Bart & Danielle Koser
In eighth grade, there was a boy at the skating rink that I had the biggest secret crush on. I wrote "I Love Bart Koser" all over my denim binder in red ink. I remembered that writing when I began dating that man 15 years later. It is ironic how life comes full circle.
We ran into each other at a local establishment and realized that we had the same cellphone and we had downloaded the same ringtone, a Sean Paul tune. We started talking and he eventually asked me out on a date. I said yes, then I said no, then I said yes, and on and on for months.
He continued to pursue me over that time showing up wherever I was, stopping in where I worked and becoming a really good friend. I was in graduate school working on earning my teaching certification, so I was super cranky and miserable because of midterm exams. He asked me again to go out with him, and I said that I would. I told one of my classmates that I had a date and she said to go because what could I lose?
Good question, what could I lose? I pondered this thought, and then I cancelled. And then I called him back and said I would go.
Well, we connected. It was one of the worst dates because the movie was awful, but we went out again a few nights later and that was it. He sent me flowers the next day at work, and I realized that he was perfect for me.
We have been married for almost seven years, but have known one another since we were kids hanging out at the skating rink in Danville three nights a week. We have two children, two dogs, a cat and a mountain of debt, but we still tell one another that we love each other before we hang up the phone. We text and e-mail all day long, we hug and kiss in front of our kids and we fight in front of them, too. It is important that they know what a healthy marriage should look like - love and war.
Danielle Koser