When David Maddox invited Colleen Considine to lunch, she thought they would be discussing "a fruit phone," which was industry code for the then-soon-to-be-released iPhone.
They both worked at Alltel Communications in Little Rock in November 2006, she in marketing and he in the department charged with choosing the phones the company would sell, and she had heard from a supervisor that he would be contacting her so they could come up with a strategy to promote the new device. They met in the lobby, and she was prepared with her padfolio.
"He gets really formal and he says, 'I apologize if I didn't make my intentions clear. I was asking you out personally for lunch,'" she says. "I said, 'I did think this was a marketing planning meeting for a "fruit phone," but it seems like it is not, and if you are buying lunch, then I will be going.'"
David had first noticed Colleen in a meeting where they were interviewing intern candidates, though he hadn't introduced himself then. He took the opportunity to do so when he saw her in the elevator late one Friday evening.
"From there, we ended up going on what I thought was a date and she thought was a business meeting," David says.
They went to Fantastic China.
"He asked what kind of music I liked, and I said that I listened to a lot of NPR and BBC, and he about fell out of his chair," she says. "He couldn't believe anyone who wasn't a total nerd would say that on a date. It was like we were kindred spirits or something. Because we're both goody two shoes, I'm sure our lunch was just an hour."
Back at work, David sent Colleen a message telling her he enjoyed their lunch and closed with a line about the fortune from his cookie. Colleen's had an identical message: "Your life is about to change for the better."
"It was a sign," she says. "But I was thinking, 'You just met this guy. You should probably cool your jets. There's probably something wrong with him.'"
A few days later, they had dinner at Ferneau.
"It was just blissful," says Colleen, who had been on the verge of giving up on men when she met David. "I couldn't believe somebody wasn't telling me about their motorcycles and tattoos and all that pomp and circumstance. I was like, 'This guy's telling me about cleaning his house. It's so cute.' It was refreshing that someone was so authentic and real and really wasn't trying to impress me, but was just being really honest."
David lived in a tri-level house in Leawood; Colleen had a small apartment in Hillcrest.
"We would walk to Kroger and we would cook together and go for walks on the promenade and we just really got to know each other," Colleen says. "I think we just grew as people because we were so much alike, that we really pushed each other to be better."
In 2009, they spent a weekend in a cabin on Petit Jean Mountain. David proposed on a Saturday evening walk. Colleen said yes, but the ring he pulled from his pocket left her almost speechless.
"It was hideous. It was like a giant pink like 10-carat, it looked like a Mariah Carey bubblegum ring," she says. "I am a total, simple kind of classic girl, and when he gave me that, he goes, 'I know you love big jewelry.' Not true."
Colleen agonized for 24-hours about how she could wear that ring for the rest of her life and she was relieved to learn it was a piece of costume jewelry that David had given to her as a joke. They returned it as soon as they got back to Little Rock and kept the appointment he had already made with a jeweler for the next day so she could choose something she liked.
They were married on April 4, 2009, in a small ceremony in Knoop Park, officiated by former Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines.
As newlyweds, they bought a mahogany sideboard for the dining room in David's home, where they store dishes to serve casual meals with friends and family as often as possible.
Right after they met, while she was away for Christmas, David left a stocking full of thoughtful gifts on the door of her apartment. One of those gifts was a crème brulee torch, which David was unaware had been a longtime wish.
"I asked my mom for one every year for Christmas or friends or family," she says.
David didn't know she wanted one. He only knew she was a good cook and that it might be fun to make at home the dessert they had enjoyed during their first dinner out.
"I think we're best friends," David says. "We enjoy doing the same things, we enjoy the going the same places. On the weekend, I want to spend time with Colleen and vice versa. We each have our own things we do. We do enjoy very much, even today, just spending time and going places with each other."
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The first time I saw my future spouse:
She says: “He just looked like a really nice man. And I thought he was probably very happily married.”
He says: “I thought she looked like Jackie Kennedy in that white dress.”
On our wedding day:
She says: “Etta James’s song ‘At Last’ was in my head almost the whole time we were reciting our vows. It was surreal because of all the trials and tribulations of being married and being single. I had always wanted to be married and find a soul mate, and I just felt like for me that the day had come.”
He says: “I just thought she looks so pretty coming down that walkway at Knoop Park. Weddings tend to get a little more about all the people that are there and the chaos. It was nice. It was just about us.”
My advice for a long happy marriage:
She says: “I try to love big and laugh a lot all the time, but if you can find somebody that you can share your life with and do that, it does lead to a good marriage.”
He says: “I don’t recall us ever not being able to resolve disagreements before we go to bed at night. I think that goes a long way and to making things better. We just work things out.”