His story starts in Redwater, Texas. A young Seth Schirmer had just graduated high school and was preparing for college at the University of Arkansas.

“I would say I was smart,” Schirmer said. “I studied a lot more than others.”

Schirmer’s favorite memory was playing baseball and attending his junior year prom.

“In baseball, we won our first round in the play-offs but lost our second,” Schirmer said. “However, my first year to attend prom was my junior year and the art teacher let me and some friends help with decorations, so it was kind of neat to be a part of that prom.”

Her story begins in Texarkana, Ark. A young Kalie Hartman had just graduated high school and was preparing for college at Harding University.

“I actually grew up on the Texarkana, Ark., side,” Hartman said. “I was a part of the very first girls’ soccer team at Arkansas High School. [The soccer team] was good, but it wasn’t the greatest since it was new, but it was a lot fun.”

In high school, Hartman was a quiet, non-partying, straight-A student. In fact, Hartman was co-valedictorian at her graduation.

“I wasn’t trying to shoot for valedictorian,” Hartman said. “I took the classes I needed to take and my grades added up to valedictorian.”

Now seniors in college, both Hartman and Schirmer headed home for Christmas break, and both received a phone call from their relatives.

“My sister asked me if I was up for a blind date,” Hartman said. “Although this wasn’t the first time she tried to set me up for a date, she showed me a picture of [Mr. Schirmer] and gave him my number. We ended up going bowling with my sister and her family.”

Hartman wound up beating Schirmer, and afterward Schirmer asked Hartman out to eat.

“We went to Arby’s and stayed there for awhile,” Hartman said. “He did most of the talking. I just mostly listened.”

As Christmas break rolled on, Schirmer and Hartman continued going out on dates. When break was over, both headed back to college and continued  their relationship over the phone with sporadic visits.

“It didn’t take long after I met her for the first time for me to know she was the one,” Schirmer said. “For me, it was the phone calls for seven or eight weeks and a visit about two months after we met.”

And with knowing she was the one, conversations of marriage and goals became a frequent topic throughout their six month relationship and Schirmer was beginning to plan the proposal.

“She came to visit me while we were away at school,” Schirmer said. “I cooked her [Chicken Parmesan] and French silk chocolate pie for dessert.”

As Schirmer continued with the preparation of the French silk chocolate pie, Hartman remained at the table waiting, not knowing that a silver diamond ring was secretly placed on top.

“I sat there thinking is this real? I remember seeing the ring and then seeing him getting on one knee and asking me to marry him,” Hartman said, “It’s one of those things that is surreal. It took me a minute to process, but I knew it was coming because we had looked at rings beforehand, but I just didn’t know when.”

Schirmer and Hartman exchanged vows at Central Christian Church on Dec. 28, 2007.

“I actually almost messed up on my vows,” Schirmer said. “My preacher gave me a mouthful of words to recite, so it took about 10 seconds, and then I continued.”

Since then, the Schirmer’s share a common interest: teaching. Both share their love for education at Texas High, teaching a mixture of juniors and seniors in two difficult areas: math and science.

“I majored in mathematics with a teacher’s degree from Harding University,” Mrs. Schirmer said. “The degree type was called a Bachelors of Arts and I minored in computer science, so if wanted to I could write the code for a web page design.”

When it comes to love, the Schirmer’s agree that waiting for it and letting it come when it’s time is the best and most natural way possible to have real true love.

“As a teen the sky is the limit,” Mr. Schirmer said. “But focus on your career first, and what you want to do in life, and once you really are an adult and can figure out who you are, then whoever you are with can match better.”