Ingrid Kaslik Photography

Let me preface this by saying that Miki has been my best friend since the 6th grade… the summer prior to that she moved into the house across the street from me with her sister Summer and AMAZING parents Tom and Pam. They are like my second family and adopted me right into their fold. Mom Pam even made me an honorary member of her Girl Scout Troop. Miki and her family are some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. Like old fashioned kindness, with a hip modern flair, if you will. Pam was always around as an assistant at our grade school and always involved in her kid’s activities. In my eyes she was Super Mom. Boy did her mothering turn out two of the nicest young women you could ever hope to meet. Two women I consider my sisters and I hold them close to my heart always.

So to tell this story, we have to rewind 20+ years back to high school. I  thought the best way to do this story justice was to get the story straight from Miki. She lived it. And 20 years later it turned into a whirlwind romance that you can feel just being in the same room with Miki and Reese…

Our story: I don’t actually remember meeting Reese at Morse, he was just always there! He would come up to me all the time and tease me that he was going to be with me someday and my response was to tell him, “Yeah, right”!  We were always just friends and I was happy to see him. The last time I saw him was when I was working at Horton Plaza and he had just joined the Navy. Then I didn’t hear from or see him again until 20 years later!  We connected on Facebook and did the usual small talk about what we were doing and that sort of thing.  He gave me his number and I gave him mine and told him to call me.  Well he did call on a day I had my friend Tiffany over watching shows. We talked for about 30 minutes and I really didn’t want to get off the phone with him but I didn’t want to be rude either.  We gradually increased the number of calls we made, all the while still inboxing on Facebook. I’m not sure when it happened but we were talking everyday and sometimes for 6-7 hours a day. We did this for about 3 months and during that time I fell in love with him! He invited me out to Virginia to see him and meet his daughters in June and I didn’t even hesitate to go (though I knew my family and friends were a little unsure as to what was going on!). As soon as I saw him in person, I was mush and knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.  I flew back in July and drove across country with him as he moved to San Diego. We moved in together and he proposed to me. I was fresh from working out and we were eating sloppy joe’s and tator tots.  He started to ask me to marry him and then he paused so the girls could stand behind him and asked me to marry the three of them. We were married a few months later in December just a few weeks before we both turned 39, did I mention that we are only 3 days apart in birth?  I truly believe that our love started many years back with the promise that turned into reality some 20 years later. I am truly blessed to have Reese and the girls in my life. I feel like the luckiest woman in the world!

Pretty amazing, right? And I had the honor to fly out to San Diego to document their special day. My lens got a little foggy from all the (happy) tears I shed. I got a new best-friend-in-law and two of the sweetest nieces I could ask for. Reese did an amazing job raising those girls on his own. And now Miki completes their family. Couldn’t have happened to two four better people, if you ask me.