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Leya Thaobunyuen: Brian and I were in the middle of Wyoming chasing cell service through the back roads. We had drop calls, finally got the full story, and so now do you. It's a miracle, and it's my miracle. Miracles happen every single day, every moment of every day. Whether I choose to recognize them or not, they're there and they happen. And for me, this is such a miracle. Hello, my friends. So today's guests are incredibly close to my heart, my sister-in-law Dorise, and my brother-in-law their story is a second chance love story. So I'm honored to welcome them to the show. Say hello to Daris and Mitch. Hello. Hello. about the beginning. Mitch, how did you two first meet and what drew you together back then? I can give it to you from my perspective fairly easily. I worked at a place called Landa. And I obtained a job as an assistant manager over their rental department, where her father, Lonnie, was a salesman. as assistant manager, I would run equipment out to sites and I would deal with sales and service issues. one day our receptionist went to lunch and I was like, I'll cover the phone. I get a phone call Hello, this is Landa. How can I help you? See how that sounds it sounds really good. Okay. And the individual on the phone asked to be transferred to Lonnie Drawinger. And so I paged Lonnie and transferred the phone call. a little bit later, Lonnie comes walking into my office and looks at me and says, what did you say to my daughter? And I go, Your daughter? yes, my daughter. What did you say to my daughter? And I go, what are you talking about? Well, you just transferred a call, didn't you? I go, Yeah. Well, I said, hello. Thank you for calling Landa. How can I help you? And and he's like, Well, you must have said something. I go, Okay. Sure thing, sir. Whatever you say. But later that day, a really cute young lady came walking into Landa to see her dad. And I saw her. And I thought, wow, that is a very attractive young lady. And even though I was in the process of preparing to serve a mission for my church and I had decided not to date, I thought, you know, if she's willing, I could go out with her. That would that's okay, right? To myself. That's me talking to myself, you know. Cause he talks to himself a lot, but so do I. so mine's a little different, but not very much. how we met, 'cause We would not have met any other way. Like maybe the stars might align somewhere because I do believe and this is just this is just my belief and it hasn't been my belief my whole life. But it has now because of how everything has has turned out. when I called Landa, I was just calling to talk to my dad, and when he answered the phone. his voice really hit me and I was like, that is so bizarre. Why? Because not every guy's voice hits me on the phone. so when it did, I was like, Huh. Okay. How old is he? I wonder how old he is. I wonder, you know, all these things. when I had talked to my dad, I was just kind of like, okay. And my dad was at work. So if I showed up, it would be okay. So I got in my car and went to Landa to see what Mitch looked like. Because I was like, okay, if his voice is the same as his look So I did, I saw him and I was just like, okay. And I believe that he asked me out. Yeah. Atlanta they gave awards for whoever brings in the most income during a month. it just so happened that that particular month, our branch that I was the assistant manager over, our earnings were over everybody else in the whole department. And so we got like a hundred dollar gift card to go out to a restaurant I thought that I would sure love to use that and take her with me to eat. I was a senior You're a Gresham gopher. Yeah. So we lived in Bluffdale, Oregon, and he actually lived in North Portland. And Landa was actually on like one hundred and twenty second. Yeah. One twenty second in Portland. And so we would never, I mean, our schools, but Mitch did go to dances, I never saw him or maybe I did. I don't even know if I saw him We we would never have like cross cross paths. But that was our first date was a double date. So it was the manager and myself as the assistant manager. Then I kept asking her out unfortunately. So Therese, it was his voice that resonated with you. when you saw him for the first time, did he match the voice? And Mitch, what drew you to her? The only way I can really describe it is it's just the feeling I had. There's not a word for it. Yeah. I don't know if everybody can see this. But this was our one of our photos that we took. We would always do a photo booth. that's from nineteen eighty nine. Yeah, from eighty nine when we met. what I remember in dating Mitch was we had fun all the time. Like we always had fun. It he was just so outgoing and and it was just it was just fun. we even went to like a reunion. and that was fun. Like it was his cousin's birthday or something. then for my birthday, so we met in like I think it was the end of July or beginning of August. So in my journal, it was it said there the end of July, either the twenty sixth of July, and we got married on the twenty seventh this last year, so of July. But it said the twenty sixth of July or the August second or something. It was a Wednesday, but I do remember things about our courtship. It was like two to three months long. 'Cause he had go to serve on his mission to Australia, but for my birthday in September made me cookies and a cake and we had like a picnic. So I do remember that. Yeah, she was the only individual that I ever made stuff from scratch. So the fact that it was edible is pretty impressive. So made snickerdoodles and a German chocolate cake. So the fried chicken I bought. I did put it on a plate and have the picnic, all laid out, but yeah. He did. she's also the only person that I ever had over to my parents' home. I never had ladies over to my parents' home. Really? I just so Dereze Diries, you were pretty important. I I yeah, I was. I wasn't sure back then if I knew that I was that
