In the 1998 ARRL 10 meter contest, I had a QSO with AE0Q.  He sent me this nice QSL card.

Little did he know, I had been looking for a CW partner locally for  6 months---all to no avail.  Sure, I had passed my 13wpm code test ages ago but I wanted courage and confidence to use CW on the air.  And I was setting up a RTTY station the weekend I got this card.....of course I had to write him!  Little did I know, I was one of his first SSB contacts in 20+ years!

We started having skeds on the air in January, and finally met in person
in early April, 1999, after 3 months of CW on the air!
It was "love at first dit" as W0UN said when he heard our story..

(Thanks to Paul AA4XX for taking the picture of us)

Glenn AE0Q and Dante at Merri's station :

Ten Tec Scout, Vibroplex Iambic Paddles, KAM-Plus, PK-96,
homebrew 40m Double-bazooka antenna fastened to apartment
balcony ceiling, indoor 20m dipole.