LaWanda & Marcellus

“We met back in the summer of 1999 during my sophomore year of college. I was Golden Delight, so I was in band camp while taking summer school. I’ll never forget the first time I saw him. The way he leaned back and looked at me is the way he still looks at me to this day. Sounds sweet right? Well, it hasn’t always been. I wish I could say we dated and have been together all these years, but that’s just not the case. I married someone else, got divorced, dated him for three years then we broke up because he just wasn’t giving me husband vibes, dated someone else for about two years, and got engaged only for that to end (thank God). As I was about to enter the dating world again, I wanted to meet with Marcellus (my current husband) to gain full closure so that I could take a better me into my next relationship. Actually, my insecure ex-fiancé kept bringing his name up, which is what brought him back to my space. As fate would have it, we met for dinner and as soon as I smelled him and hugged him all my feelings came rushing back to me at once. Even still, I wanted closure. Marcellus was making it obvious that he didn’t, which prompted me to say to him on that date, ‘I’m here for closure — to which he replied, ‘I am not.’ That was over eight years ago and we’ve been together ever since.  We’ve been fortunate enough to have three children who are now four, two and one despite the medical world counting me out because of my age. I got my Ph.D. and we both own and operate small businesses all while I stay home full-time with our kids.”

—LaWanda Simpkins

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