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important. It's hard to know when you're young and life hasn't happened to you yet. Well, and she didn't see when I left on my mission, because I served a mission in Australia for two years in Perth. And there was no computer, internet, anything. It was all slow male. snail mail, US snail mail. And not that don't get me wrong, I have a lot of friends that are postal workers. I'm not trying to diss the US mail service. what it was is technology of the nineteen hundreds that we all suffered from. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. she never saw this, but every single time I'd get a letter, one, she would somehow get some perfume on it. And so I would Smell it. I remember doing that too. Yes, Drew. And then I would also run around the entire apartment happy that I got a letter. And so for her, because you know, I remember writing a letter saying, Hey, you know, I need to focus on my missionary work, and so I may not be sending you letters as often as I would like to. And that really was because I as being a convert to My faith, I really had a desire to serve God and share his message of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. that's the sacrifice you made, and very noble to do. And that's what impressed me about Ryan when he went on his mission. to set aside your worldly cares and just go serve and teach about Jesus. That's like so noble, so that's very impressive. Well, that's very kind of you. I just felt grateful to have the opportunity to talk about and share my beliefs. I went to his farewell you had to say goodbye for two years. Yeah, and at in the church parking lot and I remember this and I was like wanted to give him a hug and here comes the fan shape. I'm like, really? because that's what you had I mean, you're already set apart. You shouldn't be hugging ladies. Of course the ones that you dated whatever. I was happy that he was going on his mission and in my journal I said, I can't wait till he gets home, da-da-da, this many months and this many months and all this stuff. And I have a few letters still that he had wrote to me, this cute little postcard it was good for us to be apart for two years just to like live life. It's always good for for you to see, what the connection is and stuff too. what happened To cause you guys to lose touch. So he gets home. He gets home. I don't know. Okay. First I don't know when he's home. I don't know. I sent a letter because 'cause it was like, I think you come home pretty soon. I think it's like in this month and I wrote a letter I don't think I received anything back. I was like, I think he's home. I got home the evening of October thirty first. So I had two Halloweens, one in New Zealand and then one in the US. So And I can't remember the date that we in November. So that's when it's Mitch's turn because I remember the date, but So this is my perspective. Everybody has a perspective. Everybody totally has a perspective. And I think that that's what causes a disconnect is a misunderstanding of each other's perspective. I know that there was a misunderstanding of Brian's perspective when your roommate didn't pay the phone bill. So I had coordinated with Cindy Drawinger. Who is Darissa's mother? Who is in heaven? so she was my very first date when I came home from my mission. And we had coordinated it to where Lonnie and Cindy would take Darese to the Rhinelander. And I would show up and, eat with them at the table. Just a surprise? Yeah. Yeah. As a as a surprise. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So so with that, I'm at home and my mom's like, 'Cause my birthday was in September, but she's like, you're dead and I want to take you to the Rylander tonight. Why don't you go get dressed? And I'm like, Huh? For your birthday. Okay. That's weird. So I got dressed and my mom looks at me, she goes, Are you gonna wear that? Did I not wear the right thing or she's like, I think you should change your shirt. Okay. Weird clues. So I changed my shirt. We got to the Rylander. We're sitting there, you know, like, I don't think we ordered yet. We just kind of sat down. And I look up and I remember this to this day. Cause you don't forget when a hot guy walks in a room with a leather jacket on. You do not forget that. Especially when it's a guy that you dated and it's been two years. I looked up and I was like shocked. Is that? Like I was like, is that? And he comes and sits by me and I'm like, like I'm so nervous. Why am I so nervous? I mean, I've dated him before. it's been two years. Like I've dated. Mitch before he left and all these things, but all the feelings, like you just get nervous. that's how I felt is is nervous, excited. So many feelings. I was like, my gosh, he's back, he's back. And then he sat down and we ate. then after we ate, I asked Mr. and Mrs. Drawling her, Is it okay if I give Doris a ride home? they said yes. And then I pulled out onto the wrong side of the