Whether it was love at first sight or a delayed arrow from Cupid's bow, countless romances had their beginning at Saint Anselm College. Many of them (more than 1,000 in fact) led to wedding bells. Before Valentine's Day, we asked married Anselmians to share their stories. And they did!
Kristen (Leigh-Philips) '04 and Sean McClintock '04 described their meeting in a humanities seminar – and won a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant (The Saint Anselm College Coffee Shop and Pub, of course.) Their full story is below, with all submissions included below this post in the "comments" section.
If I had known I was going to sit next to my future husband in my 8:30 a.m. sophomore Humanities seminar, I probably would have taken the time to dress a bit more nicely. Or, at the very least, wear my "good" pair of pajama pants to class. But to be honest, at the beginning of the semester, it was difficult enough to make it to such an early class, let alone spruce myself up for the painfully quiet, albeit cute, chemistry major who sat next to me. Despite the proximity of our seats, Sean and I were as far apart, in terms of personality, as two people could be. He was a chemistry major, who loved science and math; I was an English major who wanted to go back in time and punch both Newton and Leibniz in the throat. He loved sports; I was under the impression that the New York Jets were a basketball team. He was quiet to the point where I wondered if he suffered from chronic laryngitis; I, however, never stopped talking. In fact, in wasn't until we were handed back our midterms in late October that we actually had our first conversation (although "conversation" may be a bit of a stretch, since I did all of the talking). As I flipped through my exam blue book, quite pleased with my 99, I happened to glance over at Sean's score….100! My first thought was, "What?! How did the mute chemistry student get a better score than the English major on an essay exam?" My second thought was, "Boy, I'm really glad no one can read my thoughts, because I'm a terrible human being." And my third thought was, "This guy is really smart and I should get to know him better." So I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Hi. Want to be my new Humanities study partner? Great. I'll call you." Sean stood there, looking quite confused, having not said a word, as I skipped off to my next class. Thus began the official, not-so-romantic start of an otherwise wonderful relationship. From classmates to study buddies, from good friends to the very best of friends, from dating to getting married, and from being partners to being parents, Sean and I are still together, still happy, and still very much in love. To this day, I wonder if our paths would have ever crossed if not for that Humanities seminar? It wasn't as though I was clamoring to register for Organic Chemistry, and Sean certainly wasn't pining to brush up on British Literature. Needless to say, I thank God every day that our paths not only crossed, but happily collided, and proceeded to travel along, side by side, together.
Kristen McClintock '04
Sean McClintock '04Married since 2005
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