It was a dark and stormy night. And I was NOT walking home in the snow.

OK, so maybe my date thought I had my car with me. But I didn’t even have a car, let alone a way to get home. Under duress, he called his brother to pick us up. Needless to say, the relationship didn’t go much further.

Everyone has a date that sticks out in memory as the best or worst. That happens to be among my worst. For Valentine’s Day, I asked colleagues and some well-known Mainers to recount their most memorable dates. The results were funny and touching.

There was the man whose future wife wouldn’t go to the movies with him after dinner. She wanted to go shopping instead. As he tagged along, she told him that she was dating another man, and that he shouldn’t expect for them to date exclusively. They ended up going out for drinks later, where she told him her dating routine: She’d plan on dinner and a movie. If she didn’t like the guy, they’d go on to the movie – that way, they didn’t have to talk. If she liked him, they’d do something else. At this point, he thought she was special – different from other girls. They had a few more dates, and she stopped dating the other man. They’ve been married for seven years now and have two children.

A former urban dweller met a woman at the Whig & Courier. Having lived in the city so long, he thought of cars as disposable – a way to get from point A to point B, thus he bought big, ugly, cheap heaps of rust. When he went to pick the woman up for a date, she took one look at the car and said, “I’m not going anywhere in that.” She changed her mind and went on what was, by both accounts, a pretty unremarkable date – except for the ride home.

They had gone out for dinner and drinks – not too many – and he was driving the rust heap home. Unbeknown to him, he was speeding, and got pulled over. The woman thought he’d get a ticket, so she told him to turn the car off, take the keys out of the ignition and throw them into the woods – that way the officer couldn’t prove he was driving. Completely taken aback, he asked her what she was talking about. Her reply? “It works – I saw it on `Starsky and Hutch.”‘ He didn’t get a ticket and they didn’t have a second date.

The following is a sampling of dating anecdotes – romantic or otherwise – from well-known Mainers.

Fishing for love

I was in Holland for an American Council of Young Political Leaders trip and I got to go on this date with a Hungarian diplomat – a young Hungarian leader. He was just this charming, worldly, wonderful guy. We had smoked salmon on this outdoor terrace under a full moon. That was so good.

In Maine, I had a date where we went fishing in an aluminum boat in Beddington Lake on a beautiful, sunny day. We caught these little sunfish and let them go – catch and release. And he caught my heart and released it a year later.

– Kathleen Stevens, now-single state representative from Orono

Medical mishaps

I lived in Los Angeles for my medical residency and training. I was on a double date at a restaurant that featured opera while you ate. Because opera is always tragic, they served death by chocolate for dessert. In the middle of dessert, my friend’s pager went off – she was a coordinator for tissue and organ donation and they had found a possible donor. My date and I were both physicians so we went with her to the L.A. County coroner’s office. It was almost daylight by the time we finished helping her harvest tissue – skin, bone, heart valves, corneas. There were 1,000-2,000 bodies in this huge morgue. Then we went to a diner where there were all sorts of homeless people and we were still in our clothes from the fancy opera. That was probably the strangest date I had.

On another I was working in the emergency room at Children’s Hospital in L.A. There was a police officer who worked there and he asked me out. I figured, he’s safe, he’s a police officer. Well, he didn’t tell me he was on a SWAT team. … We ended up screeching down Sunset Boulevard. … I sat in the car under the dash listening to all this commotion and bullets flying. It was part of a shootout. I didn’t go out with him again.

– Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the state Bureau of Health

Stormy weather

It had to be my wedding day. I was about 27 when I got married so I’d probably spent no fewer than 10 to 12 years planning in my mind what a perfect day this would be. When I woke that morning, it was hurricane winds and torrential rains. It caused incredible fury, not the least of which was it made me late for the wedding. As I got to the church, the ushers were trying so hard to help me. They brought umbrellas out, which turned inside out from the winds and one of the ushers – a very shy and quiet man – was helping me by lifting my dress and he didn’t realize he was lifting it so high to avoid the water that he had it lifted above my waist. We got into the church and all went well from there. If you look at the video, you see my husband wasn’t the least bit worried that I was 20 minutes late. This was quite typical in my reputation at the time for being late. When they panned to see the audience, everyone on my whole side of the family was at ease, laughing. As you go over to his side to the family, who didn’t know me as well, they were panic-stricken that I was somehow going to leave him at the altar. But everything went well. They say that a shower on your wedding day brings good luck, and with the torrential rains, I think Dave and I must be blessed for life. – Laurie Lachance, Maine’s chief economist

Take a hike

It was Karen’s birthday and we had known each other a little less than a year. We decided on her birthday weekend to try out the rigors of backpacking. We planned a three-day trip up Old Speck and through Mahoosuc Notch, which is listed as the toughest mile of the Appalachian Trail in its 2,200-mile expanse. … Our packs were full and heavy. We went up over Old Speck and started out to Speck Pond, which was a torturous downhill climb. We reached the foot of Mahoosuc Notch at dusk. Karen was physically and emotionally exhausted and here we were in the middle of nowhere on her birthday. I figured it was a good time to propose. We had just finished dinner and I went behind a tree to my backpack. I pulled out a bottle of champagne, a birthday cake, which survived thanks to Tupperware, and the lightest thing – her engagement ring. … She happily said yes and we were married the next February. The prospects of her saying no were minimal. It was a match tempered by physical and emotional strain, which I figured was a good way to start out – it can only get better from there. … We saved the champagne and made Tang mimosas the next morning.

