Today is Valentine’s Day. Maybe you forgot. If so, consider this a reminder. There’s still time to get a card and some chocolates!
Below are stories, poems and other items submitted by members of the UNMC community about love and/or the people who make their Valentine’s Days special. The submitted items were left largely in the original words of the authors.
Happy Valentine’s Day! — UNMC Today
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Mark and Dani Eveloff have been married almost 30 years in spite of Dani giving him wrong directions to her house on the night of their first date. |
My best friend, Jackie, in Iowa City arranged a blind date for me. I had moved to Des Moines and didn’t know anyone so she contacted a friend of hers who also lived there.
When he called for directions, I told him to “take a left here and a right here … etc.” to get to my apartment. What I didn’t know was that I had a form of dyslexia and reversed things. Being the intelligent guy that he is, he reversed all the directions and found me.
I like to tell him that he was either really desperate or really bored. He, of course, thinks it was fate and maybe it was. It turns out that we had the same set of friends but our paths never crossed.
Our wedding was held on Armistice Day — a day that most of our friends had off and a day that we thought was appropriate since our religions were different, which was less accepted then. Every fall, we return to Iowa City to celebrate our anniversary and meet up with our friends.
Mark and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary this year and have two wonderful sons, Josh and Justin, to celebrate with. And our friend, Jackie? We finally caught up with her for the first time in almost 30 years.
I get flowers on Valentine’s Day but what’s even better is Mark brings me flowers every week. 🙂
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Jessica and Brent, circa 1994. (Oh come on Jessica, you were only like four inches taller than him.) |
I married my junior high sweetheart.
In fact, Brent and I went to the eighth-grade dance together, dated into high school, went to college together and got engaged when we were juniors in college. Our grandmothers have been best friends for years, our mom’s teach together and his sister is one of my best friends.
We have known each other since we were in elementary school. I have pictures of us at the eighth-grade dance (right). I was like five inches taller than him. Every year on Jan. 24, the day we “officially” started dating, he sends me a rose for each year we have “dated.”
The following story was submitted by Carol McMorris of the Munroe-Meyer
Institute’s Department of Education and Childhood Development:
This is not my story, but from my mother-in-law.
When living on the farm, my mother-in-law Virgene was working in her flower garden while her husband, Lawrence, was out in the nearby field cultivating the beans.
She decided she needed to redo the bricks that were used as a border around the flower patch. In the process of doing this she tossed the bricks down the slope from the garden. There they landed on the road to the field, where she planned to gather them up later.
She had to stop the process before it was done in order to start lunch. This took her longer than she anticipated and soon she looked out the window to see Lawrence’s tractor stopped in the road where the bricks were in his path.
Sure that he would be tired and not pleased by the inconvenience, she ran outside to move the bricks. When she got outside she looked down the slope and saw Lawrence had already moved all the bricks to the side of the road where he had laid them out to spell “I Love You!”
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Fran Higgins, center, and her husband, Greg, kneeling, who both work at UNMC, were on their way to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in 1985 when he popped the question. |
It was my birthday, August of 1985, when my co-worker exclaimed, “Your boyfriend has blonde hair!” I told her, “no, he had black hair,” to which she shook her head and pointed over my shoulder. I turned to see that Greg had indeed bleached his hair and had stopped by to see me at work, the first of several birthday surprises.
That evening, we were on our way to see “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” dressed accordingly in spikes and other “new wave” regalia, but had to stop by a friend’s house first.
Greg didn’t explain exactly why we were there, but he disappeared into the apartment complex and I waited in the car.
And waited.
And waited.
Irritation set in as I worried we’d be late for the show and wondered what could possibly be taking so long.
Greg finally came back to the car, said it would be a few more minutes and that I should go inside with him. I fumed silently as we made our way to the door.
As we stepped inside, all my friends jumped out and yelled, “Surprise! Happy Birthday, Fran!”
There was a cake with candles, balloons and streamers. Greg grinned, glad he had pulled it off. I stood stunned, feeling slightly guilty that I’d been angry a few seconds before.
