Meet: The night Sherry Campbell and Mike Nelson first met through Greg and Sara Spaight, they were too busy for a real, sit-down date. It was Dec. 23, after all – a time when many schedules get jammed with all manner of social and family obligations.
Campbell rushed over to the Great Northern Tavern in the Denver Tech Center after work. Nelson stayed just 20 minutes before heading to another event. They met, and the brief encounter left a distinct impression.
“At least from my standpoint, it was enough to pique my interest,” says Campbell, who had been divorced for six years. She noticed his sense of humor, “clever and interesting.” She also felt a spark of attraction.
“I thought, this is a person I would definitely like to meet again,” she says.
Knowing he could get her number from the Spaights, Nelson, a recent widower, simply uttered a few niceties and went on his way.
Match: “I called her just a couple days later,” says Nelson. “We went out on a date, and we’ve been almost inseparable ever since.”
“That first date lasted four-plus hours,” Campbell says. “We just talked and laughed. There was just a big comfort level.”
Both love the outdoors and all brand of physical activities, including skiing, biking, hiking and rock climbing. “We’re both pretty much willing to try and do anything,” Campbell says. “I’m a total tomboy.”
“But she doesn’t look like it,” Nelson quickly adds.
Despite feeling “out of my league,” Nelson remembers the early days of the romance as “comfortable, natural, easy.”
Following that first date, between Christmas and New Year’s, the couple saw each other every day for months.
Nelson acknowledges having “big-time” concerns about introducing Campbell to his two children, now 13 and 15. So, early meetings included the kids and some of their friends on active outings. Campbell even began attending the kids’ out-of-state sporting events.
Eventually, the norm became nightly “family” dinners.
“It’s been strangely simple,” Campbell says. “They are good kids. They are not in trouble. They’ve always been incredible from Day One, just polite. I think they just genuinely like me.”
Marry: They began talking about marriage this past September, and Nelson proposed soon after. “When it’s right, it’s right,” he says.
“People talk about the soul-mate thing,” Campbell says. “I met Mike and was like, ‘OK, I know what they mean.”‘
The couple married the weekend before Thanksgiving in front of 135 guests at the Evergreen Lake House. Greg Spaight, having orchestrated the initial setup, walked the bride down the aisle. He denies being a serial matchmaker, saying he just sensed the couple would get along and that both have a “zest for life” and are “extremely quick to smile.”
“The minute they met,” he says, “you could just tell.”
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