Walking around as a student or teacher at Stafford High during the month of love, you’ll see more than one student receiving flowers, sweet chocolate, or a cute teddy bear from their significant other. With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, teenage couples are bound to be lovey-dovey as Cupid shoots his arrows left and right, bringing love to any student nearby.

Something you don’t see often, or at all, is a couple at Stafford who both happen to be teachers. I’m sure most of us students don’t think about our teachers’ love lives unless they bring them up themselves. A few might even cringe at the idea of it. But actually, Stafford is full of teacher couples roaming the halls unnoticed. In fact, two history teachers at Stafford, Megan and Jeff Rine, have been married for 22 years. 

The Rine couple met in 2002. “We were on a [recreational] volleyball team together with friends of ours.” Mrs. Rine reminisces. “We got married after eight months of dating.” She pauses her story. “Something I don’t recommend doing.” 

The reason behind why the couple got married after what most would consider a short time wasn’t anything crazy. “He wanted to be married before he was stationed, so we got married before he left,” Mrs. Rine said.

Being a young couple rushing to plan a wedding is stressful. They had limited resources and money, so Mrs. Rine wore a white prom dress from Macy’s and Mr. Rine wore his Class A suit. It wasn’t a huge, over-the-top, glamorous wedding; it was simple, which was more than enough for them. 

Shortly after getting married, Mr. Rine was sent to Iraq. Couples who end up being long-distance often struggle with being away from each other for such long periods of time. The Rine couple was able to deal with this despite rarely being able to contact each other. “When he went off to Iraq, we had no clue how long it would be before he would find a phone so he could call me, so we started writing letters to each other,” Mrs. Rine said. 

Through letters, they got to know each other better and became closer. Mrs. Rine cringes a bit thinking about it. “We still have the letters, but if I read them now, I’d probably cringe so much at them.” 

Going on theme with the “month of love,” something interesting about the Rines is that they don’t actually celebrate Valentine’s Day, despite being together for so long— something that many younger couples might find odd. Instead, they’d give gifts to their two daughters instead. 

“When the girls were younger, their father would buy a flower for both of them and put it in a cup of their favorite show at the time.” Mrs. Rine continues, “That was how we celebrated, just getting the girls something instead.”

It’s quite sweet that the couple doesn’t celebrate, and in a way, it shows how strong their love for each other is. Even though they don’t celebrate, the couple still shows each other sweet gestures and does small things that can really mean a lot. 

“Typically, when I go to the grocery store, I always make sure to bring a Coke Zero for her, even if she didn’t ask for it,” said Mr. Rine. “If she knows I need t-shirts or something she’ll just buy it.” 

Mr. Rine summarized their actions: “There’s like this unspoken understanding, whenever one of us wants something.” In a way, it’s like their love language. How they remind each other about their love for one another instead of sharing a kiss or saying “I love you.” 

Younger couples might wonder how they have stayed together for so long and survived being long-distance. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rine have some advice for younger couples. 

“It’s important to have time for yourself.” Mrs. Rine says. “It’s okay not to be together all the time,”

Mr. Rine says, “Talk to each other. Trust goes a [very] long way. Even if that means you have to have the difficult conversations, it’ll be worth it in the end.”

Despite the fact that it is Valentine’s Day today, and the Rines most likely will not celebrate, they still show their love in ways deeper than a simple box of chocolates and flowers.