road. Scared the crap out of me. Because this was literally my first date coming back from Australia. And I had not driven in the US a whole lot at this point. Yeah. And so, yeah. I did not mean to do that. That was very embarrassing to me. all my dear friends already know this about me. so I don't mind the the public, knowing this about me. our family were converts to the Latter-day Saint faith. So I was baptized as a child Lutheran. And I was the head altar boy when I went to Holy Cross, Catholic, Roman Catholic school. we did join the LDS faith before I made it to Holy Cross, but they needed a head altar boy. And because I was very religious, I volunteered. Sister Juanita used to always try to talk me into becoming a priest. But I thought that girls were too cute to be a priest. So but with that said, I had looked forward to, my whole adolescent life to serving a mission. I had never been intimate with a lady. I had never consumed alcohol. I had never smoked cigarettes. The only time I drank coffee is when my grandfather and my brother took me on a fishing trip when I was like eight and talked me
into trying coffee. And it had grounds in it. They didn't put any sugar or cream. And I felt like I was gonna throw up and they were laughing like like crazy. it's gonna put hair on your chest. So I was very straight laced according to the Latter day Saint view of how an individual should behave. For the most part. You know, no one's perfect. I was not perfect, but I tried really hard. I was very dedicated because I had a very strong and I still do very strong belief in a loving Heavenly Father. when we had stopped and we were talking, because I had not kissed a lovely lady for two years, I was very excited to Have the opportunity to kiss this lovely lady. And she also being a very conservative individual. she had expressed the concern, hey. my brother Brian told me that Brian. Yeah, d you're Brian. Yes. Yeah. my brother Brian told me that, I should be, really careful so that we don't, get in trouble. With return missionaries. You know, with return missionaries. when I heard her saying that, in my mind what came to the forefront was, hey, you're approaching this whole looking for someone to share your life with in an incorrect fashion. You look at Doris she is so attractive to you, and that's like your focus. And right then, like all the letters and all the sweet things kind of went out of my head. So it was not personality based. It was purely just how I was feeling right at that moment. And I thought, you know what? I need to try to see if I can find someone that is more than just someone that I want to be physical with. so I had said, you know, hey, I think that we should see. other people. so when that happened and when he dropped me off, I was like, Yeah, how'd that make you feel? it just made me feel sad because I was like. You know, Mish was twenty-one and it it's just young. You just just don't really know. It's confusing too. All these feelings jumbled like what is this? Is this real? Like, yeah. Yeah. Well, and you try at least from my perspective I had devoted so much of my life to a specific Christian belief set. I thought, okay, carnality you need to try to, avoid the natural man and focus on other things. Like an eternal perspective, children and and being friends. that's what I thought. Well, maybe I should give that a try and just see, instead of being head over heels with the first person that I dated and the only person that consistently wrote me. my entire two years away. he still has all of the letters. I do still have every single letter. It was sad I don't know what the words called, but I don't know what the world word is, I just felt I felt sad. I could have totally reached out. And I didn't because you're in that age of do I reach out? Does he mean he just wants to date other people and me? are you being too forward? Too forward. I'm a nervous. And nowadays, women are forward all the time. Like all the time. But back in the day, no. Like you would wait for a guy, like, you know, your parents would say, Hey, wait for the guy to come into you. I was like, Okay, I'm just gonna wait. I'll wait. Yeah, yeah. And I that was always told to me. in my journal I did write, like it was two months later, and I was like, guess I won't hear from him. I hope he has a great life. And that was it. And you never say that about like a boyfriend that like Well you gotta leave out the important part. I said he's such a great individual. I hope he has a wonderful wife. Right. The great individual. It wasn't it was actually was Guy. He's a great guy. Great guy. Well then it was really sweet of you to not curse his like I did. I know. I mean I've done it many times I can't believe he did this and this. But with Mitch it was different and it was different. Yeah, it was just so different. in my journal I had dated while he was on his mission. And so I was like, this guy, I'm not sure about this one. But Mitch is the number one. Mitch is the number one. It was always said Mitch is the number one. I actually saw it in her journal, I can testify to that that's accurate. I didn't just write it in and it's my handwriting. I had a lot of life to learn and experience to where I could truly value and appreciate all of the wonderful qualities that she has as an individual. without going down the path that I did, I wouldn't see it so clearly. I never ever stopped. Thinking she was awesome. I never stopped that either. Even though there was no more dating, after that. it didn't matter. I was just like, you know what? He's a really great guy. you guys had some connection you just didn't recognize did you ever imagine you'd cross paths again later in life? Nope. No. Cause there's 'cause there was no way, like when we first connected, like there was no way. I knew some of his family, but not everybody. I think he came to our house maybe twice or something. 