EASTLAKE, Ohio — When you think of love at first sight, a romantic comedy may come to mind: Time stopping ... eyes locking. You know, the big moments.
For Gus and Nikki Stefanow, of Enon, Ohio, all they remember is this:
“Mom kinda tricked me into coming down here to help stock the concession stand one morning, and I had no idea that I’d be seeing anyone other than her," Gus recalled.
"Her," was Nikki Stefanow. Gus was infatuated at first glance. They had never met, but he was too embarrassed to initiate conversation.
“I had a ball cap on my head and my hair was just every different direction and I wanted to go and brush my teeth," he remembered.
Nikki, was taken by Gus, too.
“He’s got these amazing blue eyes and they just kind of like draw you in," Nikki said.
She tried to talk to him.
“At first, he was kinda rude," Nikki said.
OK, so, rough start. They were just teens. But on that summer day back in 1981, at the old little league ball fields in Eastlake, they knew they were striking up something special.
On Nikki's sweet 16, they made it official while working at a festival together.
“It was my 16th birthday and we were selling raffle tickets," Nikki said. “He spent all of his money to buy raffle tickets to win me this giant teddy bear.”
They were engaged the next year. They were young, in love, with big ambitions.
“We both had plans. I was going to Lakeland Community College, I was going to do a couple years there," Gus said.
Then, as it often does, life threw Nikki and Gus a curveball.
“We found out I was pregnant, and it was real scary," Nikki remembered.
Both just graduating from high school, money was tight after their first daughter was born. Gus says, he needed to take action.
“We got married that September, and about a year into a terrible bout of poverty, I decided to enlist in the Air Force. The Air Force was basically our ticket out of poverty," Gus said.
The first years as new, young parents were difficult. The odds were stacked against them.
“We had so many people say how stupid we were," Nikki said.
“There were friends and family that said, ‘you’re stupid, you’re an idiot,'" Gus agreed. “There was a lot of of anger and a determination to say, ‘you know what? We’ll just prove them wrong.’”
Prove them wrong, they did. They have four children, six grandkids, and have moved more than a dozen times.
“I think if you build into the other person’s dreams, then your dreams come true, too," Nikki said.
It hasn't always been easy.
“So when we wanted to say, ‘just forget it, this isn’t worth it, because it was too hard.’ We’re like, ‘no we’re going to prove them wrong,’” Nikki said.
After all these years, they still only have eyes for each other.
“I love her beautiful brown eyes. For one thing, her smile. Her smile. The fact that I can make her laugh. Maybe I’m a little goofy sometimes. I don’t care,” Gus lovingly said of his wife.
“He has made me stronger. He has helped me believe in myself when I didn’t. He has taught value in myself that I didn’t have. And he’s just the best thing that has ever happened to me," Nikki echoed.
How deep is their love for one another?
“Eternal," said Gus.
Often times at baseball games, the crowd erupts when someone knocks it out of the ballpark. Gus and Nikki Stefanow's 36-year love story is going further than any home run.