“Would you ever consider moving down here?” he asked.
She replied, “I will if you make me fall in love with you.”

Flashback to 1992
Walking in on the first day of class, John saw his friend Kim and headed to sit near her. “This is Sharlyn” she said. It was at that moment that, after 2.5 years sharing many mutual friends and likely almost meeting, that Sharlyn and John finally did meet. It was their final semester at JMU. Over the next 4 months a friendship grew. And in those last few weeks, particularly after spring break, every Friday they would go to happy hour together with friends. A romance didn’t happen but they had definitely noticed each other.

Fast forward to the present
It took a long time for the friendship to turn into dating but date we have. We have shared many days on the beach and have camped frequently in the mountains with no less than 3 different tents - John loves his gear. Our traveling adventures have included carriage rides in Charleston, South Carolina, a trip to the New River Gorge Bridge where we enjoyed rock climbing, rappelling and white water rafting, and kayaking down the James River both at the Upper James River Trail and through the heart of downtown Richmond. We took a memorable trip to London in which we saw the Tower of London, Stonehenge, Westminster Cathedral and the Imperial War Museum (but didn’t see Windsor Palace much to Ruth’s chagrin). We have paddleboarded, visited Canada arriving in a seaplane, and even paraglided, soaring higher with our parachutes than the seaplane flew. We have looked out on the world from the top of the Space Needle in Seattle and looked up to the surface from under the ground in Grand Caverns.

It wasn’t all glamorous travel and adventure. Among all the fun were endless drives back and forth between Richmond and Virginia Beach (weekly for 3 years) such that our cars probably still know the way. We completed 4 moves for Sharlyn and 1 for John. Whether it was the highlights or more monotonous details, we shared many laughs and supported each other throughout it all. We have both grown so much and learned that with “our person” life can be fun no matter what.

It has been an oft repeated refrain that we had to wait so long to find each other but we are always amazed that while it took a while for this to happen, it was worth the wait.

We are delighted to share our story and day with you.