Anything is Possible for Anybody
In this episode, Quintin wonders if he’ll wake up with his kidneys intact. Then, he and Christy embark on a road trip that changes their lives.
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The Missed Connections Podcast delves into the heartwarming, bizarre, and sometimes poignant real-life stories from Craigslist's Missed Connections section.
Each episode uncovers the hidden narratives behind fleeting encounters, exploring the emotions and what-ifs of people searching for lost chances.
In this episode, Quintin wonders if he’ll wake up with his kidneys intact. Then, he and Christy embark on a road trip that changes their lives.
Listen by clicking the link above. Or, if you're into podcast transcripts, by all means, read on.
Speaker 1 Lady in the line, 7-Eleven, you were standing in line when I walked in, you made eye contact with me, and we smiled. You were very beautiful,
Speaker 2 Athletic, built, gentleman alone in the car, turning left, you looked once, as did I, and I noticed you looked again. I meant nothing sexual. I was having a horrible day. Thank you for being kind. With an audience,
Speaker 3 Long shot, but searching. We met three months ago. Your name is Tom. You drove A Lexis. My name is Richard. It’s a long shot, but I have to try.
Elyse These are posts from Craigslist, Missed Connections, and you’re listening to the Missed Connections podcast. We’re your hosts, Elyse —
Elena — and Elena. Each episode uncovers the hidden narratives behind fleeting encounters, exploring the emotions and what-ifs of people searching for lost chances. Join us as we delve into stories from the infamous Craigslist section, featuring interviews with real people who have found connections using this platform. These stories are not rehearsed, and the voices you hear are not actors. Join us as we navigate through love, serendipity and the human desire for connection, one missed connection at a time. Previously on Missed Connections...
Christy So I was at my friend’s house, and I had finished off a bottle of wine. I was looking through missed connections. I just decided to post a little something about how I may have missed my prince charming, but I remember feeling disgusted by most of them and not interested in any way until I read Quentin’s email, which was a poem. We started chatting on the phone almost every single night I was traveling to California to be with my family for the holidays, and he was coming back from his dad’s house to go back to school. We met on my birthday at my aunt’s house, and I just brought him into my family home. I mean, I was like, come out, and we sat on the couch in the living room with the Christmas tree lights, and we just talked quietly. Everybody’s sleeping, so I just imagine, like people are just lying there, just like watching us sitting at the tree. And I was just kind of like wondering, like, what’s happening here? Is everything cool? They keep my kidneys? I don’t know.
Francesca Bowman It’s a much bigger subject than people realize. If you think of it as working on human emotion, trying to understand it, and the history of it. What is it today?
Elyse Author and historian Francesca Bowman, the world’s leading expert on the history of personal ads, explains how humans will use any form available to them as a means to connect.
Francesca Bowman The minute you get the printing press, it’s used for human relationships. The minute you get newspapers and magazines, they’re used for human relationships. The minute you get the internet, the first thing it’s useful for is human relationships and all their forms. Craigslist, itt was, you know, it was like MySpace. It was like one of the first of this kind of website, like super slick, super early. Any kind of new form of media is used for the purpose of creating a connection.
Elena In the middle of the night, as Quentin lay alone on the couch at Christy’s aunt’s house, suddenly felt dark and unsettling, until he remembered how strong of a connection he had already felt with Christy, and he relaxed. That feeling was shared by Christy. She trusted in their connection.
Christy I don’t know, we just really clicked with each other. For me, it felt safe and sweet. Even as I got to know Quentin more, I realized that he wasn’t as easygoing as I was, but he was genuine, and I appreciated that, and I felt his genuine care for me.
Elena As much as the two enjoyed their time together, Christy had to catch a flight back home.
Quentin Christy could go back to Colorado, so she had the wrong time; the plane had already left, like the day before, two days before, or something like that.
Christy There were just so many awesome things happening during that time, when I was with my family. Felt very lonely in Colorado after my divorce, and then I’d met this amazing person. It was just really rocking my world in so many ways. I think I was really distracted.
Quentin And so she’s like, well, I guess I’m just gonna buy me a new ticket or something like that. And, like, I really gotta do that. I’ll just drive you.
