This post is a little off topic from my normal garden posts, but I have been a little sidetracked as of late. HOPEFULLY, This will be the catalyst to get me back into The Citrus Guy mode and post more often.
Let me start by saying this: As you may or may not know, I have had a CRAZY past 18-19 months!! Let me give you a little bit of the backstory before I get into the real gist of this post.
My wife (Tammy) of almost 33 years passed away in December of 2024. She had multiple health problems and, sadly, the last 10 days of her life were spent in an ICU, completely unresponsive. She is missed by many. I continued on with my life, literally just minding my own business, keeping busy with all things gardening and such. Many of those types of things had been put on the back burner due to her failing health and the need for me to care for her.
In May of 2025, I attended a Pollinator seminar here in North Carolina. I knew the keynote speaker and was happy to reconnect with Brie Arthur. She was also happy to see me and we talked for a little bit after the event and we took a selfie together. That particular picture is a VERY KEY POINT to this WHOLE article!! I posted it on Facebook, not giving it a second thought.
Within a couple of hours of posting it and getting the usual thumbs up, love the picture, etc, I got a message from Lisa Walker. Lisa was a friend of mine from our high school days together. We were in the band together, graduated together and had even dated for a short time. This was back in 1984. To this day neither one of us remembers how or why we broke up. We agree it was not a bad breakup, just stopped dating.
The message she sent was very simple, very heartfelt, and not even remotely flirty.....she said that I had aged gracefully, and became a good looking guy. I thanked her and told her she was just being kind. We had been friends on Facebook for years and other than the occasional birthday greetings, we never really chatted. THAT was about to change!!
I, of course, was living in Smithfield, North Carolina, and she was in Clearwater, Florida. We started talking/texting a couple times a week. Then it became every other day. Then it became every day. It eventually got to be 4-5 hours a day between texting and face time. We REALLY started to spill our guts to each other. I told her about the passing of my wife after many years of her having health issues. She told me she had been married "15 days shy of 30 years" before ending in a divorce that I won't go into here.
We told each other everything we had done since our high school days, my military service in the U.S. Marine Corps, her running two different Children's Homes. She told me she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 25 and had been in a scooter for a few years. I informed her of my books that I had written, jobs I had, and all sorts of things.
We had both managed convenience stores at one time, both worked fast food/restaurants. Both of us had attended college for a short time, neither of us graduated or had a degree. We both moved around a lot to different states. The more we talked, the more we realized how our lives had paralleled each other.
One night, as we talked, we both admitted that the other was beginning to stir feelings for each other.
Then, I was doing a couple of lectures in Charleston, South Carolina in early August. I was going to drive down for the weekend. She has one of her kids from one of the Children's Homes she ran that lives in Summerville, just outside of Charleston. She asked if I would mind her coming up that weekend to hang out a little and she could see her kid and grandkids. I told her I would be honored! So we met up.
We laughed the ENTIRE WEEKEND!!! When it was over, we were both very sad....but I was already cooking up an idea!! We went our separate ways home, but continued to chat every night.
Lisa's birthday was coming up on the 19th of August. I asked her if her family would be upset if she was not around them for it. She laughed and said no. I told her that I wanted to fly her up to Smithfield for her birthday and spend the week together. I don't think she believed me until the tickets showed up in her e-mail. We were SO EXCITED!! We were going to spend the entire week together!
It ended up being better than either one of us expected!! We did some sight seeing, went out to eat at some fun restaurants, and I cooked her a special dinner on the night of her birthday. She was amazed! As the week drew to a close and I drove her to the airport, there were some tears shed....we did NOT want this to end!! Here comes another idea.
I have a spare bedroom. Lisa, would you like to move in with me? Her response...REALLY? YES!
So, the first part of September, I drove down to Florida, helped her pack her belongings and moved her to Smithfield. We then started discussing matrimony. In the meantime, she started learning about gardening and helping me with my Camellias....including helping me to run the competition show circuit.
We decided we wanted to get married as early in the year 2026 as we could. Well, the new year starts at midnight December 31st, let's do it New Year's Day.....at 5 minutes after midnight. Neither one of us wanted a big wedding, been there, done that. I joked we should get married here at the house in our pajamas. She LOVED the idea!! So, we went on Amazon and found some Mr. and Mrs. Pajamas (see picture).
Now, we need an official to do the deed. Out of nowhere, I saw a posting for a minister that had just recently gotten her license and was promoting herself to do weddings. I contacted her and told her what we wanted to do, she was thrilled!! Once all of that was squared away, we needed witnesses. I asked my next door neighbor, told him our idea, he never even hesitated....we would love to!! The minister, her husband and our neighbors ALL showed up in pajamas!! (Again, see pictures)
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
IT WAS OUR DREAM WEDDING!!
Our lives have been wonderful ever since that wedding day! We have more fun everyday than two human beings should be allowed to have!! You name any mundane activity and we have a blast doing it! How many of you laugh hysterically while brushing your teeth? We do! Grocery shopping? Non stop laughter. We enjoy each others company doing everything and anything!
Which, finally brings us to the main reason for this post....America's Favorite Couple. I saw this contest one day and asked what Lisa thought of it. We believe we would be perfect for it! The amount of people that are living vicariously through us and our story would fill a New York Phone book! Yup, we are THAT OLD!!
We REALLY would like to win!! All we need is for people to vote for us. It's absolutely free and you can vote once every 24 hours. There are also ways that you can donate to two very worthwhile charities and each dollar that is donated counts as a vote for us.
If you would like to learn more and vote for us, please visit:
https://americasfavcouple.org/2026/darren-and-lisa-sheriff
We would greatly appreciate EVERY SINGLE VOTE!!!
The ONLY caveat is, you must have a Facebook account. They don't sell your information, it is just a way to determine eligibility.
That's it in a nutshell. We appreciate you reading this and for every vote cast.
No comments:
Post a Comment