"Our story is a two parter with a heck of a cliff hanger."
Mick started off in the music industry back when things were really good and he was there when it all crashed down. The internet was becoming the popular medium for music and the jobs in that field started to go away. Knowing his head was on the chopping block he started looking for work. He found a new company in Nashville looking for a graphic designer and just seven years after graduation he found something in his major. His current dating situation then was single for a couple of years and open to the idea of meeting someone new.
Catina had been with her company for over a decade helping doctors and patients in the orthopedic field. When she was not in the clinic she was watching her ten year old son chase a soccer ball or she was hitting the track preparing for her next 10K. It had been less than a year since her last relationship which had not panned out well. She wasn't exactly looking for a new someone, but wasn't against the idea either.
It was, as usual, a mutual friend. Mick made friends easily and one of his co-workers mentioned she knew a girl named Catina. Would he be willing to meet her? Mick first contacted Catina through an ancient social media network called MySpace. He asked for the typical first date — dinner and a movie — though Mick liked to reverse the order to see the movie first. "If you don't have anything to talk about then you can at least talk about the movie." Catina picked a new box office release and they met at the theater. Over dinner the conversation went from the movie to who they were, where they were from, what they did for work, her 10 year old son. She remembered Mick asked a lot of questions. "It felt kind of like I was being interviewed," but strangely it was her favorite part because he listened, seemed genuinely interested and wasn't put off by her being a single mom.
Dates turned into dating. Dating turned into a relationship. They became inseparable. They met each other's parents. Things were becoming serious. That's the time tragedy tends to strike.
Mick's step-dad had been growing worse. He had been diagnosed with cancer and Mick traveled to see his parents more and more until the terrible news finally came. His mom's eyes seemed to ache with the sadness and a hard decision was made to move back home to help his mother. Catina was devastated thinking it foolish to have hoped, but understood why he wanted to go. Distance takes its toll. Communication dwindled. Visits happened less and less. Eventually Mick broke it off not sure about the future.
Time helped heal some of the wounds his mother had and after a couple of years Mick found employment far away in Oklahoma working in the newspaper industry where he stayed for the next five years. Through all of those years Mick and Catina stayed in touch mostly through text messages, sometimes calls and infrequent visits. They had dated others but still seemed attached somehow.
Catina, following her resolve to finish her education, slowly but surely completed her nursing degree. She decided to take a beach vacation to celebrate. When she messaged Mick about it he said he needed a vacation as well and suggested meeting in Wilmington to stay at his mother's. Catina was reluctant. She almost said no. She was starting to think it was time to move on now that she had reached such an important milestone in her life. She cautiously agreed though and packed up her and her son for a road trip.
The vacation was as simple as it goes — days on the beach, dinners out, stopping by a few touristy areas — but something had changed. The spark that never quite died was rekindled. Mick talked to Catina about starting over and her response said two things: long frustration and you had better be sure mister.
But he really was sure. So sure that in a short time they started discussing a big move. Mick left his career in Oklahoma to move to Nashville to be with Catina and they've been busily working on their wedding plans ever since.