I told my wife I would write an article about her and she told me in these exact words, ”Please Don’t.” I can’t help it.
Our story needs to be told. Michelle has been a Ewing resident for her whole life. When you date a Ewing girl, you have to know what you are in for. I’m a Ewing boy, but dating a Ewing girl is something else. She is very outspoken and will tell you exactly what she thinks at any given moment.
My mother was a Ewing girl and had the same traits as this girl. So I was prepared… She is the sweetest and kindest person I’ve ever met. I’m not talking about my mother. I’m talking about Michelle. She has literally changed my life and made me want to be a better person.
She has the same exact traits as her beautiful mother, Pat. The odd thing is Pat is so similar to my own mother. They both will, at the drop of a hat, leave what they are doing to help their family.
Michelle’s dad, is a different story. This guy was a Trenton detective but by the time I came into the picture, he had retired. I could almost guarantee that he had his police buddies look me up because he was not going to let his little girl date a criminal. I’m guessing I checked out because him and I are actually really close. Except that we like rival sports teams. I’m still a tad afraid of him.
Back to how Michelle and I met. I knew of her for years and maybe laid eyes on her once or twice, but she was always dating someone, so I didn’t pay her any mind. But one day, I was outside of the Firkin and she took a liking to me and my Phillies hat. She came with a girl, Janice, that I knew for my whole life and I was immediately hooked. I had to get know her.
It took me a few years after we met to have something hit me in the face and say, “dude, what are you doing, your soulmate is in front of you.” The odd thing is when we first met and she stole my burgundy Phillies hat and we locked eyes, I felt something. At that time of my life, a relationship was nothing I was looking for.
In September of 2013, I was a groomsman in my buddy’s wedding and I wasn’t allowed to have a date. Michelle was invited to the wedding and wasn’t allowed a date either. We were not on good terms at that moment, but our friends who were getting married sat us next to eachother at the reception. I talked to my buddy about it afterward and his wife jumped in and said we all knew it was supposed to happen.
I’m guessing everyone knew before we did. I have to thank my best friend Brett Noonan and his wife, Ashley, for going against their word and sitting us next to eachother. It was a brutal experience but it actually brought us closer.
2013 was the year of weddings. Another best friend of mine (Tommy Nelson aka Biff) was getting married a few weeks later and yes I was in that wedding too. I asked Michelle to be my date to the wedding and we had a blast. All of my buddies were super pumped that I finally admitted that I really liked this girl.
My buddy Biff’s wife Kate made me promise I would take her to the wedding as my date or I wouldn’t have a date. I obliged. After that, we were texting more than we ever did. She went to Las Vegas for a work conference in late October 2013, and we texted and talked the entire time. I literally went to shave in the morning before work (I was living at my parents at the time), and I thought out loud and said it out loud to myself—”She’s too perfect to let go.” That is an actual true statement.
I didn’t write that in my vows, but I remember saying it. When she went to Vegas, we were both single, but I honestly didn’t feel single and didn’t want to be anymore. The past few years of my life, I had loved being single and doing single things and I still wanted to live that life. I had a couple buddies who were still living that life, but I also had buddies who were moving on and getting engaged and married.
I remember this vividly… she was in Vegas and I was on the phone with her, and some dude bought her a drink and she accepted. Why wouldn’t she? She’s single but I think the dude was an old creepy dude. I was like and I quote “Yo, be careful, you need to come home in one piece.”
She and I are were just friends, but her trip to Vegas for some odd reason made me miss her. I was recently thinking about my mindset back then and wondering why I would miss a girl that much who I wasn’t in a relationship with? Well, I did. I was in love, and I don’t know when and how it happened.
She got off her flight back home and she was sick as a dog, but I was not letting her get anywhere near another guy. She met me at Wildflowers in Pennington with a few people and we went back to her condo.
She went right to bed because she was really sick, and I brought her tea and soup that I made myself! We woke up the next morning on Oct. 26, 2013 and I asked her to be my girlfriend.
She actually said yes! You go Donnie! Fast forward to July 13, 2017… we got engaged and then Oct. 11, 2019, we weremarried. I love this woman more than I’ve ever loved anything.
I wrote the above about 3-4 years ago and now it’s 2025. I lost my mother and I’m so lost. I know Michelle is lost too and she is trying to help, but is unsure what to do. This woman has been there to watch my mom pass, to the viewing with her holding my hand and meeting so many new people.
She never flinched. She never left my side during this whole entire thing. She calls my Dad, “dad,” and I get chills every time. My mom was the ideal perfect woman and put family first. Boys always try to find a girl that has the same qualities as their mother.
Holy crap did I find it! This woman is everything I’ve ever wanted and needed. She has been with me and I have been there for her for everything. She’s my wife and I wouldn’t trade her for anything.
Donnie Black was born and grew up in Ewing Township. He currently works at radio station XTU in Philadelphia as a producer, on air personality and promotions director.
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