Duhyun and Lee Choe – owners of The Uptowner Coffee Shop Duhyun: The business keeps us very busy but we will find time to celebrate Valentine’s Day by going out to dinner.
It’s that time of year, when love is in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches and stories of love abound. From engagements to decades-long love affairs, some local couples share the heartwarming beginnings of their “till death do us part” true love stories.
Merrick and Marsha Malone
Marsha: Merrick was living in Detroit when we met at an Urban League dinner in Houston. A mutual friend introduced us - we're both from Ohio from towns that are no more than 30 miles apart. We were rival schools. I was a cheerleader so when he was on the field playing football I was on the sidelines cheering against him. We had both been married and I hadn’t dated much. But he started making trips every other weekend to see me in Virginia. He has an adventurous spirit and is so intelligent. This world is so exciting and he takes full advantage of it. In fact if there is anything where we really differ I think he gets like six hours more out of a day than I do. If he had more time he would do even more. I admire that so much about him. I’d been all around the world and end up with a guy from down the road. That is essentially what happened.
Merrick: We were married in 1996 so going on 29 years. I had been to law school in DC so moving back here to be with her was easy. I admire her tenacity. I always say that if you're in a negotiation with my wife she closes like a freight train. She is incredibly organized and I admire how nurturing she is - she is truly the matriarch of our families. I look at the experiences that we have shared over these past 30-plus years and we always look at each other and say our imaginations would not have been large enough to imagine all the things we have done, the presidents we have met, the rooms we have been in. There's no question we were meant to be and we are so grateful. She is the air I breathe and I love her beyond measure. I'm the luckiest guy in the world.
Bill and Harlene Clayton –
Harlene: We grew up in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay in Crisfield, Md. We went to the same high school and our romance began in Washington DC where we both ended up attending school living near each other in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. We married in 1966 and moved to Parkfairfax a year later. The rest is history. We love Alexandria – it’s where we have called home for 57 years and where we raised our family. We love giving back to our community, being with friends and traveling. And we love to dance!
Matthew Lehman and Andrea Espinosa
Matt: We’ve known each other for almost three years now - it'll be our anniversary on Feb. 25 - but we got engaged last July and will be getting married in September. As soon as I saw her I knew it was meant to be. Her eyes just light up the room. Between school and life trying to find a good time to get married isn’t easy but with Andrea it just felt right.
Andrea: Matt has just the kindest heart in the whole entire world. He cares so much about other people he's such a giving person and you can tell that just from the moment you meet him. We’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day and our anniversary with our yearly tradition of going to the same Italian restaurant where we had our first date – Mia’s.
Angela and Chris Harris
Angela: We’ve been married almost 6 years. We met on the dating app Plenty of Fish. He reached out to me but not even a couple of texts later he wants my phone number. I said no, let's talk here for a little while. Then he disappeared so I kept going out on dates and of course they were horrible. I went back and looked and he was still on there so I hit him back up and it went from there. My favorite thing about Chris is that I never have to question his feelings for me. He always makes me feel secure about his love for me and just wanting to do whatever makes me happy.
Chris: I love that she always challenges me. She's helped me grow a lot as a man and supports everything I want to do. She is someone I can communicate with and I've never really had that before. Once I was able to talk to her and confide in her I knew she would be the one. And of course I love her body. Can I say that? She is my best friend.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins and Greg Gaskins
Alyia: We will be married 10 years on Feb. 20. We were introduced by a mutual friend who went to the University of Pittsburgh. When I was home for the summer she said, “We always hang out with the football players so you have to come join us.” So I pretty much showed up on Greg's doorstep. If I had to name one quality I love most about Greg it would be his calming presence. He is like the calm in our sometimes crazy, chaotic, beautiful life.
Greg: Even though we've been married going on 10 years we've been together 15 years. The thing that I love about her, that I loved about her then that I still love about her now is her smile. We’ll celebrate by getting a cabin in the Shenandoah Valley to spend some time with just the two of us.