Rober Lawrence had seen Shawna Rodrigues round Phoenix Excessive Faculty in Phoenix, Ore., for a few years, however hadn’t approached her till his junior yr in Might 1991, when she was at her locker speaking with a pal. The night time earlier than, Mr. Lawrence stated, he had a dream about Ms. Rodrigues and needed to inform her about it.
Unbeknown to Mr. Lawrence, now 49, Ms. Rodrigues, 47, had lengthy thought he was a “scorching jock.”
“When he and I met eyes, there was undoubtedly lightning for me,” Ms. Rodrigues stated. “I simply by no means would have imagined that he had the identical connection.”
The locker dialog sparked a short-lived highschool romance that Ms. Rodrigues stated felt like a rom-com, or, as she put it, the “theater nerd” with the “promenade king.”
Throughout their time collectively, Mr. Lawrence made her a mixtape stuffed with songs by the Treatment and “Depraved Recreation” by Chris Isaak. And the couple shared a passionate kiss whereas on a college tenting journey.
However in June 1991, Ms. Rodrigues stated she was each heartbroken and shocked to seek out out from his mom that he was away for the summer time on a wrestling scholarship.
Mr. Lawrence defined that with out cellphones and the prevalence of emails, the 2 had misplaced contact. He stated he left a message for Ms. Rodrigues on the answering machine at her residence, although she stated she by no means obtained it. He returned for his senior yr, and the 2 awkwardly averted one another.
He then left for his freshman yr at Brown, the place he graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in fashionable U.S. historical past. Ms. Rodrigues returned to complete her junior and senior years of highschool.
The romance rekindled two years later, as Ms. Rodrigues was making ready for faculty at what was then often called Northeast Louisiana College, the place she finally earned a bachelor’s diploma in social work. She additionally has a grasp’s diploma in social work from Boston College.
The 2 went to dinner on the Previous Spaghetti Manufacturing unit close to Phoenix, the place Ms. Rodrigues stated they felt the romance however “we had been each frightened of one another as a result of it was so actual and so proper. Neither of us had been prepared for that.”
The pair as soon as once more parted methods, however this time it could be 25 years earlier than they might see one another in individual once more. Ms. Rodrigues married and divorced, dwelling in numerous cities together with Washington, D.C., and Durham, N.H. Mr. Lawrence, who lived in Medford, Ore., and Portland, Ore., by no means married.
Then, in November 2018, Ms. Rodrigues was at a Dwelling Depot close to their hometown, whereas visiting her household from her residence in Portland. She was shocked to look over and see Mr. Lawrence, who was serving to a neighbor decide up a brand new water heater. He didn’t see her.
The following day, Mr. Lawrence, who then lived in Medford, bumped into Ms. Rodrigues’s youthful sister, Kricket Sturdevant, at a neighborhood sandwich store. (Ms. Rodrigues additionally has an older sister.) “On the finish of the dialog, I used to be like, ‘Subsequent time you see Shawna, give her my quantity,’” he stated.
Ms. Rodrigues texted shortly thereafter, and the 2 started hanging out. Over the vacations, they went to a cheerful hour with mutual mates and wine tasting at a neighborhood vineyard.
Mr. Lawrence made one other massive transfer romantically in January 2019. She had simply bought a house in Bend, Ore., and he volunteered to assist her settle in.
“He was saying he was good at shifting containers and he would come assist,” Ms. Rodrigues stated. “So he got here to hold cupboards.”
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The 2 hung and painted cupboards, ordered Thai meals, watched favourite films and stayed up late “speaking about every thing.”
“I instructed her I couldn’t let her go,” Mr. Lawrence stated.
“It was at all times you,” he recalled telling her.
Three months later, Mr. Lawrence, a surgical technician at Central Oregon Surgical procedure Middle in Bend, moved in with Ms. Rodrigues, who’s the founding father of Genuine Connections Podcast Community. He proposed in January 2021. They later made a Spotify playlist of that top faculty mixtape.
The couple married April 27 on the Riverhouse, an occasions house in Shady Cove, Ore., officiated by Mr. Lawrence’s nephew, Caleb Lawrence, who was ordained by the Common Life Church for the event.
The marriage date is significant, Ms. Rodrigues stated. It’s a palindrome that additionally nods to the significance of the quantity 27 of their decades-long relationship, together with the date of their first kiss in 27 years: Jan. 27, 2019.
Ms. Rodrigues stated she has no regrets concerning the couple not committing to one another once they had been youthful. “We convey a lot extra into our relationship now that we by no means may have executed at these ages and phases.”