Then, the definitive moment — Greg took a knee, produced a small velvet box (with ring), smiled as I opened it, and in front of the crowd asked, “Will you marry me?” We’ll celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary this September.
This story is from Robyn Thiede, pediatric clinical transplant coordinator in the UNMC Organ Transplantation Program:
My father, an actor in a local community theater, wanted to introduce me to one of his fellow actors, Christian Thiede. My daughter and I got tickets to “Bye Bye Birdie,” a musical in which Christian played the lead role.
From the moment Christian stepped on stage, I was enamored! He had a beautiful, Frank Sinatra sounding voice, a captivating personality, and – as my mother would later say — a “winning smile.”
My daughter and I were near the back of the theater, but our seats were directly under the spotlight. There was a love song Christian sang looking right into the spotlight, and my heart melted because I felt like he was singing it to me! Christian met my daughter and me backstage after the show. We began dating immediately, and two years later, we were married.
Christian wins my heart over again and again. At a going-away-party for one of my friends, he sang “We Are in Love” to me, sounding just like Harry Connick Jr.! He surprised me with a marriage proposal on a mountain top in Colorado. And the day he wed me, he said vows to my daughter, too.
We now have an 18-month-old son and another child on the way. I am amazed over and over by the way in which my husband loves me. He is brilliant and kind and loving and patient. And he loves me not in spite of my quirks, but because of them. He is the dream I had ever since I was a little girl. There is reason to wait for true love. It is real and it is beautiful!
This story was submitted by Karen Dulany, manager of the histology department at the Eppley Institute:
John and I met on a blind date and had our first date of Feb. 2, 1963. We went to a movie and then he drove me out to Offutt Air Force Base to show me where he worked.
The temperature was about 10 degrees that night and a harsh cold wind blowing. When we were out there a big plane came in and needed to be off loaded.
Well, there was only one airman working that night so John changed his clothes and went out there to help the other guy. I thought that was so wonderful of him to do on such a terrible night even if I did have to wait for him for quite a while. That really impressed me with what a caring compassionate, nice guy he was.
We saw each other every night then for the next two weeks. On Feb. 16, he asked me to marry him and I said “yes” as he had so impressed me during that time. I knew he was kind and was a Christian man.
We got married on June 9, 1963 and then in August he was sent to Germany. I went over in November and we lived there for two years and had our first son, Paul, over there. Then he was sent to California and we had our daughter, Karmin, there. When Karmin was two weeks old, he got orders to go to Okinawa and was there for five months. After he got back his entire platoon was going to be sent to Vietnam.
He didn’t want me to be alone anymore with two little children so he gave up the Air Force and got released. We came back to Omaha and we had another son, Craig. All that moving around made us closer as we just had each other and no family near us.
All that was a long time ago and we will be married 44 years next June. During these 44 years, John has supported me and helped with the housework so I could go to night classes at UNO and finish my degree. I have worked at Eppley Institute in the histology department for nearly 39 years.
As a child I had rheumatic fever and polio. In the years to follow I have had three other major surgeries, including a brain aneurysm and stroke. John has always been at my side and helps in anything that needs to be done.
I have gotten older and need more help. He does the vacuuming for me and helps with the cooking. He truly is the love of my life and I could not have asked for a husband any better than John.
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Second-year phyiscal therapy student Kathryn Merrill and her husband, third-year medical student Morgan Merrill, saw their romance blossom on the UNMC campus. The couple has been married for six months. |
I met Morgan Merrill — then a studious, second-year medical student at UNMC — at church one Sunday. I also attended UNMC and it was this common thread that gave him courage to approach me.
I thought he’d be very quick to address his “noble” status as an aspiring doctor and to point out that my program of physical therapy was “cute.” But quite the opposite happened and I enjoyed our conversation.
After that day I saw him every day in the library. As we passed each other, we’d scramble for words to keep the other one standing there. I waited a week for him, but disappointingly, he didn’t ask me out on a date or for my phone number. Being no stranger to risk, I went ahead and asked him out first.