'Cause back then, you have the the phone and you probably see each other like on the weekend or whatever. It wasn't all the time. Yeah. 'Cause it was far away. in my mind I could be hopeful I never thought. I n I never. I mean to this day, I still like I'll wake up in the morning and I'm like, Who's by me? Like It kind of freaks me out a little bit because I'm like, okay, is this real? Cause I don't know. Like the whole time it's just a pinch me. Just pinch me. Cause I'm not sure if this is real. the feelings that I had back then and the feelings that I have now are way more now. They're stronger. Way way stronger. Where you know, you know. And reconnecting, who reached out first? it sounds very unbelievable. to a lot of people, but to the people that have faith that Heavenly Father can actually touch your life and change your life. I've told friends that are just like that's so great. because that there is there is a God. I mean We have a heavenly father that loves us. I feel that that has been the whole focus of our reconnecting. spirituality is real. if you're meant to be together eventually, it will happen. go ahead, Mitt. So with that with that
said. I won't go into all the details. I could I should get the text and read the the text I sent. But I was sitting at home. I was all alone at the time. I had been separated for roughly 10 months. the divorce was in the process of being finalized. as I sat there, I just had this thought come to my mind. Send Darisa text. I literally go, okay, where the heck did that come from? And why would I try to reach out to somebody that I have not spoken to for over three decades? I don't even know, like I know virtually nothing about this individual, as I'm sitting there, it just hit me so hard. Hey, Mitch. Send our text now. so I'm like, well, you know what? I don't know what's going on, but I know how I feel, and I gotta go with this feels. So I am going to put together a text and send it to her. So I find her in Messenger and I type out a text. Basically, it said, you know, hey, I don't know if you remember me, but You really dodged a bullet. this is all rough because I don't have it in front of me to read it to you, but in the mid-90s I was diagnosed with chondroid coroma, which is a very rare form of cancer. after that I had issues with my blood. I have to go in for polycythemia rubravera for treatment, or at least that's what it was diagnosed then and I had to have a minor heart surgery, a cryoablation. then I also had a traumatic brain injury while I was at work and I had to relearn to stand up. I had to relearn to talk because I couldn't speak at first. Had to relearn to walk and write my name it was a very challenging process. I said, but I just want to let you know that I really appreciate your kindness towards me all those years ago. And I just want to say thank you. And then I left it at the It was a really sweet text. And hit sin. And I'm telling ya, it was the exact time that I needed it. This is what happens, okay. I had prayed and prayed and prayed and everything like for for a while but I believe that things happen for reasons and I've always believed this and I believe it more now than ever I believe our Heavenly Father knows who we are and knows what we need at that certain time. And at that time I did need something I didn't know it would be Mitch, but had no idea. when I received that text, I was like, wow. this is what I said to myself at the beginning. It says, I don't know if you remember me. okay, why does somebody say that to you? Because they know you remember them. Because I'm telling you, he knows I remember him. And because we did have something special There was something that was really special back then, and when you go through that with someone. you remember. You remember the special times you had. Mitch was in West Virginia and I'm in Utah. when he sends me that, funny thing is, is probably ten years, maybe more, I was looking up people on Facebook because I was friending other people and I had thought of Mitch and I was like, I wonder what he's doing. Which is weird, like why? You know, just because it's Facebook and you wanna be friends with everybody and so I looked him up I saw a picture of him and his wife and that was like right when they got married and that's all I saw and I was like, huh and it didn't let me friend him or anything. I guess he's doing great. Like that's great. Like that was my whole thought process and that was it. But when he reached out it was very shocking to me. And I felt like it was maybe AI for a minute. I was like, no way. No way possible that this is actually Mitch. I said, Okay, so where did you serve your mission? Cause I was like trying to get all the info. So he's like Perth and I was like, Okay, it's you. I sometimes you gotta check these things. so we chatted for a while and I was going through a rough time just started chatting. And talking back and forth talking about life and and where it's led us and our kids how many and stuff like that and then at that time I was going through a divorce and Mitch