16-year-old Hannah met Donovan for the first time while picking up her younger brother from the basketball practice. Hannah would have never thought she would meet the love of her life there. It was love at first sight, when she reached the campus she saw Donovan limping along on crutches as he just sprained his ankle in football practice. Then she asked him for directions to find the gym where her brother was.
“It was a pleasant night in Arizona when I met my husband for the first time. I was 16 and recently got my driver’s license, just perfect to be a chauffeur for my 13-year-old brother as he was too cool to get rides from our parents. I reached the high school where my brother’s basketball practice was held to pick him up. I was late and unfamiliar with the campus, I navigated through the campus to find the gymnasium to wait for my brother. After a while, I headed towards a random entrance and saw a football player walking out on crutches with a bag of ice. I immediately noticed his charming smile and black curly hair when he attempted to smile at me. I saw his limp and asked, ‘You okay there? He told me he has sprained his ankle in the football practice and then he asked me what I was doing there as he know that I was not a student there. I told him I was looking for my brother and after observing my red hair he connected the dots and said, ‘oh the red-hair kid who is always here? After sharing a few words, some flirtatious and coy smiles he showed me the way to the gym. Finally, I thanked him and said, “I am glad I ran into you, ‘and it was not just because of his directions,” Hannah told Love What Matters.
A few weeks later they both met in Starbucks and spent some time there. “After an hour when my caramel vanilla bean Frappuccino and his white chocolate peppermint mocha were gone, the barista who was cleaning the floor told us, ‘ you two must really like each other if you have been sitting here this long and have not ordered another drink.’
He was towards something.” Hannah said. One month passed and Donovan was ready to ask Hannah out for an official date. A scavenger hunt led Hannah to a huge Christmas tree in the town where Donovan was waiting to ask her to the winter formal. It was their first official date.
They both become close starting their relationship first on friendship, however, the ultimate test awaited them when they both left high school and went to different colleges. Similar to most long-distance relationships it ended but a flight to Montana put them in each other’s path again.
It reminded why they had fallen in love in the first place. “When I got off the plane it was like déjà vu I saw his black curly hair and chroming smile again. He was waiting for me outside the gate on crutches as he was recovering from knee sur-gery,” said Hannah.
When they were 19-year-old they realized that there was nobody they wanted to be with and finally decided to get married. “We were just 19 and despite many people telling me, ‘you are going to regret this,” I was absolutely sure of my decision on getting married.
Even after four years of our marriage, I have never been so sure about anything. Today we are happy that we followed our hearts and not others' opinion. Marrying at 19 was not trendy but it’s our unique love story,” said Hannah.
Their decision was met with a lot of cynicism from friends and family as they thought they were too young to get married and most of them even warned them that they would regret it in the future. Today after four years of their marriage the couple is still sure about their relationship. They have never regretted the decision they made when they were 19. They feel blessed and thankful as they followed their hearts not others' opinions.
This couple's love story is inspiring and unique, they prove that age doesn’t matter in Love. Even at their young age, their story is inspiring to all the loving couples worldwide.
