Love is in the air

By It's On! Staff

Like a story from any teen magazine, Laura Merry and Adam Rex met at pre-school in New Concord, Ohio.

Friends all throughout their school days, the couple got together their senior year of high school. They had an attraction for each other before that, but both were in other relationships.

Unknowingly breaking up with their significant others at the same time, the two realized that they wanted to be together. They have been officially together since March 23, 1999.

"I can't get rid of her," Adam jokes.

Some people can compare their relationship to that of Monica and Chandler from ••Friends••.

Adam describes Laura as predictable and obsessive-compulsive. Laura describes Adam as the zany type who is crazier when he is around his friends. In fact, if Adam could change one thing about Laura, he would make her be less predictable and less stressed. She says that Adam needs to realize that she is going to worry - and it is OK to do that.

If Adam was a road sign, Laura says he would be a "curvy road warning" because he is not predictable at all. On the flip side, Adam says Laura would be a "school crossing" sign because she reminds him of a concerned schoolteacher.

Humor and fun keeps their relationship strong, the couple said. They think they keep each other in line.

"She was the first person to drag me into Victoria's Secret," Adam said.

"He always tries to make me look stupid," Laura laughed, "I'm gullible and he plays into that."

In the future they see themselves back in their hometown. Laura wants to work as a Hospice worker and Adam wants to work with the mentally retarded. They have agreed that they both want children.

"No more than two," Adam firmly stated.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, but the couple didn't think they needed a whole day to celebrate their love. It's the everyday things that keep them going.

Brian McCoy and Rodney Poling, of Little Hocking

Brian McCoy and Rodney Poling have a unique relationship.

They met each other at bar in Parkersburg, W. Va., which at that the time was called Different Strokes.

The second he saw Rodney walk into the bar in January 1995, he knew Rodney was the one, Brian said with much enthusiasm.

"I knew when he walked in that door that he was the kind of person I was looking for," McCoy said. "I went home that night and wrote down everything he was wearing: blue shirt, blue jeans, cowboy boots and cowboy hat and handlebar mustache. That was my ideal dream guy."

Brian, a secretarial associate in the Office of Admissions at Ohio University, and Rodney, employed at the Wood County Senior Citizens Association Inc., started dating after a few meetings at the bar. They eventually moved in together in May 1995. They were married on October 25, 1997 in Marietta.

"We had a good old fashioned country western wedding," Brian said. "We had one of the biggest same-sex marriages at our church - the Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, which is a very liberal church. We could go and still worship and not be criticized. We've been treated with the utmost respect."

They live their lives like everyone else, according to Brian. They have the same goals, objectives, financial commitments and obligations like anyone else. Soon they are buying a house and two cars together.

Brian and Rodney also recently started their own business called RNB Enterprises, in which they will set up a hydroponic greenhouse and grow produce to sell wholesale to local community and local businesses.

They are now in the process of adopting a 5 -year-old child, while also caring for a 12-year-old foster son, said Brian. The couple works closely with Athens County Children Services and is certified by the state to do foster care and adopt children.

For Valentine's Day, they planned on spending the evening with their sons, making dinner and having a candlelight dinner with the good china. But on Saturday night, Brian and Rodney will spend time alone at the bar in Parkersburg where they first met, for a night of dinner and dancing.

"It's not in the name, it's not in the ceremony or in a ring or anything that society sets up what they consider being normal," said Rodney. "It's what is in the heart that makes you married."

"Husband," "friend" and "soul mate" are the three words that Rodney used to describe his significant other.

"We are each other's husband, also good friends, and we can talk to each other," Rodney said. "It's a really unique relationship. I love him very much."

"Supportive," "romantic" and "committed" are the words Brian used to describe Rodney.

"It's like I married my best friend," Brian said. "I look at the primary things I have wanted in my life and I've gotten everything in my life I wanted."

Bill and Jennifer Clancy met in high school years ago.

After being friends for a while, they realized there was something special between them. Soon after, the couple began a long distance relationship with each another while attending different colleges.

Bill attended school in Iowa, and Jennifer studied in New Jersey. Eventually, Jennifer transferred to Iowa Wesleyan College to be closer to Bill. After two years of dating, Bill and Jennifer were married.

Now, 35 years later, the Clancys couldn't be happier. They are the proud owners of Mistretta's Italian Market, 9 N. Shafer St. Bill runs Mistretta's while Jennifer spends her days cooking for their customers.

They spend almost all of their time together and enjoy doing it. Jennifer says that some of the best aspects of their relationship are their compatibility and endurance to be together after all these years. She says that their relationship is easy.

When asked, Bill said he knew Jennifer was the one for him because she told him so, while Jennifer has no idea how Bill ended up being the one for her.

This year, Bill and Jennifer spent Valentine's Day working together, like they usually do, preparing items for other couples.

And what keeps the Clancy's together?

"Luck, pure luck," Jennifer said.

Kathy Kingsley and Phil Patterson, dating for a year and a half

It was fate.

Phil Patterson, 20, was placed in front of Kathy Kingsley, 22, in the Marching 110 line up. Their eyes met over the rat-a-tat-tat of drums - and Phil was hooked.

The drumming pair (Kathy plays the timbales and Phil plays the snare) met in 1998 and became friends. Their friendship continued for a year until the summer of 1999.

Kathy, a journalism and Spanish double major, and Phil, an industrial technology major, live close to each another and over the summer they began spending a lot of time together.

Yesterday on Valentine's Day, they celebrated their year-and-a-half anniversary by making dinner together and having a night in.

When asked to pick a fruit that best represents each other, Kathy said Phil would be a banana.

"It was the first thing that popped into my head," Kathy said. "He is tough on the outside but when you peel, he is really soft and sweet."

Phil said Kathy would be a kiwi because she is soft.

"'Cause she is sweet but sour sometimes," said Phil. "Who doesn't like a kiwi once you try it?"

Regardless of their fruit designations, Kathy and Phil are going strong.

"We're both really happy with the relationship and we see ourselves together for a long time."

Stephanie McManis and Phil Basile have been together since Oct. 31, 2000.

"All of my friends went home one weekend last September," Stephanie relived. "So I went out with my guy friends. I was talking to my friend and I asked him who Phil was. He said, 'That's Phil. He lives here.'"

Phil's first impression of Stephanie was a good one.

"I thought she was cool," Phil said.

"I thought he was annoying and persistent," Stephanie said. "He kept asking if I was going to call him the next day. I said yes, but I just wanted to leave."

After dating a little bit more than three months, they decided that miniature golf is the couple's least favorite activity to do together.

"She throws the clubs," Phil said.

The best memory they have of each other is from Cedar Point last Memorial Day weekend.

"It was fun. It wasn't that crowded and we went with good friends," Stephanie said.

Stephanie said that if Phil were a fruit or vegetable, he would be a strawberry.

"I really like strawberries," she said. "He is nice and considerate."

Stephanie's favorite physical qualities of Phil's are his smile and his laugh, even though "his laugh isn't physical." Phil's for Stephanie is her smile.

On the other end of the spectrum, Stephanie's least favorite quality about Phil is his pessimism about himself. Phil said he could do without Stephanie's competitiveness.

Although the relationship hasn't existed for too long, the toughest time for the couple was when Stephanie had returned from Europe after six weeks.

"I think we got used to being apart," Phil said.

And though the couple has a lot in common, sometimes they fight - especially when they've been drinking.

"We argue about anything and everything," the said in unison.

At least they agree on that.