Kerri & Justin

Kerri's Side of the Story

 I first met Justin at my parents' house as a freshman in highschool. He was new to Seminole and as luck would have it, he became friends with my brother. After talking with him, we realized that we were in the same grade and would be in some of the same classes. We "dated" (nothing serious) the remainder of freshman year. Although we didn't continue a relationship at that time, I told my mom I would marry him one day...to which she quickly responded "You're 14! You don't even know what love is!" We continued a friendship throughout highschool and started dating again freshman year of college, but quickly realized the difficulties a long distance relationship would present at this point in our lives. (He was in school at UF in Gainesville, and I was at FGCU in Fort Myers). We always remained good friends and would get together for dinner or movies during breaks from school. It wasn't until 2005 that we entertained the idea of a serious relationship with eachother. I was still in school in Fort Myers with one year left, but Justin had moved back to Pinellas County. So, we started a relationship and the trips back and forth to see eachother, and have been together ever since!

Justin's Side of the Story

I moved to Seminole my Freshmen year of High School. Initially I attended St. Petersburg High School to participate in the International Baccalaureate. Mid-way through the year I tired of the program and opted to instead enter an honors curriculum at Seminole High School. Seminole was the last area in the Pinellas school district with the clout to keep Neighborhood schools. All children in Seminole essentially went to school together from Elementary to High School. Students’ friendships were long established making things especially challenging for a new student.

That second half of Freshman year I had to ride the bus to Seminole. The first day I took the bus home I remember seeing that one of the prettiest girls in school also rode the same bus route. That girl was one of those girls that possessed an intimidating and unapproachable quality because she was just “too pretty”. Also she didn’t seem to really talk to anyone else.

A few days later one of the first classmates I established a rapport with introduced me to Scott Dolan. The first time we went over to Scott’s house to hang out that gorgeous girl from the bus was there. When I asked one of the guys who she was over there with, they conveyed it was Scott’s sister Kerri. They also discouraged talking to her because she was kind of stuck up and a little mean. I found that hard to be the truth but then shortly thereafter she proceeded to yell at one of the guys who had been fixing Scott's car for having washing their greasy hands in her bathroom with her face soap.

Scott's parents were very nice and seemed to like me. (According to Mrs. Dolan I was the only nice friend Scott ever had.) Then when Mrs. Dolan found out I had been in the IB program and was now taking honors classes at Seminole, she wanted me to meet her daughter Kerri because she was also in those classes. Kerri was the same year in school as I and we ended up having a number of honors classes together. I eventually became as good of friends with her as I was Scott. Kerri was amazing. She was an overachiever that did everything. She had been a cheerleader, a gymnast, a dancer, a sychronized swimmer and model. She was also in all honors classes, musically inclined (playing the piano, multiple wind instruments, and was in marching band), active in our local Catholic church, and to boot she was the pretty lifeguard that got all the attention at Largo’s Southwest Recreation Complex. When you’re in school though, success can often spawn jealousy and insecurity in other kids. Kerri was actually very kind and tenderhearted, but previous experiences with other classmates had caused her to become reserved. What came across as intimidating was actually her guarded nature.

Kerri and I went on to start dating Freshman year of high school. As it worked out though, the summer between Freshman and Sophomore year I left the country for 2 and a half months to go live in Jamaica with Neil Smith and his family. When I got back in the country Kerri was involved with someone she'd met over the summer. We always had a special relationship though. It was obvious to everyone that we always cared for one another. Years later I would come to find out she had even told her mother when she was 14 that she was going to marry me. (A statement Mrs. Dolan rebuked at the time; only to have it proven accurate here some 16 years later.) Throughout high school and through college Kerri and I dated off and on. We always seemed to run into one another over holiday breaks when we were visiting our families back in Seminole and would wind up spending time together.

The year I graduated from UF, I moved back to Tampa Bay. While Kerri was on Christmas break she made the ill fated decision to jump through flaming hoops to get my current number. We ended up spending most of that holiday break with each other and have been together since. Now, nearly 7 years to the day she called me, we will be getting married.