Valentine's Day is this weekend, and our next guest
have such a sweet love story.
I'm really excited about this.
Diane and Dennis were a Junior high
school sweethearts who reunited and fell in love all over again
55 years later.
From Las Vegas, Nevada, please welcome
newlyweds Diane and Dennis.
[APPLAUSE]
Hi, Diane.
Hi, Dennis.
How are you doing?
Great, thank you.
Thank you all so much for being here.
Our pleasure.
And this is such a sweet love story.
Now y'all have known each other for 64 years.
How did you first meet?
Well, I was a little kid from Oregon
and moved to Southern California,
attending Sun Valley Junior high school in the San Fernando
Valley.
And Diane was in the same homeroom as I was.
This cute little blond haired girl ponytail,
and I had a crush on her almost immediately.
And she got a kick out of my bit of an accent, Hillbilly Oregon
accent.
[LAUGHTER]
And so when did you know that you were in love?
Well, she lived a couple of miles away from me
in the Valley.
And naturally, I was too young to drive.
But I rode my bicycle up to her house and her parents liked me.
And they had an old oak tree behind their house on the hill.
We'd go up there and hold hands, and I carved our initials
in the oak tree with a heart.
That was actually our first date.
And so you got married right after high school,
but then divorced a few years later.
But did the feelings go anywhere when
you went to your separate ways?
Not with me.
I always had a soft spot in my heart for her,
but things were different.
When she's done, she's done.
Yeah--
[LAUGHTER]
--I did not.
I had a cold heart during that point.
[LAUGHTER]
He had to melt it and he did.
She was a mean woman.
[LAUGHTER]
Now, a lot had happened and you went separate ways.
But how did you end up reuniting in 2019?
I was at work--
I was walking to work, and there was
a trip wire in the road from where
they were doing something.
And I fell on my face hit it hard.
And I had to go to the hospital, and I had a very difficult time
recuperating.
And he followed my daughter on Facebook--
We were friends.
--and he found out I was in the hospital
and he sent me flowers.
Now after getting flowers out of nowhere,
is that when the love started to rekindle?
No, actually not for me.
But--
[LAUGHTER]
--I came out to visit my daughter in Las Vegas
and he lives about a mile away.
And she was at work all day on four days that I came to visit.
And so he asked me to go out to lunch with him, and we did.
We went to the Stratosphere, and then on the LINQ.
And we had a good time.
We drifted back.
[LAUGHTER]
Absolutely.
Took 50 years.
And you drifted back and what's really special
about this is you got remarried on the same day
you were originally married more than half a century ago.
I mean, that's-- can we clap for that real quick?
I'm sorry, that's a beautiful thing.
Now have you-- have you gone on your honeymoon yet?
Well, our honeymoon, we were supposed to go to Hawaii.
But because of the COVID, it got canceled.
Well, we want to help you out with some of those things.
When things settle down, we would want you
to go on your dream honeymoon.
So Veterans United Home Loans was
honored to help you purchase your custom built home.
And as a late wedding gift and a thank you
for your family's service to your country,
they want to send you on a $15,000 honeymoon to Hawaii.
[APPLAUSE]
And I know y'all are having a good time.
Seriously, I love this conversation so much.
And seriously, I'm seven years married
and I'm aspiring to have a love that's long lasting like yours.
So thank you so much.
We appreciate you.