I thought you might enjoy seeing this photo of the day I met my husband. It was July 4, 1994 – as you can see on the date stamp – and we were at a party in Ocean Beach thrown our friend Kathy. That, my friends, is a younger version of our new neighbor and old friend, Rick, on the right.
Rick and I had been working at our new jobs for less than a year. We drove out to Kathy’s house (which was tiny and magical and a block from the beach) together. The party was full of fellow employees of the Old Globe and also actors and designers who were working on shows that summer. Don was in town to play Malvolio in Twelfth Night.
A bit of back story: A year earlier, I had flown out to San Diego to interview for a faculty position at The Old Globe/University of San Diego. It was an intense 2 days filled with interviews at the University and at the Globe. I was exhausted. Kathy, who was a wonderful actress that I’d met when she came to teach a class at Boston University, took me under her wing. She was that way, our Kathy. (Sadly, she passed away a few months ago.) She was performing in Morning’s at Seven at the Globe and got me a ticket for the matinee, which I watched and enjoyed. There was a guy in the cast who played a character named Homer and I thought he was very good. I remember looking at his headshot in the program and thinking that he looked interesting. His name was Don Sparks. Fast forward to a year later and at Company Call – when all the visiting artists gather and are introduced – there he was again, sitting just across the aisle from me. He was called up to the stage that day by Jack O’Brien and awarded the honor of Associate Artist. His acceptance speech was funny and self-deprecating.
So, there he was at Kathy’s party. I wasn’t working on his show, I was coaching an Irish play, and I was hanging out with those actors and with Rick. Every time I walked into the living room, this guy smiled at me. Every time. He made a point of leaning forward to catch my eye. I am usually shy about these things, but I finally bit the bullet and went over to him and introduced myself. We sat down on that sofa you see there and we chatted with each other. Rick eventually joined us.
And so began a conversation that has never stopped.
Look at our body language! We were already smitten.
We talked about – and I’m not kidding – how we couldn’t believe we were 43 and 41, respectively, with comments like, “How did we get so old???”
We were children.
Our friend, Jonathan McMurtry, took this picture and years later, slipped it into my mail slot at the Globe. What a treasure it is; the exact moment when we met.
Check out my red socks! Don still has that shirt and usually wears it on this day, but he’s in Washington, DC and it’s here somewhere. I still have that sweatshirt and wear it often.
It goes without saying that I’d love to be that thin again, but that’s not going to happen. Sigh.
On this exact date, four years later, Don proposed to me. And we got married three months later, in October.
Happy 24th, my love.
I love that picture! It’s such a miracle that someone was there to shoot it, too!
I have only a picture in my mind of meeting Mr. Wizard and I’m sure it’s flawed. It was eighth grade. I was new at his school and he was cute, in a yellow plaid shirt, but he was the same age as me (and we know that eighth grade girls are waaay older than eighth grade boys, right?) and he was shorter than me! Nope. No hope for us for another few years. That was about fifty-five or -six years ago.
I love your story, Shanna!
Every year when you talk about this, I get teary eyed! In life there are moments that change things: graduations, births, deaths, etc. That meeting of you and Kathy, her taking you under her wing, it started it all!
What a love story!
It is (to me, of course) the best love story. Thank you, Debbie.
What a wonderful story, Claudia. Kismet is a wonderful thing- you didn’t stand a chance! lol
We are close to the same age and I look back at my 4os and think—I was SO young then. lol
I hope you have a wonderful, blessed 4th—but I am sorry you are separated by miles today. xo Diana
Same here. I felt so old at the time. Little did I know!
I loved seeing this photo together and especially seeing Rick sitting there with you. Happy Anniversary of your first meeting!
Thank you, Linda!
Happy Meeting Anniversary you two!! May this be the best and longest journey of your lives. You both look so cute and yes, smitten. Have a blessed 4th even if you aren’t together. But you are always together in your hearts.
Thank you, Tana!
This story makes me so happy every year when you share it. The photo says it all! Happy 4th of July. I’ll be watching tonight. Hugs!!
Me too! Thank you, Linda!
Happy Anniversary to you! Life is good and love is the best part!!
It is indeed. Thank you, Lori.
Happy Anniversary! You two still are so cute. Hugs!
Thank you, Rose!
love this story … and that you have this photo and each other! hope you have the photo framed somewhere at home!
congratulations, claudia and don!
will watch don and “etm” on tv tonight, knowing that the next few days will be bittersweet for you two. hope they go as easy as possible and that you enjoy today, knowing you’ll both soon be together.
kathy in iowa
It’s going to be tough. Everyone is really tired now and the heat has been unbearable in DC. I think that once tonight is over and they head back to NYC tomorrow on the train, it will hit them. And it will hit Don. Sigh. Thanks.