Each day after we decided to make our status “official” was one more day of fun and happiness. School was so much better when I got to see my stud boyfriend out in the atrium of Durham Research Center! He grew to be my best friend and love of my life and after only six months of dating, he proposed to me! Three months later, on Aug. 3, we were married in Omaha; both of our families were in attendance.
We just celebrated our six-month wedding anniversary. Morgan is on his rotation schedule of his third year and I am in my second year — trying to survive! Even more in love each day, I’m not only grateful for UNMC as an educational institution but also for its matchmaking! I mean, I knew it was an awesome institution, but now I’m really recommending it!
This story is from Robin Gound, patient care coordinator in the College of Dentistry.
Sometimes we hear about love stories and think, “How romantic, could it happen to me?” The answer of course, is yes. This is a love story from my family archives that I would like to share about a favorite aunt and uncle.
My uncle was married to a wonderful woman who died about 20 years ago. Every time I saw my uncle after the loss of his wife he looked sad, old and lonely. So very lonely and my heart ached for him.
Then my mother wrote to me about a woman my uncle was seeing a lot. The next time I saw my uncle there was sparkle in his eyes and a happiness in his smile that I hadn’t seen for a very long time.
This is what I learned about my uncle. When he was in high school there was a very wonderful catholic girl that he dated and really liked. It was said that she really liked him, but my uncle wasn’t catholic and in the 1950’s the mothers of these teenagers were not going to allow this relationship to continue citing religious differences, so it didn’t.
One day, and several years later my now catholic uncle heard that the catholic girl he had dated in high school and really liked had lost her husband. So, he sent her a belated sympathy card.
She was so happy to hear from my uncle that she called him to thank him for the belated sympathy card. At that time she was living in Colorado. My uncle asked her what she missed most about Nebraska and she said the steaks.
Well, my uncle sent her some of our fine Omaha Steaks and then called to be certain the steaks had arrived. While they were talking on the phone, my uncle asked her how she was going to fix the steaks. She told him the only way to have good steaks was to have a man grill them.
After that we saw my uncle only briefly, because he was spending a lot of time in Colorado (probably grilling steaks). It wasn’t long before my uncle brought back a beautiful bride. My uncle and aunt have been married for ten years now and are still deliriously happy and joyful.
Was it serendipity? I don’t know, but I do know two people found love.
The following poem was submitted by Marilyn Thomas, a payroll technician in the UNMC Payroll Department. The poem was written for Thomas by a friend she was reunited with after 35 years.
Taken …
By the sight of you; steps away; seeing you after so long.
Taken …
By your warm embrace; cheeks and hair touching; your voice in my ear.
Taken …
By your soft touch; holding hands; your deep, searching eyes.
Taken …
By the sunshine of your smile; the brightness of your laughter.
Taken …
By the depth of your thoughts; strength of your spirit; intensity of your emotion.
Taken …
By the lilt in your step; your elegant way; your arm in mine.
Taken …
By your quietness; your gentleness; your affection.
Taken …
By your sweet romance; your skin against mine; our twogetherness.
Taken …
I am completely taken — by you.
The following list is from UNMC Today editor Chuck Brown:
The top 10 coolest things about my wife, Danielle:
10. She has lived in Nebraska for almost six years and has retained her Philadelphia accent. (It’s very cute.)
9. She’s a trained chef — anyone who has seen me knows I like food!
8. She comes from a great family. I can honestly say I love my in-laws. I know some people who can’t say that.
7. She has more common sense in her pinky than I will ever have.
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Nathan and Dylan Brown. Some people say they are the cutest boys on the planet. |
5. She simplifies things. Example: I play music, solo acoustic folk-singer stuff. When I first started I would try and talk to the audience between songs. It was horrible, I was so nervous and everything came out bad. I’d miss punch lines on jokes and all that. I told Dani about it and here’s what she said: “Why are you talking? No one came to hear you talk. Just sing.” Things have gone much better since.
4. She’s the mother of, in my totally unbiased opinion, the two cutest boys on planet earth.
3. She spoils said boys. I’d have it no other way.
2. She’s prettier today than when we got married. I mean that.
1. She puts up with me.