Faye in her veil and Jim laughing during their first dance on their wedding day

Our first dance · September 17, 1999 · Baton Rouge

Happy anniversary

Faye & Jim

27 years

September 17, 1999 – 2026

Together since 1994 · Married since 1999

For Faye

27 years, Fayemarie.

Two daughters, one grandson, twelve front doors, and the same wedding knife still in the drawer.

We met in 1994 on the exercise bikes at the Southeastern Louisiana University gym in Hammond. You were 19 and I was a computer kid from Baton Rouge. We got married in Baton Rouge on September 17, 1999, and two years later Mia showed up on the exact same day, so we’ve never had an anniversary to ourselves. We went from Baton Rouge to Jackson to Minnesota, rented and bought and rented and bought again, and raised two girls who turned out to be their own kind of amazing. It hasn’t always been easy. We’re still here. This page is the short version.

Our story

Thirty-two years, in chapters

1994

Hammond, Louisiana

We met

The campus gym at Southeastern Louisiana University. You were on the exercise bike next to mine, and we struck up a conversation. Our first date was Def Comedy Jam.

Faye and Jim cheek to cheek in an early married photo
cheek to cheek, early years
1999

September 17, 1999

We got married

Married by Pastor Jim Sawyer at Sherwood Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Two Jims at the altar. Your cousins gave us a Cutco carving knife, and I still think of the wedding every time I use it.

Young Faye in a light shirt standing outside the brick apartment building on Stumberg Lane
Stumberg Lane · Baton Rouge
2001

September 17, 2001

Mia arrives on our 2nd anniversary

We didn’t plan it that way. It just became our way of never having an anniversary date to ourselves.

Young Jim and red-haired Faye in a close-up photo in Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
2002

Baton Rouge to Jackson, Mississippi

Heading east

We left Baton Rouge for a contract in Jackson and rented a house on Myrtle Street, then I started a business there with a friend. Neither of us loved Mississippi or being broke.

Studio family portrait of Faye and Jim with James and Mia
James, Mia, and us
2004

December 2004

Minnesota

We moved north for a fresh start. I started a new job and crashed on your parents’ couch in Osseo until we found our own place. Minnesota became home.

Faye and Jim on a dinner date in the mid-2000s
dinner date, mid-2000s
2006

May & June 2006

James, and a house of our own

On Friday, May 26, you adopted James, and she picked her own new name: James Alexander Carter. A month later we closed on our little house in Richfield. I sent the listing to my dad as “Faye’s birthday present.” We stayed almost ten years.

Faye and Jim lying in the sun with their heads together
heads together, 2011
2012

February 2012

Belize

A hard trip for a sad reason, but I got to meet the Prime Minister of Belize and thank him for his best export: you.

Close-up selfie of Faye and Jim
November 2012
2012

September 14, 2012

Our 13th at Hotel Ivy

Lace was the theme, so there was lace. You told me more than once it was the best anniversary we’d ever had.

Faye with short blonde hair and Jim smiling big
spring 2014
2014

July 2014

Thirteen days in Belize with the girls

Caves Branch in the jungle, snorkeling off South Water Caye, and a picture of our family in a cage inside the jaguar enclosure. The longest I’d ever been away from work, and I didn’t miss it.

Faye and Jim taking a selfie on New Year's Eve 2015
New Year’s Eve 2015
2015

May 7, 2015

You turn 40

You turned 40, and flowers showed up at your office at LifeSpan. From me. You’d only started there as a therapist that February.

Faye in florals on a summer evening at home
July 2016 · Richfield
May 2016 · Riverboat, St. Paul
2016

April 2016

HappyBirthdayFaye.com

I built you a birthday website two weeks early, then built Faye-Marie.com so people could hear you sing. That July you started singing again.

Faye and Jim on a summer evening near the river in Lilydale
Summer 2018 · Lilydale
2019

April 2019

Minnetonka

After Bloomington, St. Paul, and Edina, we were tired of renting. We bought a house in Minnetonka, and we’re still in it.

Faye laughing on New Year's Day 2020
New Year’s Day 2020
2020

September 2020

Duluth and the missing lug nut

Park Point, Glensheen, and a car that shook so bad I was about to call a tow truck. You noticed the missing lug nut first.

