Leah: Hi, my name is Leah Swanton. Brian: Hi, my name is Brian Swanton. Heather: I'm Heather Landes. Mike: I'm
Mike Kocour. George: I'm George Justice. Devoney: I'm Devoney Looser.
Heather: Watching him play music and hearing the music he creates — it's fantastic. Devoney: I loved
your writing. I think I fell in love with with you when I met you, but I also fell
in love with your writing. George: That is absolutely true, and your writing, which
still is — Devoney is the best writer that I know. Heather: I went on this date with a guy
named Mark Stryker who has gone on to be the fine arts critic for the Detroit
Free Press. We went out to dinner and then we went to hear this jazz group
play. And Mike was performing, and that was pretty much it for me. [laugh] It really was.
I saw him playing and I thought, "I kind of am interested in him more than my
date." [laugh] Devoney: I would say we exchanged thousands of email messages over the course of that
month and we still have some of them. And some of them were short, and some of them
were long. I feel like I got to know you over email. Heather: It was pretty much obvious at
the end of the night because I was thinking about this jazz pianist that I'd
just heard and how cute he was. [Interviewer: And did you notice her that night?] Mike: No. [laugh] Devoney: So I met you, what, four hours before this?
George: Maybe not quite, and I said to Devoney, "I've got a very important question to
ask you." Devoney: And I didn't know him very well, but I
was very interested in what his question would be. George: My question was, "Will you marry
me?" Devoney: So my first thought is this is someone who's insane but — wow! —direct.
Leah: We decided we'd go on our first date at Monti's Steakhouse, which is on Mill
Avenue — which, as you know, is no longer there. George: We had agreed to meet up at the
Javelina Cantina, which still is — because we went back and revisited the
Doubletree in Tucson a couple years ago — and it's still there.
Leah: It was just a really special place. Right before they closed, Brian was able to
snag us a reservation so we did get to eat there one last final time. It was a
bit sad, but we'll always have the memories.
Mike: My favorite thing about Heather is that within no more than 10 minutes of
waking up I'm already laughing my [bleep] off. Heather: You can't say [bleep] on the air. Can you say [bleep], I
mean really. They can't put that in there. Now they're gonna put *that* in there. [laugh]
Devoney: I love that we still make each other laugh, but without the comedy and without the
shared humor I don't think our lives would be as rich, full or fun — and to me
that's love, too. Mike: I like spending time with Heather. If I
had a choice to do anything, it would be to spend time with her. Heather: We're a couple,
we're together, we're best friends and it's just fun to be with your best
friend. Devoney: What I think doesn't get said often
enough is we have grown separately and together and the parts where couples
grow separately can be hard, but I love that the growth trajectory — whether it's
separately or together — has been one of amazing respect and depth. Leah: It's always
been this equal partnership so he has a great amount of respect for me and our
family. Brian: I would say the thing I love about Leah the most is how she holds me
accountable and makes me a better person. And I was immature at 17 when she first
met me, and here at 46 years old I'm still a little immature at times and
she's sort of the rock for not just for me but for our whole family.
Devoney: I think Jane Austen brought us together and she also keeps us together, and it's
because in addition to being very hopeful about love, she's very cynical of
marriage. [laugh] So I think we've used her as a way to laugh through our problems as
well as to find each other. George: Absolutely.