Darin and Jodi dated about seven years in total.?? They were 12 and 13 when they got together and 19 and 20 when they married.?? Along the way there were just a couple of small bumps in the road.?? The “on a break” times were relatively few all things considered.??

One such “break” though stands out in my mind as the most memorable.?? They were in high school and had been apart for a couple of months (it seems – Jodi would have to confirm this).?? It was approaching Halloween and Jodi got it in her head that her story would have a happy ending if she got Cinderella involved.?? Low and behold…she was right.?? I suppose that I play the part of the Fairy Godmother in this story hee hee.

I think Jodi may have been more nervous that Halloween than on her wedding.?? (She was all smiles at her wedding and loved walking down the isle so much she wanted to turn around and do it all over again 🙂 ).?? She went out and rented a fairly expensive beautiful baby blue Cinderella costume.?? She then came to my house and let me do her makeup and primp (who did the hair??? Me??? I forget.)

We were having a Halloween Party at our church and I can still see Jodi waiting anxiously as Darin had not arrived yet.?? Curious to see how this whole thing played out, I watched from a distance.?? Eventually, Darin shows up and couldn’t take his eyes off her.?? She really did look gorgeous (as you can well believe looking at these photos of her more than a decade later).?? As she predicted, baited, hooked and reeled in.?? Who really is the better fisherman (fisher of men) LOL??????? Me thinks my brother WANTED to be caught though.??

And I couldn’t resist this one.?? Jodi and her famous pointing finger….