Great meeting!
Thank you, Cara!
I love a great love story! Too bad you two can’t be together today. I plan on watching tonight! Enjoy! ;)
We’ve been apart on our anniversary many times because of work. We’ll celebrate next week. Thanks, Donna!
So sorry for your sadness, but rejoicing in a beautiful marriage and memories!
Thank you, Lovenna!
I love a good story and the story of Don and you is so great. May you enjoy many more happy years together!
Thank you, Deb!
What a delightful story! I am wishing you many, many more happy days ahead!
Happy Anniversary to you and Don. I wish you many, many more years of happiness. I absolutely love your love story.
Beautifully told,Claudia.xo
How wonderful to have a picture of that first meeting! My husband and I met on a blind date (the only one I ever went on). I would have loved to have a picture from that firt meeting. People asked me the next day about my blind date and I told them, “ I think I just met the man I’m going to marry!”
Happy 24th!
I also love seeing this picture…time does really fly doesn’t it?…congratulations you two!
Love that picture and story. I honestly do not think you and Don look that different. You have aged well. You two are lucky to have such a loving relationship.
HAPPY JULY 4th.
Marilyn
Happy anniversary! What a great “How we met and look at us now” story! So very sweet. Many more years of happiness to you both :)
Great story, first of all. But then to have a picture to memorialize it – how wonderful. Happy Anniversary to you both.
So so Sweet and romantic and nostalgic, a man that will keep the very shirt he wore when he met you!! you looked lovely then and you look lovely now, we are not meant to stay the same as I am well learning, I wish someone would have taken a photo of the day I met my husband too. what a treasure that would be for me, He is gone from me for a little while, waiting until I join him later. Happy 4th of July!!! from Iowa
Claudia, yours and Don’s story needs to be a play or movie. I love your story. I know you’ve shared much of it before but I love it even more (if that’s possible) every time you do! And now everything has come full circle with Rick being a neighbor in NY.
P.S. I love those windows and curtains behind you, Don, and Rick!
Happy Anniversary and big hugs to all of you!
Donna
It’s a lovely story, Claudia; thanks for sharing it. You’re a terrific couple.
Have a quiet, uneventful Fourth today (no startling fireworks!). Don’ll be home before you know it. Some time in another year you can both be at an outdoor celebration with all the sparkle if that’s what sings to you. I’ve been lucky to know a few of those 4th of July events myself but, in these days, I avoid the crowds.
For us today, it’s gearing up for the coming heatwave…and trying to calm our poor shepherd/retriever; she HATES firecrackers and big-boom noises, poor dear thing. I always dread the 4th (and New Year’s Eve) for this reason.
We’d rather be home. We’re not ones for fireworks. We always say that we saw fireworks when we met because we all went to the beach that night and watched the fireworks. But the noise and crowds no longer appeal. Thanks, Vicki.
My husband and I are sitting here, talking about past big fireworks events we’ve enjoyed. My uncle & fam would rent a house the beach around this time and we’d love to do fireworks in the sand at water’s edge (safer; but such fun as a kid). If not at the beach, same uncle would do the big BBQ, all the relatives over (so many of us back then, in those years, before so many passed on) in his very-large backyard which cascaded over three ‘terraces’ (lots of romp room for kids). He loved fireworks although he’d suffered hearing loss from being in the second day of D-Day and in the Battle of the Bulge during WW2. So many servicemen can’t stand fireworks because it’s too reminiscent of battle. My brother-in-law, who served two dangerous tours in Viet Nam, can’t stand to be around fireworks. But not my uncle; he’d recaptured childlike wonder with fireworks as an adult. He overcame a lot of demons from being in battle and I wish he were alive today so that I could thank him and tell him how proud I am of his bravery and ability to move forward in his life with I’m sure too many bad memories as a young warrior who was in fact a gentle and easygoing/soft-spoken young man who would never be one who’d choose violence and conflict had it not been required of him.
Yours and Don’s story of having first met is very romantic!
xo
Each of us is made up of many many stories in the books of our lives. This is one of my favorite ones of you and Don. We share with you our 4th of July engagement! 47 years ago today for us!!
We will be watching Don tonight. It is incredibly hot here, so the AC is on and the TV will be at max volume ~ all to help mask the sounds of the craziness going on outside. Our dogs and cat just hate it. One of our greyhounds just shakes and cries. So the music this evening will be welcomed and much enjoyed for sure!
Congratulations on your engagement anniversary!
I have had the AC on constantly. I’m going stir crazy!