had helped me. along that lines I have been divorced before. I was married five years when I got divorced with my first husband, I had met someone that I didn't know before, and he helped me through my first divorce. I thought in my head that, you know what, Heavenly Father's there for me he has given me someone to help me through this. there are many things that happened after that, that's how I felt at that time. And I was like, you know what? I'm so grateful that I have someone to help me go through this. how many years was it before you guys reconnected? So technically not quite thirty five years since nineteen ninety one, And stuff happens in your life that you just don't get it and you try to understand I I had life happen. Life happens like all the time, every day. when you guys actually got to talk for the first time, what was that like? And what was going through your mind after all those years that you realized, we're actually talking to each other. This is crazy. Do you remember his voice? Did you remember her voice? my goodness. Yes. Okay. When I first heard him, I was like, 'Cause I remember like it comes back to you. And like I go back to that seventeen year old that was like, my gosh, I can't believe this is Mitch. And I can't believe his voice. And this is totally him. Like his voice had not changed. I didn't feel like it had changed at all. I was a little bit speechless when we were talking, or when I would hear something, like he would send me a voice text or something, and I'm like, my gosh. he's in West Virginia. I'm in Utah, which is perfect, was perfect actually, because I was going through stuff. And so it was great that he was there and I was here. you need your own space to get through. Yeah. get to the other side. Yeah, to go through things and just take a figure out life and figure out what I was doing it was nice to have someone that was going through stuff too. it was kind of nice to have each other. Mitch is a miracle It's it's a miracle and it's my miracle. Heavenly Fathers had a hand in all
of this. Mitch, what was it like for you to reconnect with Daris? I had no idea the result of actually sending her that first message. I don't think anybody has an idea. Like I had no idea at the time, I did not know what was going on in her life or where she was at in life or anything. when she responded back it was very Polite. There was no there was no like, hey, what are you doing in your life? Hey, you know, like let's let's reconnect. Hey, let's do this. None of that. it was more of my gosh, you know, how are you? Like how have you been? Like what's your life been like? Kind of thing. it wasn't it wasn't like, Hey, let's go on a date tomorrow. Like none of that. It was intentionally caring about the other person. Kind of like a just a friend. Like a friend, really caring about someone. And old friends are the best. Yeah, yeah. to me, though, old friends are the best. But very early on, I just felt like, you know what? This is very, very special. So what you want to do is you just wanna Sit tight, act like a good, respectful friend, and give her as much space as she needs. he totally did that. Like there was just conversation between us he was helping me through a hard time And I had other friends that were helping me through too. it was really special to have someone that cared for me and that was really sweet to me. when I had found her in Messenger, it has a little caricature up at top where you can click on it and you can bring up the Facebook profile. And I was like, let's watch some of the videos she has in there. And she's given a speech as a coach, it was phenomenal. Like Phenomenal. so not the first text, but it is like if a little ways down the line, I said, hey, you know, just to give some credibility to my compliment, you know, I graduated with honors with a degree in communication studies from Portland State University. And I was the assistant director at Custom and Border Protections Advanced Training Center over Leadership Development. This has some credibility to this compliment. And I went over in detail all the things in her speech that was just crazy phenomenal. and did you know, and did you know that this man was a model and an actor and stuff like that when I met him. Back in eighty nine and I was very in awe of that when we had met. So that was that was one thing. You you can't tell anymore because I have I have like some side effects from if you've seen, you know, face off with Nicholas Cage and his whole face was taken from button. Yeah. So I have like twenty four titanium screws and a titanium bracket holding my head together and so and literally, literally he was preserved. like literally, he is sitting here, a real human being, not a robot, but preserved. and I do believe that is true. Like I do believe that there is something on this earth that we are supposed to do together. I believe that. it's that with like. all the feels, so many feels, so many feelings like of friendship and with friendship comes love So just talking back and forth, it was very special and very needed. I felt loved. I felt love. And I remember Mitch being very He likes himself very much. And so do I. and I'm telling you I was king of the junior prom in 1987 and also king of hearts. Okay. All these things. So okay. We like ourselves, and we have joy in our lives. Like my life for the last so many years without Mitch in it. I still had joy. I had joy throughout my whole life. with my first marriage, I