Gwen Green had never been on a blind date, and at 34, she wasn't sure she wanted to change that.
In 2008 Gwen, a Hoxie native, had just moved back to Arkansas after living in Mississippi for several years. She had just started a job with the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, and her friend and co-worker, Jennifer, asked if she would be open to being set up.
"She said, 'I have this friend and I think you'll have a lot in common and you would hit it off,'" Gwen says.
Jeremy Peppas, a friend of Jennifer's as well as her husband's, was surprised when he was approached about calling Gwen.
"I had known Jennifer since the early 1990s and she had never attempted to set me up on a blind date before," he says. "I trusted her judgment so I thought maybe this would be OK."
He left a long message on Gwen's answering machine.
"He had a really nice voice, and he said that Jennifer had given him my number," she says. "I was willing to go on a blind date but I'm cautious by nature and I still wanted to talk with him before we went out."
They met at Bonefish Grill for their first date. Jeremy, who had finished work early, waited for her on a bench out front.
"I knew she was tall and I knew she had short dark hair," he says. "So I was sitting there trying to figure out which girl walking up to go into Bonefish Grill by herself was Gwen, and on my second try I was right."
They were having a delightful time talking over dinner when Jeremy took an extended bathroom break.
He was responding to texts from friends who were all interested in how things were going. He was gone for a while.
"I thought, 'Was there a line? Or did he decide to leave through the back door? I thought we were having a nice time,'" she says.
After dinner they went to a coffee shop for something sweet.
"I took her back to her car and I think I said something like, 'Well, we should do this again sometime,'" he says. "She said yes."
They went to a Travelers game for their second date.
In September 2008, about six weeks after they met, Jeremy was picking Gwen up to drive her to the airport for a work trip. He had an EMT license then, and when he saw that she had fallen on rain-slick pavement, he sprang into action.
Gwen had dislocated and broken her kneecap and torn ligaments.
"The question was, 'Well, what about this guy? Is he going stick around to see how this this works out?'" she says. "That took our relationship in a different direction."
Jeremy was a regular visitor, and he got to know her mother, who was staying with her while she recovered. He later took
Gwen to her physical therapy sessions, and he walked her dog, Mia, who wasn't fond of him just yet.
"I bought her love with treats," he says.
It took about eight months for Gwen to regain her footing. She had had a whirlwind of a year -- selling a house in Mississippi, buying a house in Arkansas, starting a new job, meeting a new guy and injuring her knee -- and was happy to settle into an easy dating relationship.
In December 2015, Gwen was preparing to spend the holidays with her family. She was finishing up some last-minute shopping before getting the oil in her car changed when Jeremy called on her cellphone.
He wanted to know if she could meet him at her house.
"I said, 'Right now? I'm going to get my oil changed,'" she says. "He said, 'Yeah, right now.' I was wondering what he might have up his sleeve, so I went home. He beat me home and he was waiting for me and he was acting nervous."
Jeremy had bought an engagement ring, and as he and Gwen stood by the Christmas tree, he pulled the ring box out of his pocket and popped the question. Gwen said yes.
"He had accomplished his mission and he left, he went back to work," she laughs.
They exchanged their vows on June 25, 2016, at Asbury United Methodist Church in Little Rock.
Their reception featured a map of the United States marked with the states
Gwen had visited and the ones Jeremy had.
"One of the things that I've always had on my bucket list is to go to all 50 states by [age] 50," Jeremy says. "At that point, I had about half. Gwen adopted that, too."
Both are missing Idaho and Jeremy is also missing Utah. They aren't willing to fly during the pandemic, though, so for now they are enjoying some short road trips and spending extra time at home.
That gives them plenty of time to think about how glad they are they gave in to their friend's match-making attempt.
"It was my first blind date," says Jeremy, "and it was my last."
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The first time I saw my future spouse:
She says: “I was surprised that he was dressed up because it was July and hot. He had on a sports coat and slacks and was all fancy for a blind date. Then I learned it was because he also had a work assignment.”
He says: “I thought, ‘She is tall.’ That’s all I knew before I met her — that she was tall and had dark hair.”
On our wedding day:
She says: “We did the first look thing with the photographers. I saw his face in that moment and it’s very memorable to me.”
He says: “I was so nervous. But my friend told me when I got up there to remember that everyone out there was there because they loved us and that really did help.”
My advice for a long happy marriage:
She says: “Rev. John Moore told us to compromise, because if you always have to win you’re married to a loser.”
He says: “Gwen’s uncle, who is in his 80s, has not taken his wedding ring off since he got married. He told me after we got engaged not to ever take my wedding ring off because of the whole thing about it taking a while to get it.”
