Laura Remmel's search for home renovation led her to the kitchen -- and the man -- of her dreams.
Laura had heard Jim Powers sing with his brother in North Little Rock years before she actually met him.
"They wrote a lot of their own songs and it was fabulous, and I thought, 'I'm just going to go and tell him how much I enjoyed that before I leave,'" Laura says. "There were all these people were around him. So, no big deal, I just left."
A year or two later she was strolling down Kavanaugh Boulevard during the Hillcrest Art Walk in Little Rock when she saw a group of her friends in The Afterthought and decided to drop in.
"The only empty chair was next to Jim," she says.
Jim, Laura learned, was a building contractor in addition to being in a band. Laura told him about some of the unorthodox moves being made by a contractor she hired to renovate the kitchen in her 1888 house. Jim, his interest piqued by the potential for a new client, offered to drop by the following Sunday and take a look.
"When I left, I said, 'OK, see you Sunday,' but I doubted that he would come over or that I would ever hear from him again," she says.
Jim gave her a more realistic timeline and work plan than the other contractor so she hired him. Laura went to her job as a home health nurse each day, leaving him and his partner in her house to get the work done.
"They would get here really early and I came and went and I just got used to them being here," she says. "I had two dogs and I lived by myself and my dogs really liked Jim, so that was nice. He was just a really nice guy."
Neither Laura nor Jim thought about striking up a romance. Laura even invited Jim over to meet the guy she was dating, knowing they shared an interest in playing music.
She and Jim started meeting for lunch before browsing home supply stores for counter tops and other materials she needed to choose during the renovation.
"We were crying we were laughing so hard. He has a great sense of humor, and so do I," Laura says.
Jim took a few days off during deer season. When he returned he brought her a souvenir.
"He pulled out this rock and it was shaped like icing or like a cupcake. I adore rocks," she says.
She asked how he knew how much she liked rocks, and he replied that he had noticed a few nestled among knickknacks in her house.
"To know that a guy would notice a little thing like that, I thought, 'Oh, wow. That is really cool.' My heart kind of probably flipped a little," she says.
Knowing that Laura didn't have a working kitchen, Jim invited her over for dinner.
"I'm not sure it was what I would call at that point a romantic attraction, but she was somebody I really liked and liked being around," he says. "In retrospect, maybe I was starting to develop some deeper feelings."
Without knowing it was important to her, Jim made dinner into an event rather than just a meal.
"He was cooking on the grill, it was a starry, starry night, we enjoyed a glass of wine," she says. "And again, I thought, 'Well, this is kind of cool.'"
Laura was out on a date when a friend called to let her know that Jim's sister and her family had been in a bad car wreck.
"Laura pretty much packed up and came to my house to check on me," Jim says. "It just changed something in me. It was the kindness, that's what got me about her. It became something much deeper at that point."
They had dinner together again at Jim's house.
"She got up to leave and go to the front door and I just had this overwhelming urge to go over and kiss her. As she was at the door, I just walked over and did it," Jim says. "I think it shocked us both."
Both were divorced and had vowed not to marry again, but after dating for two years they knew they wanted to be together for good.
They exchanged their vows on June 27, 2015, at her best friend's home in Ferndale.
"We had 'Unchained Melody' piping out of the trees on this cool, summer night, with the lights and the moon shining on the lake," Laura says. "It was very casual and we were just chatting, walking down this rock pathway to where we're getting married. It was just beautiful, but simple."
Life since then has been simply beautiful as well, they say.
As an added bonus, since they got together Jim has not only renovated the kitchen, he has built a huge deck and outdoor kitchen, added an art studio and more.
"Marry a contractor," Laura quips, "and you will have the kind of house you always wanted at the best price ever."
If you have an interesting how-we-met story or if you know someone who does, please call (501) 425-7228 or email:
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The first time I saw my future spouse:
She says: “I was enamored of his musical talent.”
He says: “I guess I looked at her like a potential client.”
On our wedding day:
She says: “We walked down a long pathway arm in arm to this little circle by the lake where we were going to get married and Jim was really chatty. We were having fun, just listening to music and talking.”
He says: “It was just so easy, overall. It was relaxed and fun and just easy.”
My advice for a long happy marriage is:
She says: “Don’t get married if your relationship is hard. You hear people say marriage is hard and you have to work at it. Well, I have found that marriage isn’t hard if you are with the right person. Just love them and don’t lose your humor.”
He says: “Simplified, I would say it’s not about who’s wrong or right — it’s about understanding.”