Before their first date had ended, Jeni Pandolfi and Ginger Thompson each got matching line tattoos of cats, the first of many they would get together.
Jeni Lynn Pandolfi and Ginger Anne Thompson don’t have to look far for a reminder of their first date in June 2019. After two and a half hours, a few vodka drinks and some deliberation at the Mean Eyed Cat bar in Austin, Texas, the two decided to get matching abstract line tattoos of cats on their inner right forearms.
Both “have quite a few visible” tattoos on their arms, Ms. Thompson, 41, said. Hers include blue and green juniper leaves and berries for her daughter, Juniper, now 5, whom Ms. Thompson conceived during her previous marriage. Ms. Pandolfi, 39, has one in script of her son’s name, Beau; now 7, he is from a previous relationship.
The couple first met during Memorial Day weekend that May, at a spoken-word event at the Ballroom at Spider House in Austin. Seeing Ms. Pandolfi walk into the room “was one of those out-of-a-movie-everything-slows-down moments with music playing,” said Ms. Thompson, whose divorce from her wife was finalized only a couple of days before.
During intermission, Holly Lorka, a former local stand-up comedian, introduced them at the bar. Mx. Lorka, now an intensive-care nurse, knew one of Ms. Pandolfi’s friends, and would run into Ms. Thompson, a singer and guitarist, at local gigs.
Ms. Thompson, an executive assistant in the child care and early learning division at the Texas Workforce Commission, a state government agency in Austin, now performs mainly at an L.G.B.T. Q.-friendly church in Georgetown, Texas.
“Ginger had a cool, Jimi Hendrix-like swagger,” said Ms. Pandolfi, the area director at Elite Learning, an after-school program for at-risk youth in Austin. A graduate of Montclair State University, she received a master’s degree in education focusing on trauma in early childhood development at Long Island University in Brooklyn.
Five days after they met, Ms. Pandolfi sent a friend request to Ms. Thompson on Facebook, where she noticed that Ms. Thompson, like her, had a young child. So Ms. Pandolfi suggested a play date. “I could be mom friends with this very attractive woman,” Ms. Pandolfi recalled thinking.
Days later, the two and their children went to Brushy Creek Lake Park. The next week were their drinks at the Mean Eyed Cat’s regular Wednesday happy hour. “Is this a first date or what,” Ms. Pandolfi recalled asking after an hour or so. Ms. Thompson, a bit surprised, replied, “OK, yes it is.”
Then came their joint tattoo session, but not before their first kiss. “We were excited and giddy,” Ms. Thompson said.
After that, Wednesdays became their regular date night at the Mean Eyed Cat. They also began to take the children on regular outings — to the splash pad in the park, on picnics or to the pool at Ms. Thompson’s apartment complex just outside Austin.
By mid-July 2019, “We made the relationship official,” Ms. Thompson said.
That December, they broke up for about a month, the first of three breakups. “Jeni needed a little space, but we were still in contact,” Ms. Thompson said.
Said Ms. Pandolfi, “I’m a typical noncommittal person.”
“But I didn’t want to lose her,” she added.
The following year, after a weeklong breakup in June 2020, the two got another set of tattoos in October featuring their and their children’s birth month flowers: Ms. Pandolfi’s included roses, for her and Beau, and Ms. Thompson’s included lily of the valley, for Juniper, and marigold for herself.
She proposed to Ms. Pandolfi weeks later on Nov. 11, 2020, at a local Airbnb — a converted garage where Ms. Thompson set up battery-powered candles, red wine and charcuterie.
In 2021, after a breakup from February to June, Ms. Thompson proposed on Nov. 11, a year to the day after Ms. Pandolfi had proposed to her. At the Sekrit Theater, an Austin events space, Ms. Pandolfi had arranged for a marquee inside a greenhouse to read: “Marry me.”
“This is for keeps,” Ms. Pandolfi told Ms. Thompson.
They wed May 1 at Justine’s Secret House, an events space in Austin, before 30 guests. Mx. Lorka, who was ordained by Rose Ministries, officiated at the ceremony, which featured a string trio.
In celebration, the brides got “eleven” tattoos on their hands.
“When we put our hands together it says ‘eleven eleven,’” the date each proposed, both said.
"love" - Google News
May 13, 2022 at 04:00PM
https://ift.tt/KcPpoHx
Inking Their Love Story With Multiple Tattoos - The New York Times
"love" - Google News
https://ift.tt/8eGr4ax
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Inking Their Love Story With Multiple Tattoos - The New York Times"
Post a Comment