CHICAGO | Mike King and Lori Suter were friends at East High School 40 years ago. Friends. Nothing more, nothing less.
This Valentine's Day is Mike's 58th birthday. He'll spend it with Lori, the long and somewhat lost classmate with whom he's been reunited. They'll celebrate their special day as they do each day, together in laughter, exploring new places to see in and around Chicago, where Lori has resided since 1985. Mike, a longtime Sioux City resident, moved there to be with her a year ago.
"We will not be staying at home on Valetine's Day," Lori said of plans with her sweetheart. "I have a couple of special places in Chicago that I want to take him because he's a foodie. I'm trying to find something he hasn't had."
Mike laughed. "There's no Milwaukee Wiener House or Jerry's Pizza in Chicago," he said.
How did this couple come together after so many years? The question, though direct, causes both to pause a bit, searching for what exactly it may have been. Before moving ahead, it may serve to go back to East High, 1977.
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"We were friends in high school," Lori said, noting how the two met each other as seventh-graders attending Hayworth School in 1972. "We'd talk to each other a lot at school, but not outside of school."
Lori served as drum majorette her senior year at East High. She was also a basketball cheerleader, a member of the choir, a performer in the school musical and a baton twirler for parades and halftime shows.
Mike, on the other hand, ran hurdles for the track team and starred on the baseball diamond, a left-handed fire-balling phenom who tossed seven no-hitters in a three-year Morningside College career. Mike became Iowa's earliest baseball draft pick, going fourth overall in the 1980 Major League Baseball draft to the Oakland A's.
His five-year, three-team baseball trek through the minor leagues included an injured rotator cuff in 1983. He left the sport about the time Lori found her home near Chicago.
Both would marry and raise a family before divorcing. Lori has four adult children and three grandchildren. Mike has three adult children and two grandchildren.
"I had something for her in high school, but I was too big of a wimp to speak up," Mike said of his fondess for Lori."I guess I didn't man up to that type of thing."
Well, he did in August or September 2015 by sending a message to Lori on Facebook.
"I thought I was his 'friend' on Facebook, so I didn't answer his request for a long time," Lori said. "When I finally answered, he messaged me and that's how it began."
They hadn't communicated since 1977.
They traded a few direct messages on Facebook. Mike then upped the ante, letting her know that neither of them was getting any younger.
"This is something I really, deep down, wanted to pursue," he said. "If it didn't work out, at least I tried."
They visited on the phone several times, and Lori said his voice took her back in time almost immediately. Mike went so far as to take a photo of some Hershey Kisses while standing in a Dollar General in Sioux City. He sent the picture to Lori with a message something like this: "I hope your day is as sweet as you are."
"I got that text and just stared at it," Lori said.
She then invited him to Oak Park, Illinois, for a date. Mike arrived on Dec. 15, 2015, and the two talked and laughed for hours.
"We got together over three days and it was horrible when he went back to Sioux City," she said.
They visited for hours each day on the phone after that first day. Things moved along and soon Mike did, too. Lori drove 525 miles west to Sioux City, and the two headed back to Oak Park, where they've resided since last February.
Mike, who is retired, takes care of things on the homefront, while Lori continues to work in data analytics/data management.
"We see bands, we go to music in the park and lots of free cultural events," she said. "We walk everywhere! And we spend 80 percent of our time together in laughter."
"We're three blocks from Ernest Hemmingway's birthplace," Mike added. "In the summertime, we go into Chicago a lot, as it's a 10-minute train ride. We also enjoy cooking a lot. I've gained 27 pounds since I moved out here."
"He was too skinny," Lori said with a barb. "He really looks good now!"
The two converse about old times at East and various Sioux City happenings. Their common foundations have set in motion a relationship that, according to Mike, is almost effortless.
"We have so much in common and we're so much in love with each other," he said. "Everything fell into place."
Lori is asked if this is a second chapter, or a second love, or a second chance. Is there a way to define it?
"I wouldn't say it's a second chapter; it's a right chapter," she said. "I had a great time raising kids and working in my career, but there was a piece missing. Trying to date, seriously, is not a cool thing. I feel lucky we found each other."
"This worked out for a reason," he continued. "We're growing together."
