PUPPY LOVE

Eric Pollard and Randy Johnson

When Eric Pollard and Randy Johnson met in 1999, Pollard knew it was love at first sight. "One thing we had in common was our love of dogs," says Pollard. He tells me they met for the first time at Olympia's Burfoot Park after developing an online relationship. "My dog and I went up to him and all I said was that I was ‘looking for a boy and his dog.' He gave me the biggest smile, our dogs instantly became best friends and I fell in love."

Now, one more dog and nearly 13 years later, the couple has been through a lot. In 2008, Johnson was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. At the time of discovery, he was already stage three and needed chemo immediately. He has fought with chemo, blood transfusions, painkillers, antidepressants, antibiotics, injections, and a stem cell transplant to put a damper on the fire that is cancer.

"If I could say one thing that has held us together through all of this is our ability to make each other laugh," says Pollard. "I remember one time he was laying in bed, he was in intense pain, literally on deaths door. I was laying next to him rubbing his head, doing what I could to make it better. He looked up and said ever so gently, ‘Honey, I think you're rubbing my hair off. ...' And I was. What little hair he had left on his head was now on his pillow. I must have had this terrified look on my face, and then we both just cracked up. Never lose the laughter!" - Nikki McCoy

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Bruce Story and Samantha Camp

Between acting and running their own business, Pip & Lola's Everything Handmade in Freighthouse Square, it's a wonder that Bruce Story and Samantha Camp have any time together. But they seem to manage quite well. They're both actors. She was married and he was in a relationship with someone else when they first met, and she said he was "tall, bald and sexy." Between auditions and shows they kept being thrown together. Their friends thought they were dating before they started dating and thought they were married before they became engaged - long after they had moved in together as housemates - separate rooms and no romantic connection at first. They have done a number of shows together, notably Love Letters at Lakewood Playhouse - prophetic casting, but let's hope their marriage will last; the couple in the play ended up marrying other people despite their love for one another.

Bruce and Samantha opened their business and built it together with much hard work. March 29 they are going to be married at The Second Likely Only Sami Awards, a theatrical awards events founded by Samantha a year ago. They stress that the event is a fundraiser for Lakewood Playhouse and is not really about the marriage, which, coincidentally, may not be legal because her ex has not yet agreed to a divorce. They're not about to let a little detail like that stop them. "We feel that the point is a public declaration of our commitment to each other. Period," Samantha says. - Alec Clayton

AMANDA AND ANDRE MAXWELL

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

Amanda and Andre Maxwell

Amanda and Andre Maxwell fell in love in 2003 while she was studying journalism and he was involved in theater studies at the University of Arizona. After graduation, the couple moved to Gig Harbor.

Now residents of Olympia, the husband and wife team write children's books. They also change diapers, make edible mush, and get woken up numerous times in the night by a crying baby. And then they write some more.

"It's been interesting working on the book, and learning the publishing business together, all while trying to raise our son, who turns one this April," says Amanda. "It's a balancing act, between the home and the business."

The two have already published two books in a series, The Chicken and the Dog, a backyard drama involving chickens, raccoons and you guessed it - the family dog.

What's next for team Maxwell?

"In between chasing our son around, there are a few things we hope to accomplish this year," says Amanda. "We are cooking up a third installment of The Chicken and the Dog, we are also launching our newest character's title debut, Sally the Seagull. Sally is an eco-friendly seagull who is cleaning up the sound, one beak full of trash at a time. She's cleaning up Facebook for now, www.facebook.com/sallytheseagull. - NM

FIRST LESBIAN COUPLE

Lynn Grotsky and Lisa Brodoff

Lisa Brodoff is a singer with The Righteous Mothers, and her wife, Lynn Grotsky, manages the group. They are righteous mothers in more ways than one. They met in 1980 at a potluck before a Holly Near concert in Seattle. The couple eventually moved in together a couple of years later and decided to have a child. A mutual friend was the sperm donor, and after their son, Evan, was born Grotsky wanted to adopt him because legally he was just Lisa's son. Discovering that it was not legal for her to adopt him, they took it to court. (Brodoff is a Seattle University law professor). They won the case and became precedent-setters - the first lesbian couple in the United States to adopt their baby. Shortly thereafter they had a daughter. Now those babies are adults and Grotsky and Brodoff continue to love each other madly while living full and active lives. Grotsky and Brodoff had a Civil Union in Vermont and then became Registered Domestic Partners in Washington, but they vowed not to get married until they could do so legally in Washington, which they have now done. Congrats, gals. You earned it. - AC

STAFF SGT. BRYAN AND CPL. JESSICA WILSON Photo credit: J.M. Simpson

MILITARY POWER COUPLE

Bryan and Jessica Wilson

The urban dictionary defines "power couple" as a relationship between two people who are equally as cool as each other. Bryan and Jessica Wilson personify the lexicon's definition. According to them, their coolness began with love at first sight.

"I saw him first," Cpl. Wilson said as she looked at her husband. 

"Yes," recalled her husband, Staff Sgt. Wilson.  "And we've been married for six good years."

Both work in the communications section of 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. They emphasized that communication is the reason for their power relationship.

"We just listen to each other; we don't interrupt; we see and treat each other as equals," Wilson pointed out.

Her husband agreed. "I start the day by talking with her; I end the day by talking with her."

Between the two of them, they have been deployed five times.  Both said the time apart has only strengthened their relationship.

"It's hard, but the deployments have made our marriage stronger," Cpl. Wilson said as she looked at her husband.  "A couple can strengthen their marriage while separated."

The Wilson also think the power of their relationship come from understanding the Army environment, and they said the service has been understanding of their needs.

"Be persistent in working with each other; ask questions not only of yourself but of those who can help you," Staff Sgt. Wilson said as he got up to go back to work.

"We just adapt and adjust and listen to each other," his wife added.  "That is the source of our power." That's cool. - J.M. Simpson

MAGICAL MARRIAGE TOUR

Tina & Teresa

Tina Roose and Teresa Guajardo printed up Magical Marriage Tour T-shirts to document their long struggle to get married. They met at a PFLAG picnic and moved in together 12 years ago. They became registered partners in 1999, also at a PFLAG event officiated by Curt Pavola, Olympia's first gay city councilmember. Five years later they got married in Oregon, but then Oregon overturned their short-lived marriage law. Then they had a big commitment ceremony at their Olympia home to celebrate their love for one another with friends and family. Roose and Guajardo were leading activists in the struggle for equal marriage rights and vowed to get married in the state capitol as soon as it was legal. They were so confident that the referendum would pass that they reserved the capitol rotunda and invited other gay and lesbian couples to join them. Finally, Dec. 15, 22 couples said their vows in the state capitol rotunda in a huge celebratory event and Roose and Teresa Guajardo's Magical Marriage Tour saga finally came to a happy conclusion. - AC

LINK: Best restaurants seats for Valentine's Day in the South sound