Our Story
"The Movie Gallery Story"
As told by Mom Weiland
Shortly after moving to Townsend, I was in Movie Gallery with my two younger daughters. We went to check out our movies and were waited on by an efficient and polite young man. He checked my movie card (which showed my last name) and we paid for our movies. He then looked up and said “Thank you Mrs. Weiland. Please say hi to Kellie for me.” The way he said her name made me think there was more to this than just a casual “hi.” One of my daughters then said “Oh yeah, that’s John, Kellie knows him.” When I got home I mentioned to Kellie that John from Movie Gallery wanted me to say hi to her. Kellie said that it must be John Duci since she knew he worked at Movie Gallery. I then told Kellie that the way he said her name gave me the impression that he might be interested in her. Kellie was annoyed by my comments and answered back “Mom he is just being nice because he recognized your last name and figured out that you were my mother. You always think every boy is in love with me!” After those comments I knew she wasn't going to listen to me (even though I did think I was right this time) so I responded “Ok but he is very nice and he didn’t have to say anything to us.” From that point on, every time we went into Movie Gallery and John was working it seemed like he took special notice of us. He always asked us to say hi to Kellie for him which we did. I really did think that he was interested in her but decided Kellie probably wasn’t going to listen to me, her mother and not wanting to annoy her again I decided I better keep this opinion to myself.
One evening I came home from work to have Kellie waiting for me. She said she had a date with John Duci and she seemed very exited about it. She said “You know John, Mom. He works at Movie Gallery.” Kellie had forgotten all about my comments that had annoyed her so much! I casually remarked that I did remember John and thought it was nice that the two of them were getting together. I then told her that you can’t tell much from first dates and that hopefully they would go out a few times to get to know each other. Well, it turns out that I was right about John being interested in Kellie when he was asking me to say “hi” to her. I was also right about Kellie being very excited about their first date. However I was wrong about the two of them needing a few dates to see if they liked each other. Kellie came home after her first date with John and told me that she had never laughed so much or had such a great time. She said she felt like she had known him her whole life. Seeing how happy she was, I began thinking that their relationship was going to be very special… and the rest is history!
Since then we have all gotten to know John and have seen how happy the two of them are together. They truly are a perfect match!
- Mom Weiland
"The Chicken Soup Story"
As told by Mom Duci
I wanted to share with everyone the first time I heard of Kellie and the words John said about her that touched my heart.
One evening in late autumn or early winter 2004, John and John Roddy were at the stove heating chicken soup. The rest of the family and I were sitting around the table eating dinner I had just prepared. I wondered why John would rather have a can of chicken soup for dinner until John and John Roddy started murmuring to each other. I realized then, something was up. John asked me if we had one of those “thermos things.” Still slightly puzzled, I told him, “Yes,” and informed him of its whereabouts. He disappeared into the cellar with John Roddy at his heals, and emerged minutes later with the thermos in hand. A few moments later, John was pouring the hot soup into the thermos. At this point I was getting more and more puzzled and asked him what he was doing. He said, “I’m making this for Kellie. She has bronchitis.” Having never heard this name before, I asked who Kellie was and I will never forget what John said in response: “She’s the most beautiful girl in the world and I’m madly in love with her.” Stunned, we were all wondering who this girl was that had captured his heart without us even knowing. We didn’t press him for details but agreed this would win him a few points with her. Confident, John and John Roddy delivered the chicken soup to the ailing Kellie. It must have worked because the rest is history.
In that moment, I knew Kellie was something special and would play an important part in my son’s future. I never dreamed that a can of chicken soup would lead to such a happy beginning.
My love to the happy couple,
Mom Duci