did have some joy. We played cards with my grandma, all these things. and had a good time. We had joy. But then something happened with that. And then my second marriage, we had joy. There was joy. my three girls are my joy. I love my three girls. they had been my joy. for a long time. I believe that we can find joy in our life, but this joy is so different than any other joy that I've experienced. The joy between Mitch and I has been amazing. It's been amazing. I feel like I'm home. like what what is it? The show, Jerry Maguire. Was that in the eighties or no? Was that later? You you complete me. You complete me. You complete me. Like he does. He completes me every time like every time he's thinking something and I'll say something and I'm like, he goes, Wait, I was just thinking that. Or I would say the same thing. And you'd think that we've been reconnected forever. But like it's been what six months we've been married? But our reconnection has I I feel like it's been a long time and a long time coming. And I'll look in his eyes and I'm like, Well and I I do look like a Q tip when I don't this is a die job. we're a little bit older, A little wiser, more mature, a little wiser, a little bit. so after after my divorce I moved into a this town home. Then I saw Mitch for the first time. it was May twelfth. I believe that is correct. In the AM because I did do a night flight I do not like night flights. It was all night. And I was so nervous. You flew out there to him, right? Baltimore, Washington, International. So I flew out after I'd moved into my townhome because I was like, okay, we have to see, you know, if this works. Like or what this is. Because the thing is, is like when you're talking on the phone and you're just chatting and then you go through things. and our divorces were like Your divorce was April twenty first. Twenty first. Mine was the twenty second. Like totally different states. I don't know how that happens. Separate circumstances. Just separate circumstances. everything happens for a reason. We had talked about like seeing each other. I bought my ticket and got on the plane. I was so nervous. I was on the plane. What's gonna happen? What's gonna happen when I see him? My gosh, I'm so nervous. And I couldn't sleep. I got off the plane, and of course. I'm gonna bring my toothbrush on the plane because you never know. And I thought this too, because Mitch was in law enforcement. I was like, okay, is he gonna talk to the people at the airport and be like, hey, can I
see her right when she gets off? You know, because maybe he could. Maybe he could do that. And I was like so nervous because I'm like, Well, maybe I need to brush my teeth on the plane. I don't know what's happening here. Like, because we'll probably kiss. I don't know if we'll kiss. I don't know what's going on. And so I got off the plane and went to the restroom and he's like, hey, I'm here, I'm waiting. Like, I'm like, I was so nervous. I remember I had my pink jumpsuit on and I just wanted to be comfortable in the plane, but I wanted to be cute too. and so br pink's always cute no matter what. Right? Brushed my teeth went kept walking and I was just like I was so nervous. Like, why am I so nervous? This is so weird. And because I know him. Like, I just don't know him. I just haven't seen him yet. So I look over and there's like three cop maybe two cops, three cops, I think, over there. And that you have to go through them to see somebody on the other side I just kind of stood there for a minute. And I looked at my phone and then I looked at him looked over and he was on the phone and I'm like, I think that's him. Is he on the phone right now? I was trying to call you. I was like, what's going on? Okay, I'm so nervous. So sweaty. Just everything sweaty. And you're poor. You couldn't put on enough deodorant, like to not sweat. Like, cause you just don't know. It's the unknown. so I get up to him and I drop my bag. When I saw him and we were both just smiling and like we just hugged. That hug lasts forever. so I'll let Mitch tell his story I was the only one in that specific area. So I talked to the airport police and I just said, Hey, you know, I have someone coming that I'm gonna be meeting. I want to get to the closest place that I can without interfering with security. And so they directed me to an area to where right when she comes through the doors past security, then I was right there. And so I was the only one there. when she comes through, I saw her over there when I was on the phone. I was like, that's her. How come she's not answering The phone. But I was like, why why isn't she answering the phone? And I go, Man, she looks so cute. And so I, you know, put the phone down and she, you know, comes over and I'm, you know, like, hey, here I am. she comes over and when I hug her, it felt like no hug ever before. Have I had them since? Absolutely. But at that moment in time, there was no hug. Like there was no time. It wasn't like time wasn't even there. No. So we just kept hugging and there there was no like there was nobody around us. It felt like there it was just us. So it's like you're at an amusement park and like nobody's there but you. And I felt that sense too. Like there's been times when we danced in Hawaii. And I just felt that was just us. Although there were people taking videos and pictures, but it was just us. I know that you've danced together in the parking lot of Roland's grocery store in Thane, Wyoming one early morning.