– Rick Bennett, assistant minority leader of the Maine Senate

Wedded bliss

Our wedding was on Valentine’s Day, four years and a few days ago. Everyone said, `Why are you getting married on Wednesday? People are going to be working; Congress is in session.’ … I chose that date because it’s sweetheart’s day and I wanted Bill to remember it. But, as it turned out, everyone did.

To get married in the U.S. Capitol is the most extraordinary thing. We were going to be married in the chapel but our guest list swelled to 100 so the ceremony was moved to the Mike Mansfield Room. The late Sen. John Chafee said, +Janet, you are going to need a place to dress; you can’t get dressed in the ladies’ room’ and he offered his hideaway. I remember coming out and walking down the aisle to meet my groom and the first face I saw was Senator Strom Thurmond. He smiled and touched my hand as I went past. To have everyone happy for Bill and I and see the look in his eye was very special. And each year we continue to be amazed at the number of people who remember we were married on Valentine’s Day.

– Janet Langhart, wife of U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen

Tea with Mussolini’s mistress

It’s the lunch my partner and I had this fall on Lake Garda in Italy at an unbelievable restaurant that used to be the home of Mussolini’s mistress – or should I say a mistress, since I’m not sure if he had just one. After that we toured Il Vittorale, the home of Gabriel D’Annunzio, a famous Italian poet. He was a World War II hero … and a vivacious liver. He was a stylish guy. … It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. You know you’re in for a great meal when they bring you complimentary sparkling wine. I knew it was going to be expensive but it was very worth it – a wonderful memory.

– Dale McCormick, Maine state treasurer

O captain! my captain!

My most memorable date was when I had my first date with my wife, Amanda. She and I were both captains in the Army at Fort Bragg. I took my young son to the pediatric unit – I was a single parent. Then I took my second son. I came back with my first son and asked her out. She was a pediatric nurse practitioner. We went out to dinner and dancing and I fell in love with her. It was a night I’ll never forget.

– Steven Rowe, speaker of the Maine House of Representatives

Wrong address

My wife and I had been married for a year. We were living in Washington, D.C., at the time and we came back to Maine to visit family. We wanted a few days to ourselves and a friend said, `Oh, you can use a friend of mine’s place in Stonington.’ We had never been and we were told the door was unlocked, so we drove into Stonington. We thought we had followed directions and the door to the house was unlocked. … We were starting to make ourselves at home – we had brought in the luggage and were sitting there when a car drove up. We were wondering why were these people staring at us. Sure enough, we were in the wrong house. … We went out the back door and they came in the front door. So what was meant to be a romantic weekend got off to an interesting start. We never found out who owned the house.

– Bangor Mayor Michael Aube

Driven woman

I can’t really think of any dates. My husband hired a limo and surprised me, but we were already married then.

– Tess Gerritsen, Camden author

Sticky situation

I’ve only had one date in my life – seriously. I met my wife, Gail, in the sixth grade (in Amesbury, Mass.). She didn’t particularly like me too much. I stuck gum on her desk and told the teacher she did it. It was my way of getting her attention. But it’s been romantic ever since the eighth grade.

– Brian Hamel, Loring Development Authority president

Oh, baby!

Back around 1968-1969 I was a VISTA volunteer in Chicago. The salary was about $45 a week. I had a friend who was a secretary at a local community agency in the neighborhood I lived. Her boyfriend was one of these Chicago lawyers of some repute. He later got disbarred, but at that time he was a big name. … She had a friend that was visiting her from the East Coast and she asked if I’d like to be fixed up. Of course – I was a bachelor then. So the four of us went to this restaurant in downtown Chicago with big coats of arms, one of those grills. … I wiped my mouth with my tie, and that my share of the bill was probably close to a week’s salary. We’re talking about 1968 – $45. So I made my goodbyes and of course the next day I went to my friend and I asked her, `Did she like me? Do you think we could go out again?’ and the response was, `Oh, oh, you don’t understand, you don’t know why she’s out here, do you?’ and I said, `No, why is she out here?’ and she says, `Oh, she’s pregnant, and she’s out here to wait for the baby to be born and give it up for adoption.’ It may not have been the best date I ever had, but as it comes back to me in suppressed memory, it’s one of the more interesting ones. I spent $45 and she’s pregnant, and not by me. …

The best date with my wife was at Blue Hill hospital, when our daughter was born. It was a C-section so I was right there. I told her that since I had blown the birth of our son by being insensitive to Lamaze, Dr. Walker had said that I could participate by making the incision. That didn’t happen. But I won’t forget that. You don’t forget your daughter just being born and being right there when it happened. – Michael Povich, Hancock County district attorney