My earlier post about a fortune I once got in a fortune cookie has inspired some fantastic stories from e-mailers:

“The day I asked my wife out for the first time on a date, she had earlier gotten a fortune saying ‘Today is your lucky day.’ Some wise acres would site that as evidence fortune cookie fortunes are bunk…but my wife has saved it to this day.”

“In 1988 I was an exchange officer for the US Air Force flying with the Royal AF in Scotland, but dating a girl who lived and worked in Manhattan. On one trip to NYC, I proposed marriage and she accepted. Her mother wanted to meet us for dinner in town. Coincidentally, my parents were driving through from Maryland. I coordinated a team rendezvous at a large Chinese restaurant near Penn Station. Dinner was very chatty, but my fiancée grew colder and more stern as time passed without my announcement that we were planning to marry–I was waiting for a chance to ask my intended’s mother for permission first. Finally, the bill and the fortune cookies arrived following a long stony silence from my fiancée. My mother expects everyone to read their fortunes. I saved mine for last as it read: ‘Stop searching, happiness is just beside you.’ So I read it aloud, and continued, ‘and if it’s alright with you Mrs M, I would like to marry your daughter.’ We bought champagne, my fiancée’s demeanor changed instantly, and we married 8 months later. My wife has kept that fortune pressed in an album ever since.”

“In 1989, the first time I went with my new girlfriend to a Chinese

restaurant (in New Haven, Conn.) I got a fortune cookie. I read it to her

out loud:

’You and your wife will be very happy together.’

She didn’t believe me until I showed her the fortune.

We’ve been married for almost 15 years, and yes we’re very happy together.”