Todd Murphy drew a short straw and had to travel from Texas to Arkansas for work in 2001. That short straw was the equivalent of a winning lottery ticket. He met Laura McBeth on that trip.
Laura and Todd celebrated their 19th anniversary on April 17.
"I always tell people we didn't meet online," says Laura, who grew up in Arkadelphia. "We met in the data center. We just skipped the middle man."
Laura works for Acxiom, and Todd was, at the time, working for Hewlitt-Packard in his hometown, Dallas.
Todd and his co-workers negotiated each week to see which of them would have to travel to Conway to help their company with an ongoing project at Acxiom.
"Every week somebody would draw the short straw and have to spend a week in Conway from Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston ..." he says. "That was my week. So I was working on this project, and I told my guys, 'We've got to figure out a way for me to meet her.'"
Todd had technically met Laura -- she was the project manager.
"You know, I was at work, and I needed to figure out a way to move it to a more personal discussion, as opposed to this hardware will or won't fit with that hardware," he says. "She was in charge, and she's very task-oriented."
His chance came when they both ended up joining colleagues for dinner after work while he was in town over the weekend.
"When we started talking and getting to know each other, we found out we both had boats, and that's really the thing that started our relationship -- that we had this in common," Todd says. "We just kind of hit it off straight up."
Following that weekend, Todd volunteered to go each time someone was needed in Conway.
"It wasn't every week, but we got it to the point where it was like every three or four weeks when somebody had to go and I would say, 'I'll go,'" he says.
Laura started visiting him in Dallas, too, and, of course, they spent time on lakes in both states.
"During the summer, she would come down to Dallas and we would pack up and go hang out with friends at my lake," he says. "There were a couple of sandy beach islands and we would hang out on those."
Both like snow skiing as well, so that became their winter activity together.
They had dated for two years when they got engaged.
"This was all pre-911. We were dating when that happened, and of course I was in Dallas at the time. That kind of causes a little self-reflection," Todd says. "By 2002 I had time to think about it and I decided I had made enough mistakes in my life, and I should not lose Laura to another mistake that I made."
He asked one of Laura's friends to help him with figuring out the kind of engagement ring to choose, and her friend demurred, suggesting he just ask Laura.
"I went and asked her parents for her hand and they graciously agreed," he says. "I said, 'It's not going to be right away.' It turned out to be that Thanksgiving was the right time, so her mom had to keep this secret for three months, which was about to drive her crazy."
They were at a family gathering when he quietly informed her mother he was about to pop the question, and her mother ushered all the guests into the dining room. This was uncharacteristic behavior -- and it didn't escape Laura's notice.
"My mother was not very forceful, and just out of the blue she was like, 'Everybody has to go into the dining room,'" Laura says. "My parents were planning a 50th wedding anniversary trip for the family and I thought she was just going to discuss this trip to Disney that they had planned for everybody."
Still, she followed her relatives into the room as instructed without question.
"And then all of a sudden, Todd got on his knee in front of all the extended family and asked me to marry him," she says. "I think I was shocked and excited and I think he said I never answered."
At her father's prompting, she did say yes.
They exchanged their vows on April 17, 2003.
"We ran off to Antigua and got married on the beach by ourselves, and then we came back and had a big party at Chenal Country Club for all of our friends and family," she says.
"I can strongly advise that as opposed to having a wedding," Todd says.
They flew from Antigua to Florida to meet Laura's family at Disney World for the already-planned celebration of her parents' anniversary.
"I can always remember that my parents and I are exactly 50 years apart on our anniversary," she says.
Todd and Laura still enjoy time on the lake together, and they have developed other common interests along the way as well.
"We both exercise a lot," Todd says. "I can't remember if we did it back then, but now we run half-marathons."
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