Faye and Jim holding their new grandson
Christmas Eve 2023
2023

December 2023

We became grandparents

Roman was born, and suddenly I was Pawpaw and you were Grandma.

Faye and Jim taking a selfie in November 2025
November 2025 · Minnetonka
2026

September 17, 2026

27

Still choosing each other.

Faye and Jim at the Renaissance Festival on their 17th anniversary
Our 17th anniversary · September 17, 2016 · Renaissance Festival
“You’re my other half.”

1994 – 2026

Everywhere we’ve been home

From a gym in Hammond to a house in Minnetonka, with Belize never far away.

Three state capitals along the way: Baton Rouge, Jackson, and St. Paul.

Everywhere we’ve been home: a map Map of the central United States from Louisiana to Minnesota with a dotted line tracing our homes in order: Hammond, Louisiana, where we met in 1994; Baton Rouge; Jackson, Mississippi; then seven stops around the Twin Cities shown in an inset, ending in Minnetonka. A second inset shows Belize. Smaller diamond markers show trips. The same information is in the list that follows the map. Hammond Baton RougeJacksonOsseoAnokaRichfieldBloomingtonSt. PaulEdinaMinnetonka Dangriga · 2012Hotel Ivy · 2012Caves Branch · 2014Duluth · 2020
HomeTripOur path, in order

In order

  1. Where it began1994Hammond, LouisianaWhere we met, on the exercise bikes at the Southeastern Louisiana University gym.
  2. Home1999 – 2002Baton Rouge, LouisianaMarried at Sherwood Presbyterian on September 17, 1999. Three homes here before Jackson.
  3. Home2002 – 2004Jackson, MississippiA rented house on Myrtle Street. A contract, then a business with a friend. Neither of us loved being broke.
  4. HomeDecember 2004 – spring 2005Osseo, MinnesotaYour parents’ couch and my new job, until we found our own place.
  5. Home2005 – 2006Anoka, MinnesotaA rented house, our next stop after the couch.
  6. Home2006 – 2016Richfield, MinnesotaOur first house, a little one. Almost ten years.
  7. TripFebruary 2012Dangriga, BelizeHome to Dangriga, where you’re from, to say goodbye to your brother. We stayed at Pelican Beach Resort, and I met the Prime Minister and thanked him for his best export: you.
  8. TripSeptember 14, 2012Hotel Ivy, MinneapolisOur 13th anniversary. Lace was the theme, so there was lace.
  9. TripJuly 2014Caves Branch & South Water Caye, BelizeThirteen days with the girls: the jungle, snorkeling, and our family in the jaguar cage.
  10. HomeFebruary 2016 – April 2017Bloomington, MinnesotaAfter Richfield, a rental. You and James painted the living room until it was super comfy.
  11. HomeApril 2017 – April 2018St. Paul, MinnesotaA year in the capital.
  12. HomeApril 2018 – April 2019Edina, MinnesotaOne more rental. By then we were tired of renting.
  13. HomeApril 2019 – nowMinnetonka, MinnesotaOur house now. We’re still in it.
  14. TripSeptember 2020Duluth, MinnesotaPark Point, Glensheen, and the missing lug nut you spotted first.

Home

The family we built

James

She was mine first, and then she was ours. You adopted her in 2006, and she chose the name James Alexander, after me and Alexander the Great. She went to Le Cordon Bleu, cooked under Jack Riebel at The Lexington, and she’s a mom now. She’s the one who painted the Bloomington rental’s living room with you until it was super comfy, and the one who helped me put new shocks on your truck.

Jim and James in helmets in the car on a track day
Track day with James · 2014

Mia

Born on our second anniversary, which means September 17 was always her day too. You hung balloons all the way down her walk to school for her 12th birthday. She started making fursuits as a kid, turned it into a real business, baked your birthday cake in 2024, and moved into her own place on Father’s Day 2025. She also got me hooked on 3D printing, so you can blame her for that.

