretty soon it felt as though we had known each other for years. I think we both knew there and then that we had found our person.
Lachlan: Working on cattle stations in the north, you’re dirty and sweaty every day. You dream of walking into the pub after work, still in your ripped jeans and boots to find a pretty girl at the bar. In this romantic fantasy, she turns around and notices you, smiles and you ride off into the sunset together on a horse.
That did not happen.
Instead, on a Thursday after work, you and your housemate realise you have no food in the house and decide to duck into the IGA for dinner. If only I had known I was going to see my future wife for the first time, I might have dressed a bit nicer than in my Ilfracombe Scorpion football shorts. But still, I saw her, and she saw me. I must have looked insane, grinning from ear to ear every time I bumped into her as we individually went about our grocery shopping. After that, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Longreach is the centre of Western Queensland, so there are usually a lot of young people working there - young men like myself out on stations around the district, but also women like Imogen, usually nurses. So you can’t blame me for using this knowledge to my benefit - I frantically called some of the nurses I knew worked at the hospital. I described this girl who had taken over my thoughts in the hope that they could knew who she was.
They did.
After two weeks of Imogen rejecting me, we finally went on a date, and now we are getting married. Thanks to those smiles we shared, I get to spend the rest of my life with the beautiful girl from the Longreach IGA, and I couldn’t be more excited.