Love Story: Sherri and Dave Richmond

I know the exact moment I fell in love forever.

It happened in Coeur d’Alene during a dreadfully cold January 1989. I was going through a divorce, all alone, unemployed and with a badly injured shoulder.

I was in my empty house, trying to keep it heated with an old wood stove. Feeling alone, deserted and defeated. This had to change, so I set my plan in motion.

First, get a job. Occupy my mind with productive actions. I took the first job I could find. Terrible pay, no benefits and long hours.

The only redeeming quality of this job was when I saw her – the most wonderful human being I had ever seen.

She, on the other hand, had not even noticed me. I was working at her mother’s house doing a remodel, and I had only seen a picture of her on the mantle. So I inquired who this gracious woman was, and she told me the picture was of her daughter.

I asked to meet her and was told she was at work and had a boyfriend. End of story, I thought.

My work continued, but as chance would have it, our paths crossed in the coming weeks. We talked about life and adventures, and specifically my divorce.

She made it clear she would not date a not-yet-divorced man, so we talked more and became friends. We never dated.

Six months passed and my divorce became final. I had to ask if she would go out with me. She agreed.

I took her out on the big cruise boat in Coeur d’Alene with a live band and my entire high school class of 1980. It was my 10-year high school reunion.

What a horrible mistake!

Half of my high school buddies told her what a problem child I was. The other half was hitting on her, buying her drinks and giving her their phone numbers. We drank the drinks, danced the night away and had a wonderful time.

When the boat docked at 10 p.m., we stood on the docks, laughing and saying our good-nights to friends. I turned to her and asked if she would like to go dancing, maybe another drink or dinner? And she looked at me with those beautiful, deep blue eyes as she swayed in the moonlight and said “No, I want to go to your place!”

And at that exact moment I knew I would love her every day of her life! I was crazy about her then, and it is far worse now 33 years later.

We married July 4, 1992, on a float we built for the Coeur d’Alene Fourth of July parade. A true story.