Faye and Mia cheek to cheek sharing a milkshake
You and Mia · 2021

Roman

Roman Alexander, our grandson and James’s boy, born December 2023. James picked Alexander for herself, and now he carries it on. To him I’m Pawpaw and you’re Grandma.

The animals

Kitten Boot Camp in 2010. A cat named Kenway whose street name was Buster. A kitten I named Piston Angry. Then the dogs: Heidi, who we still miss, and Lily, our best companion, who shed on everything and loved us completely, even if she never once trusted me to hand her a treat.

Everyone around us

Your mom and dad, who took us in when we got to Minnesota and fed us arroz con pollo. Your brothers. Our friends. The people who showed up to help every time we moved, which was a lot.

The album

Riverboat 2016
Riverboat 2016
We came north for a fresh start. It turned into home.

Lake Superior · Duluth, January 2017

A short list

27 things I love about you

  1. 1You wore a dress and combat boots when we met.
  2. 2You drank me under the table. Your grandmother did too, and I’m from Louisiana.
  3. 3You asked me if I was being the person I wanted to be. It took me a while, but I answered.
  4. 4You hate diamonds. Thank you.
  5. 5When we moved in 2016, everything you packed was wrapped and labeled. My bins didn’t have lids.
  6. 6You hung balloons all the way to Mia’s school so she’d see them on her 12th birthday.
  7. 7Your birthday isn’t a day. It’s a week.
  8. 8You spotted the missing lug nut in Duluth before I called a tow truck.
  9. 9You came to the drag strip with me the first time and told me to go for it.
  10. 10You let me call your SQ5 a racecar. Supercharged V6, it sings.
  11. 11You told me “don’t get me anything for the car,” after I’d already bought the remote start.
  12. 12You bought copies of the Constitution to share. An immigrant with more copies than most politicians.
  13. 13You framed a random picture that fell out of a used book.
  14. 14You made a mirrored honeycomb wall with bees on it, then decided you didn’t like it.
  15. 15You sing.
  16. 16You figured out how to make the Sonos play without internet just so I wouldn’t show you how to use it.
  17. 17You have approximately 12,492 recipes. I have red beans and rice.
  18. 18You have a crow brain. If it’s small and shiny, it gets sorted.
  19. 19A stack of new tools for Christmas, a cordless sander for spring. You use them.
  20. 20We shared one coffee mug in 2018 because I couldn’t find the others, and it felt like our broke early days.
  21. 21You earned your master’s while raising two girls.
  22. 22You spent years as a therapist, helping people through their worst days, and still came home with enough left for us.
  23. 23You came from Dangriga to Hammond to Minnetonka, and made every stop feel like home.
  24. 24Our wedding carving knife is still in the drawer after 27 years.
  25. 25I’ve grabbed your shirt for the gym by accident more than once. It only fits me backwards.
  26. 26By your 38th birthday you’d spent half your life with me. It’s more than half now.
  27. 27You’re my other half. I told you that in June and I meant it.

September 17, 2026

Faye,

Thirty-two years ago you were on the exercise bike next to mine. 27 years ago you married me. I did the math and you’ve been with me more than half your life, which seems like a bad deal for you, but you keep showing up anyway.

I think about that question you asked me way back. Was I being the person I wanted to be? I wasn’t. It took me a while to answer it, and some days I’m still working on it.

We’ve done a lot. Baton Rouge, Jackson, your parents’ couch, Richfield, three rentals in three years, and finally this house. Two girls who turned out to be exactly themselves, and better than we could’ve planned. A grandson. Too many cars, I know. Dogs shedding on everything.

It hasn’t been easy and I’m not going to pretend it was. We’re both stubborn and we both feel things hard. But when it counts you’re the one who notices the missing lug nut. You’re the one who packs the boxes right.

I still use the knife from our wedding. Every time I clean it I think about how young we were and how little we knew. I’m glad we figured out enough.

Thank you for sticking with me. You’re my other half. I love you more than I’m any good at saying, so I built you a website again 😊

Happy anniversary, gial.

Jim

Faye and Jim in a frog hat and a paper crown in St. Paul
St. Paul · March 2026
Faye and Jim sharing their first dance at their wedding in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge · 1999

Still here. Still in love.

Married 9,862 days