Childhood Friends Reunite By Chance After 12 Years Apart, Fall In Love And Get Married
Natalie Crowe and Austin Tatman were best friends in their pre-kindergarten class in Florida, but lost touch after Crowe’s family moved to Connecticut.
But a twist of fate would bring them back together more than a decade later, and the longtime friends fell in love across hundreds of miles and, just a few weeks ago, tied the knot.
The Today show shared the unlikely love story that started in Ocala, Florida, in 1999, when Crowe and Tatman were in the same pre-kindergarten class together. The two became best friends that year and remained close until Crowe and her family had to move away.
But when Crowe was in high school in 2012, she happened across an old address book from her mother and, on a whim, decided to look up her old friend. She found him on Facebook and decided to ask if he remembered her. Austin said he did.
They shared cell phone numbers and began to grow closer, even though they were more than 1,000 miles away. Crowe’s father still lived in Florida and was just 10 minutes from Tatman, so they were able to visit in person.
When the two graduated high school, they both ended up at colleges nearby in Florida, with Tatman at the University of Florida in Gainesville and Crowe two hours away at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. The continued dating through college, and Tatman proposed in 2017.
This is not the first time that a couple has sparked a romance after a long time apart — and not the longest gap by a long shot. Back in 2015, Frank and Ada Hatch were reunited nearly 68 years after they had dated as teenagers. As AOL reported, the couple broke up when another man came into Ada’s life, and the two ended up marrying other people.
They remained acquaintances and saw each other around town. When Frank’s wife passed away and Ada’s husband also died, the two reunited and sparked a romance. At the age of 85, Frank and Ada Hatch were married, tying the knot on Valentine’s Day.
“Well, we’re both 85. How much longer do we have to enjoy each other? That’s a big question and probably we haven’t gotten too many years left here. So why not try to enjoy it? And I couldn’t think of a better way to enjoy it than to be with this girl,” Frank said.
Childhood best friends reunite and get married — after 12 years apart
Their wedding photo mimicked a very old photo of them in a play Jeep, but this time using the real thing. @Jeep https://t.co/Wd1w04a4E8
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) May 3, 2019
Natalie Crowe and Austin Tatman were married last month in Florida. As the New York Daily News noted, the guest book for the wedding was in the style of an address book, a nod to their unlikely reunion.