We did. So our our life has been crazy since, like crazy good. with meeting back up it just felt like normal. it's like it's like no other. you can't really describe it. the feelings are just so overwhelming that you just don't know how to describe it. did I ever feel like I'd be in the situation that I'm in right now? No. Never. I never did. I always thought to myself that I would live through my kids. My kids are my joy. they've always been my joy. Ever since having my first and my second and my third, like they were just my joy. I never I never imagined having this joy. I just never did. what is marriage like now? For both of you together. I'm home. Yeah. I'm home. Well for me, there's two just huge elements. One is just that she has all of my trust. a hundred percent. she had it. right from the beginning. it shocked me because I have a career in law enforcement interviewing individuals that have been detained and or arrested, you learn that trust is earned, not just given freely. And yet there was no hesitation It was just a hundred percent trust and safe, feeling safe. Like I could tell her, like in the first text I sent I painted the picture for her. Look, I'm a train wreck. I mean, literally, it's as if a train, drove right over the top of my body. it is amazing that I can even walk at this point. you don't say that. If you're trying to impress somebody, but I just implicitly trusted her even before I talked to her, which is weird. That is so weird. That's that connection, like the twin flame connection, or however you want to say it. It's like your souls knew each other you found each other again and are reconnected and feeling that you're on the same like vibration of that spirituality. And that's probably why those are things that are difficult to discuss or hard to like put your thumb on and try and think of a word for it. I just keep saying surreal. It's just surreal. And yeah, your guys' story, in our story and other similar, I would say, this is so weird. This is so weird. And then my mom, she just one day said, quit saying it's weird and say it's divine because you can't explain it. I love divine. Well, to me, it is divine. And I would say that. I would say, This is so weird. This is so weird. And it's true. I would say the same thing. And and I was like, you know what? Who was it? I think it was my counselor that I had at the time. And she's like, It's not weird. It's amazing. it's not weird. It's amazing. And I'm like, this is amazing. It's amazing. Like, it's amazing that Mitch is here. It's amazing that we reconnected at that specific time. Like it couldn't be any earlier than that. Like it had to be at that specific time and that time in my life that I needed someone right then, that day. And that is why when he shares that, hey, I had a feeling to reach out to you twice. And I'm like, I get that because I know that. I know that I needed you right then. like within a half an hour time limit, like I needed him. I needed him to
be there. And I'll tell you what, I felt like if anyone else, would have reached out to me, like if it were any other boyfriend, friend. Any other, it would not be the same. Mitch has always had a little beast of my heart all the time. when reconnecting, it's like, my goodness. That's it. It's it's divine, Jenny. Like it is divine. This is the divine work that we have to do on this earth. Sometimes you need your light and I had a light. I had a light with me. I had joy with my girls. I had joy with my friends. But this joy is so different than any other joy that I felt. and as I was talking to Mitch earlier, I was like, you know, I had joy. in my life. And he had joy in his life. But our joy put together is like a volcano erupting. And that's how I feel. Like it's just there all the time. it's never, it's never going to wander because we're going to work on this the rest of our lives. Like this is someone that I want to work the rest of my life with. And feel this joy every day. that's what I found. that's a really good segue because even though there's so much joy here, there are challenges all around us all the time. And to be able to have such an open line of communication and trust, to have You know, conflict where there's slightly different interests, but to be able to talk it through in such an amicable fashion, in a loving fashion, to where the conflict is resolved without any kind of contention whatsoever, is just the most wonderful experience Right. It is challenging. It really is. It's it's challenging going through things. life's not perfect. Right. Yeah. but you go through it together. You're not you're not on your own. You're not on your own with it. Yeah. And you have someone you can trust that you know has got your back. to me, you know, our engagement was very short our marriage has only been Roughly six months and five days. And we have had some challenges, but never contention. And to me, that is like even in a friendship, just with your best friend, that's unheard of. there's always like a little bit of competitive nature and a little bit of, you know, contention that surrounds the conflict. Like I'm gonna win this argument Never. And it's like I literally feel like I have just opened myself up and been like, Hey, this is all of my ugliness. And she's looked at it and been like, I love you. And it's like, what, do you not see this? What the heck? And she's like, you know, it's okay. I love But it's the same. It's okay. It's the same. I have ugliness too. we go through life without I mean, without challenges, no way. We're gonna have those all the time. We're gonna have everything hit us. left and right. But when you have open communication and you also have open communication with your heavenly father, It's limitless. Yeah. it's just It's crazy how you feel so amazing and so loved all the time because you have that. you have an open communication with each other and with our Heavenly Father. So like today, we Went to church for