Elena And they were off after having just met Quentin, Christy and her daughter found themselves taking their first road trip together with a mission to get Christy back home to Colorado.
Quentin I had never been out to Colorado, so we ended up going down Southern California and across Arizona, where she had more family that I met there. Stayed there for a while, and was kind of swooped up towards Colorado, stayed there for a while, then I went back home, pretty much packed my stuff and came back. We had Ariana, her oldest daughter, with us that whole time. Her brother came with us for a while. We just really connected on that whole trip. Kind of ran the gamut of beings that kind of consider it like you ever heard of a Reader’s Digest condensed book? It’s like the Invisible Man, 700 pages, but the Reader’s Digest condensed book is like 85 pages. That’s how our romance was this whirlwind. And we were together that entire time, eating, sleeping, doing everything together. And so it was a super condensed time frame.
Christy There wasn’t a lot of space in the van. It didn’t really feel crowded, though. And you know, the time that we had Ariana with us, it was more, you know, keeping her entertained and doing things for her, going out and checking out different places in the area that we were in, spending time with the family. When we dropped off Ariana, and it was just Quentin and I, was a little more intimate time in the van together, just the two of us, which was fun and adventurous.
Quentin Let’s be honest, there’s a lot of drinking going on during that period of time. Don’t drink anymore, but during that period, there’s a lot of that going down.
Elena Quentin and Christy found their missed connection, and they weren’t about to let each other go.
Christy Well, we got married. July 5, 2012, we had already, we had talked about getting married. There wasn’t like an official proposal or a ring or anything. My daughter needed insurance, and Quentin said, Well, what if? What if we just get married, and, you know, we could put Ariana on my insurance? And I was like, Yeah, okay, let’s do it. And so that next day, we went and got the paperwork, and we filled it out at home in our bedroom, I feel like there was ceremony around it for the two of us. We eloped, and we were like, bam, we’re married. It was simple but meaningful. It took a long time to tell our family, just because we wanted to have a ceremony. Eventually, over time, we decided to tell the family, and we did that through a Christmas newsletter where we printed our marriage certificate on one side and then on the other side, we wrote about our family for the year.
Elyse The couple had a different take on marriage. They saw it as just paperwork and were not worried about getting a document to prove their love for each other. The perks that came along with tying the knot were more important to them.
Quentin, I think overall, we were happy with how things were. The world does stuff that makes marriage easier, in some ways, that’s why we did that. I mean, if it wasn’t convenient for us, fees and stuff, we probably wouldn’t be married.
Christy I feel the same way. I don’t feel like we needed that paperwork to prove that we loved each other and that we were committed and going to be together. There are just perks that come with that through our government.
Elena Since connecting on the missed connections page, Quentin and Christy have been married for almost 13 years and are enjoying their lives raising their children. The experience of finding each other in a small corner of the internet changed their lives in more ways than one.
Quentin We certainly hope that we’re giving the children a good example of how to love each other, you know, and how to love in the world, world of toughness out there, you know? Yeah,
Christy It’s really nice because Quentin and I were opposite in some ways, and it’s been very beneficial in raising our children. He has a little more of a tough approach to the world, and I’m a little softer. And so our children get to have both sides of that in a safe way, so that they can be both tough and sensitive, tough enough to survive and take care of themselves, but sensitive enough to enjoy their life and be loved and give love.
Christy Love can come unexpectedly. You need to be open to that and be open to the possibility of anything. I feel like anything is possible for anybody. Just go for it. I don’t ever have a regret about it. Worst thing that’s gonna happen is you might feel a little bit embarrassed, but no one’s gonna care in 100 years anyway.
Quentin If you find a connection, honest connections that are significant can continue to grow, just like ours did. So I would say, go for it, because it’s a connection. You know,
Elyse Quentin and Christy found success in the Missed Connections section of Craigslist. Stay tuned for more stories next season on the Missed Connections podcast.
Elena Missed Connections is a Weather Tomorrow Production, written and produced by Elena Pizzo and Elyse Wild. If you have missed connections you’d like to share, please reach out at missconnectionspodofficial@gmail.com
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