I met most of my romantic partners through work, school and friends. With Steve and I celebrating our 25 years of marriage earlier this year, neither one of us had the challenges of online dating. Why? Well, the Internet was not available in 1988.
Chatting recently with gal pal Kerrie Weaver, of California Heights Neighborhood Association (CHNA) fame, she filled me in on a neighborhood romance that began its course at the 2003 CHNA’s Home and Garden Tour. After I asked her for details, Kerrie promised to send me the story in full, written by Jerry Wilson, the blissful fellow who met his bride-to-be at that tour. With the 2015 CHNA Home and Garden Tour taking place Sunday, Oct. 18, I figured this love story would be a perfect introduction to the upcoming event.
On that note, here is the very lightly edited version of Jerry’s tale:
Home-tour romance leads to home-tour garden wedding
By Jerry Wilson
If you attend this year’s California Heights Home and Garden Tour, you’ll be visiting the site where Sarah and I were married in 2007— our home’s back yard. Sarah and I met in 2003 when her Cal Heights home on Lime Avenue was on the tour. In 2011, our home on Lewis Ave was featured on the tour, and this year our garden will be highlighted.
It was October 2003, and I was the first docent that tour guests encountered as they entered Sarah’s home. After giving my docent “spiel” about her kitchen, I asked the group to continue through the doorway to my right, but one group member chose to exit left rather than to follow my direction.
Not knowing who she was, my first words to Sarah were, “Lady, can you please stay with the tour?” “I live here” was her curt response with a look that has become more familiar with time. She disappeared from my sight as another group of home-tour guests entered the room.
It was the final shift of the day. Sarah returned home once again before the tour ended. As the crowd of visitors thinned, I offered my awkward apology, and she laughed. A friendship ensued. It took two years before I asked Sarah on our first date. On Valentine’s Day 2007, I asked her to marry me.
For reasons we no longer remember (What were we thinking?), we decided to get married in April, just a little over 10 weeks [after my proposal] In that short time, we planned and held a lovely, intimate garden wedding in our back yard. We also somehow managed to sell Sarah’s house and join households. It was a crazy, busy time, but now we’re living happily ever after.
Each Cal Heights Home and Garden Tour is a marker that reminds Sarah and me of our first uncomfortable meeting, our friendship and courtship, and our wedding in the most special place in the world— our back yard.
Oh, yeah… Sarah still doesn’t follow my directions.
