The Plot of a Rom-Com, In Actual Life

Rober Lawrence had seen Shawna Rodrigues round Phoenix Excessive College in Phoenix, Ore., for a few years, however hadn’t approached her till his junior 12 months in Might 1991, when she was at her locker speaking with a pal. The night time earlier than, Mr. Lawrence mentioned, he had a dream about Ms. Rodrigues and wished 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 mentioned. “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 mentioned 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 mentioned she was each heartbroken and shocked to seek out out from his mom that he was away for the summer season on a wrestling scholarship.

Mr. Lawrence defined that with out cellphones and the prevalence of emails, the 2 had misplaced contact. He mentioned he left a message for Ms. Rodrigues on the answering machine at her dwelling, although she mentioned she by no means acquired it. He returned for his senior 12 months, and the 2 awkwardly prevented one another.

He then left for his freshman 12 months 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 getting ready for school at what was then referred to as 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The 2 went to dinner on the Outdated Spaghetti Manufacturing unit close to Phoenix, the place Ms. Rodrigues mentioned they felt the romance however “we had been each petrified 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 will be 25 years earlier than they might see one another in particular person once more. Ms. Rodrigues married and divorced, dwelling in varied 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 Residence 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 choose up a brand new water heater. He didn’t see her.

The subsequent day, Mr. Lawrence, who then lived in Medford, bumped into Ms. Rodrigues’s youthful sister, Kricket Sturdevant, at an area 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 mentioned.

Ms. Rodrigues texted shortly thereafter, and the 2 started hanging out. Over the vacations, they went to a cheerful hour with mutual associates and wine tasting at an area vineyard.

Mr. Lawrence made one other large 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 bins and he would come assist,” Ms. Rodrigues mentioned. “So he got here to hold cupboards.”

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The 2 hung and painted cupboards, ordered Thai meals, watched favourite motion pictures and stayed up late “speaking about all the pieces.”

“I informed her I couldn’t let her go,” Mr. Lawrence mentioned.

“It was at all times you,” he recalled telling her.

Three months later, Mr. Lawrence, a surgical technician at Central Oregon Surgical procedure Heart 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 college mixtape.

The couple married April 27 on the Riverhouse, an occasions area in Shady Cove, Ore., officiated by Mr. Lawrence’s nephew, Caleb Lawrence, who was ordained by way of the Common Life Church for the event.

The marriage date is significant, Ms. Rodrigues mentioned. 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 mentioned she has no regrets in regards to the couple not committing to one another after they had been youthful. “We carry a lot extra into our relationship now that we by no means may have executed at these ages and phases.”