I was in the second grade when my parents bought Grandpa Hodgins’ house on the corner of Kimber and Kildahl in Marquette. Just down the street on Kildahl was the Rice’s house. There were a number of us kids in the neighborhood around the same age, and we played and hung out together. Kildahl was always a good street for street hockey. I remember playing hockey with Timmy Rice, but never did much with his older sister Tina. She was a year older and at our age that was almost a lifetime. I remember her as being a shy and quiet person, and pretty. Much too old for me.
Time moved on for both of us. We both graduated from Marquette Senior High, and Northern Michigan University. As fate would have it we both moved to the Milwaukee area after graduating from NMU, yet we had no idea of the other being there. We both got married while living in Wisconsin and both moved away because of our spouses. I moved to Detroit for almost 25yrs, and Tina moved to Brandon Mississippi for about 22yrs. As fate would also have it we both moved home to be closer to our parents who were having health issues.
One afternoon in May of 2021, my mother, Rita and Addie were on a walk through the neighborhood and saw Tina outside at her parent’s house. Mom always liked Tina and was curious to see what she has been up to lately. They had a nice conversation and on the way home Addie said to Mom…ya know, Tina and Jeff would make a good couple. Mom said I was thinking the same thing. After that Rita went into matchmaker mode. She soon contacted Tina to give her my phone number to give me a call and we could get together. Mom would see her again and ask…Have you called Jeff yet?….No. Eventually Rita got Martha on board getting their two children together. Mom set up a luncheon for the four of us at her house. It was so cute to see Mom acting as the matchmaker. After spending a couple hours together (which seemed like 10mins) Martha abruptly got up sayings…we have to go…we have to go to church. Mom quickly got up and said, Well Tina, Jeff would like to take you out. 🤦🏼‍♂️ We exchanged numbers and planned a date for about 3weeks out. Instead I called her the next night to take a drive around the Island. We ended up watching the sunset at Sunset Point. And our first official date was the next Saturday, August 14th, 2021. I felt my age driving to Dan and Martha’s but not once I got there. I felt like a teenager, her Dad was in the driveway waiting for me, and told me the two girls are in the house getting Tina ready. Dan and I had a nice talk waiting for the girls. Martha brought Tina out with a big smile and her parents sent us off with a…Now you kids have fun tonight! We did, spent some time with an old friend and later went out to Dig’s in MQT. The suggestion was Tina’s and a little outside of my comfort zone. I felt like we were the oldest couple there, and it was packed. We had a few drinks and people watched while standing close to one another. We both noticed this lady dancing next to her Man, except he wasn’t dancing, just standing there with their drinks as she was going to town. She didn’t dance in one spot, she slowly made her way around the whole bar. Just as we were getting ready to leave, she danced right up to us and said, “I have been watching you two, you are both very much in love. This is my husband and we are still madly in love with each other, I know what real love looks like.” With a surprised look on our faces we explained that this was our first date, but we grew up less than a block from each other. She smiled and said, “It’s Serendipity!” as she danced away. It made our night that it was easy to tell from our outward appearance how we felt about each other.
Later on we each learned more about the times that our children played together when they would visit the grandparents in MQT. Tina had no idea that they were my kids, she assumed they were my sister’s children. And I had no idea of the special bond that Mom and Emily had formed. I do remember Mom talking about Tina about 15yrs prior to us meeting again. Mom absolutely loved Tina, and edified her to me.
We don’t know God’s plans, but we feel He has made a path for us to come together.


More to come