DALLAS — Have you ever seen a couple lovingly looking at one another and wondered about their story?
For all you know, they could have a kind of love story that would make a Hollywood box office hit. As a journalist, I wonder about people stories all the time. Everyone has one and I’m constantly curious.
The homeless woman on the corner, the man serving you dinner at your favorite restaurant or the couple holding hands you passed in the park. They all have stories, people they love or loved, people who love or loved them.
I believe it’s that commonality that connects us all.
You may not be able relate with a stranger's socioeconomics, but ask them when the last time someone made them feel loved and BINGO, you now share a feeling you both know.
If I sound too romantic, I am — which is why I love talking about love.
This project I’ve titled "Tell Me A Story" was first created as a final project for a film documentary class I took at the University of North Texas. It then reappeared as a three-year Valentine’s tradition at my previous job as a reporter for Big 2 News, the ABC affiliate in Odessa, Texas. While living in Los Angeles, California, in between jobs, I worked as an Uber driver and invited my passengers to share a story as I drove them to their destination.
I was very excited when I got the green light to produce the piece again for Spectrum News 1 last year. It’s a passion project I will press to produce in one form or another every year for as long as I’m a journalist.
For the second year in a row, Dallas Spectrum News 1 reporter Stacy Rickard and I set up a "love seat" at Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas on a mission to fulfill my tradition of documenting love. We asked people to sit down and share what love means to them.
I’ve found that if you give people the opportunity to sit down and share a story, they will.
Sometimes it’s an excitement to share with a stranger about something that means a lot to them or just the idea of being on TV.
This year we were happy to start catching interest almost as soon as we started setting up. Throughout the day we had to turn people away to make room for those we’d already queued to interview.
Just as soon as we finished setting up, eager to sit down and share were Dallas residents Amy and Grant Kirchhoff.
They’ve been together for 18 years, have two kids and say they’re the perfect match.
When I asked Grant when the last time Amy made him feel “really loved,” he didn’t hesitate at all.
“This morning,” he replied with a big smile.
He explained they had a serious conversation about some of his “mess-ups,” where he told Stacy and I that if they wouldn’t have gotten together, he’d be playing video games for six hours a day and swiping right on the dating apps every night.
“It would be terrible,” he added. “She keeps me grounded.” He then turned to Amy and said, “You give me purpose.” Amy smiled and responded “same,” with a big smile on her face.
Up next were Shannon and JB Mlambo. He’s from Texas and she’s from Ireland.
They met seven years ago on the Tinder dating app while he was working in Northern Ireland as a professional basketball player.
They went on one date the day before he was leaving back to Texas and said they knew they were soulmates that same night. They embarked on a five-year long distance relationship and have been married for the last two while living in Grapevine, Texas.
RELATED STORY: Love Stories: We asked people to randomly sit down and share
When Stacy asked Shannon what made her feel safe and secure enough to make the move from Northern Ireland to North Texas, she recalled the night they first met.
“He hugged me and he would not let go,” she said “He held on for like 10 minutes and the taxi driver was like ‘come on.’ It was then that I knew he was something special." “Yeah, so we just knew,” added JB.
Another couple who knows about the frustrations of a long distance relationship are Erika Chance and Jonathan Philippe. They've been surviving one for a couple of years. She lives in Baltimore and he lives a couple of hours away in Delaware.
They first met as co-workers and were in the friend zone for a long time before things got romantic.
“Can you remember that 'aha' moment of, ‘oh my gosh, I love him.?” I asked Erika.
“I remember me being so frustrated with that process,” she replied. “I kept wondering if it was going to be worth all of the new things we were learning about each other in this new space, rather than us just being friends. I said to him ‘What do you want?’ and he said ‘you,’ and that really changed everything.” She added that he’s proven his love for her every day since then.
Stacy and I had several couples sit down and share, but the most emotional conversation came from a niece and aunt duo.
Sammie Rodriguez and her aunt Isabela Leal were excited to sit down and share.
“I know that when I’m with her, I can trust that I’ll be safe and that she’ll take care of me.” said Sammie. Before she could continue, Isabela started crying.
“Sorry, I guess we don’t share our emotions enough.” said Isabela. “That’s really sweet. Thanks Sammie.”
After the day in the park and more than a dozen conversations later, we found exactly what we were looking for — ordinary people talking about that extraordinary four-letter word.
According to Isabela, our floral printed love seat is magic.
“Sorry, this is not what I was thinking what today was going to turn out to be,” she said while fighting back tears of joy while Sammie rubbed her shoulder.
We want to give a special thanks to Marcus Carr and the team at Tony Fay Public Relations who organized our access to filming at Klyde Warren Park. We appreciate you accommodating and believing in this project.
The floral arrangement used in our set dressing was donated by Jorge Teran, owner of Flowers by Terranova in Dallas. Thank you, Jorge. Your beautiful arrangement helped make our set all the more inviting.
If you have an interesting story, or an issue you’d like to see covered, let us know about it.
Share your ideas with DFW human interest reporter Lupe Zapata by emailing him at Lupe.Zapata@Charter.com.