very short period of time, but I've been fighting a little bit, which you might be able to hear. Of a cold. A little bit of a cold. With that said though, we came home and we sang some hymns together. We got on our knees and prayed together. We read about the savior together. We shared our testimonies together It was really peaceful and beautiful It just it's a feeling that goes beyond What I thought a relationship was supposed to be. Like I had no idea. I had no idea that this existed. No. No way. it's that connection with the divine. And then once you have that, it lives in your home. It's in your home. It's in your home. It's so in your home. And I'm telling ya. Okay, when I moved into this town home I brought my mom's plant, like I've got the flowering cactus, and I have the peace lily that I got from her funeral. So the cactus has been in the the family forever and it never bloomed. So I've had it for three years at my previous home and it never bloomed. And I'm like, what the heck? So I brought it here. And I'm telling you, within, I don't even know how long it was. I think it was in October that it bloomed. It started blooming. And I was like, okay, this is a testament to, my goodness, I wasn't in a good place, but now I'm in a really good place. Like the feelings and everything. it's such a good place for me. Like for me to be and have peace and joy. And I had those. I had joy. I had joy with my girls but like the peace and the feeling of love and comfort. I think just made my plant bloom like it's done it three times since. it's so crazy to me. Like amazing, right? Amazing. Like crazy. And that was your mom's. Cindy's. I do have to say something too. We'll back up a little bit before Mitch reached out Cindy. Dorice's mom, she passed away just weeks before Brian and I got married. I know how sad it was And Doris was really having a hard time and not being able to pick up the phone and call your mom when you're going through a hard time. And so for Mitch to have that inspiration at the time that he did to reach out to Doris, I can't help but think that she might have a little something to do with that. I I know she did. I won't go into details, yeah, my mom. she definitely had a piece of this Because life isn't always what you hope it would be. everything in life could be different than what you thought. my mom knew me and she knew my struggles and all those things and she still had that love for me always. and that's when I feel like when I moved into this townhome that when it flowered, I was like, Yeah. And she she knew. She knew. we all go through struggles in life. it's not that there's bad people out there. It's not that All of those things, we come in contact with people all the time with different struggles. But it's just finding that peace and joy in your life that everybody's looking for. that leads me to my last question I want to ask. That's perfect. what would you say to someone that's listening who feels like love has passed them by and they don't have any hope? What advice would you give them? You kind of already have, just to like dial it in a little bit more. I think that for me, when you've given up hope and you understand that it is not like, well, you know, there's a ton of fish out there in the sea and I can make this work with anybody. That's not Reality. Just be patient, give it time, and there's a really good chance that that door is going to open up for you unexpectedly. Yeah. And that, you know, love will enter into a place to where, you know, there is just no hope. Miracles happen. That is so true. I was not looking for that either. Telling you, I was not looking for that at all. I was just like, just tell me and bring me peace. and I had said, here you go. Like what what can I do? you know, help me with this. for those listeners out there, if you have a feeling of faith and know that there is someone out there looking out for us, he is there. give it all to him and be like, you know what, help me. And he'll be there to help you. And even though it is a matter of perspective, from my perspective, miracles happen every single day, every moment of every day. Whether I choose to recognize them or not, they're there and they happen. for me, this is such a miracle. One that I just cannot express my gratitude for. I just I cannot adequately do that. Do I get on my knees and and say thank you? Absolutely I do. But even doing that, it just doesn't seem to be enough. Well, Mitch, thank you for reaching out to Daris. I remember when she called Brian and I. When I first said in the introduction, we were in the wilds of Wyoming and our signal kept going in and out and she's trying to tell us the story and we're like, What, what, what's next? And the signal went out and then we had to call back and we only got bits and little pieces And it was just like, my heck, this is so amazing. So happy for both of you. thank you so much for sharing such personal insights your story and being vulnerable, and sharing this that can help someone else. Thank you for this opportunity. Yeah. And I really do hope that it touches somebody 'cause Me too. Me too. Miracles do happen. Me too. I totally didn't think it would ever. in my life this would not have happened. I get to a point where I just don't believe it a lot of times, but it is happening right now. And it's like I can't believe this. but it it's real. Like it is real. it can totally happen to you. Well, and you're a testament of that too. That's why I'm playing it forward. I wanna keep this going. I love that. I love that. And if any of you listeners have a story too, you know, reach out to Jenny. yeah, definitely. Everybody everybody wants to hear it. We're building a community of second chances. So thank you guys.