A kiss is still a kiss

THREE VALENTINE’S LOVE STORIES FOR THE AGES

Story by ELISSA CHUDWIN

KATIE AND KEVIN BADGER have quite a few similarities. They have the same birthday. Their childhood dogs have the same name. Their younger siblings are best friends.

Not to mention they were neighbors growing up on Dartridge Drive.

But Katie and Kevin weren’t even friends until her family visited Kevin at West Point when he was 20 and she was 16. The two became pen pals after the trip, and he attended Katie’s high school graduation. A summer romance sparked but quickly dwindled after Katie went away to college.

Their lives didn’t intersect again for decades. They both married other people who they later divorced. Kevin was deployed four times during his 23-year U.S. Army career. Katie periodically checked his Facebook to make sure he was OK, but they hadn’t talked.

Seeing that he had Facebook messaged her in 2015 was a shock. “I had not heard his voice or seen him in 20 years,” she says. She let the message sit in her inbox for weeks. Her younger sister begged her to respond.

After they messaged for three or four months, they finally agreed to meet. “When this happened, it was an instant connection,” Katie says.

They married in June 2017.

MICHELLE AND CHRIS DISHMAN became fast friends after meeting in Lake Highlands High School’s choir. Their junior year, Chris Dishman asked Michelle on a date with this note: “As soon as I get my license, I’m going to take you out.”

He and Michelle started dating as soon as he got his first car. But the transition from friends to sweethearts was awkward. “It was weird when we started dating,” Michelle says. “We went out. We were like, ‘We can’t do this.’ Then we missed each other and got back together.”

The two were partners in Espree and attended prom together. Then, in college, they broke up. The separation was once again short-lived.

Their junior year of college, they headed home to Lake Highlands for an Espree performance. While out to dinner, Chris gave Michelle the performance program. Inside was their prom photo and a poem about marriage. He tucked the ring inside his boot. She said yes.

The Dishmans have been married for 27 years. “He’s honestly the love-of-my-life amazing,” Michelle says. “We are so lucky it worked out for us. It doesn’t normally work out for high school kids.”