LARRY & KIM GLOVER JR.
BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY| The Birmingham Times
Live: McCalla
Married: April 13, 2019
Met: In April 2015, online at blackpeoplemeet.com. Kim said she had spent time on the platform and had met some who didn’t have any substance. On the day her subscription was ending, she came across Larry’s profile and decided to shoot him a message before logging off.
“I said, ‘Hey Larry, it’s Kim. I don’t have any pictures on here [Black People Meet] because a lot of my son’s and daughter’s friends are on here, but here’s a picture of me and my phone number. If you’re interested, please send me a text or give me a call’, and he called me the same day,” Kim said.
Larry remembers things a little differently. “I do remember her messaging me and she didn’t have a picture, and normally I wouldn’t respond to anybody that doesn’t have a picture … but something made me reach out, and she said she would a picture if I was interested, and I was,” Larry said.
Larry got the photo. “We talked for a long time that night and we [conversed] for about a week before we went on a date,” Larry recalled.
First date: April 2015, at Chuy’s at the Summit. “We met at Chuy’s because I had to work that night so it was kind of a short date. We had a good dinner, we talked, and we hit it off,” Larry said.
“The date wasn’t what I expected because I didn’t expect to gel with him, and I had my guard up…” Kim said. “But it seemed like I had a magnetic attraction to Larry because on my way home I was like ‘I think I really like ol’ Larry’,” she laughed. “I couldn’t wait to talk to him, and I could talk to him for hours. Even today when I have to talk to people for a long time on the phone, I get nauseous, but I could talk to him without feeling that way.”
The next date was a week later at Pappadeaux’s Seafood Kitchen on U.S. 280. The plan was to go to dinner and depending on how the night went take off on an adventure.
“Larry asked me if I had my clothes packed because we were going on a road trip,” Kim said. “We both brought an overnight bag to the date.”
Over dinner, they’d planned to head to Atlanta to go see a Floyd Mayweather fight. “Everything was going good. Kim’s the type of person that’s very witty and hilarious and that was different from what I was used to and I was hooked so I was ready to hit the road and see where it took us,” Larry recalled.
“…we couldn’t get [into the fight] so we just hung out around the bar at the hotel …,” Kim said.
The turn: For Kim, it was following their weekend trip to Atlanta. “When I had that dinner date with Larry, I knew he was someone I’d want my kids to meet… and at Pappadeaux’s I let my guard down, and this was all within a week,” said Kim, “I liked him and I knew that he was different. I don’t remember us talking about being exclusive, I just think it was implied. [After three months] I remember doing things that made me think he was my man,” she laughed. “He was staying in Helena, and I was living in Center Point, and I was packing a bag every night to go to work from his house. I had met his kids, and he had met mine [who were older teens and young adults at the time] and I told them he was my man, so we were in a relationship to me.”
For Larry, it was in July of 2015. “I actually do remember talking about being exclusive. We agreed to delete our online dating profiles and give us a try,” Larry said.
By 2017 the could began discussing marriage and decided to build a house and live together for a year before jumping the broom. “We built a house in McCalla, it was ready in February 2018, and he proposed three months later,” Kim said.
The proposal: May 2018, at their home in McCalla. It was a typical weekend evening when Larry decided to pop the question. “Nobody else was here, it was just us and we were getting ready to go out to one of her friend’s parties, and before we left, I got on one knee and proposed to her and asked her to marry me,” Larry said.
“It was expected, we had talked about it. The proposal wasn’t romantic, but building this house was,” Kim laughed.
The wedding: At the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kim wore a long cream-colored dress, and Larry wore a navy suit. “I’m not a flashy girl, I always told Larry that I didn’t want a wedding so we went to Vegas. It was just the two of us,” Kim said.
Most memorable for the bride were a lot of firsts, she said, “the flight, going to Vegas, and becoming a wife were all firsts for me,” she said.
Kim also recalls making an emotional connection to the song when walking down the aisle. “The song we chose was ‘Because You Loved Me’, by Celine Dione, and there’s a line in the song that says, ‘for every dream you made come true and all the love I found in you, I will be forever thankful’ and that song sticks with me because Larry has made my every dream come true and I’m forever thankful for him,” Kim said.
Most memorable for the groom was sitting through a timeshare presentation after saying ‘I do’. “I told Kim, from the time we got in Vegas that I didn’t want to do a timeshare tour. I’d done one before and I said I’d never do another one again, and Kim signed us up for one anyway, and we had to do it right after the wedding,” Larry recalled.
After arriving for the pitch which is designed to sell a vacation ownership, there was a long delay before a salesman came to lead their tour, and once he did the first question was, “What are you guys doing in Vegas?’ And we told him, ‘we were here to get married.’ And he said, ‘when did you get married,’ and we told him ‘an hour ago.’ And then he said, ‘do you all really want to do this tour?’ Because you should be out celebrating. And we said ‘No’, and he said, ‘good, here are your complimentary gifts [free dinners, free cash vouchers, and tickets to a show],’ and ‘he said congratulations, go have fun.’ After that, we were able to really enjoy our time there and relax,” Larry said.
Honeymoon: A few extra days in Las Vegas. “We just enjoyed the Vegas life, going down to the casino, walking the strip, and seeing things I saw on TV as a kid, it was memorable,” Kim said.
“We did a little gambling and we were able to eat for 24 hours off of one cash voucher from the timeshare tour; I’m talking breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and snacks all day… we just really enjoyed our time together,” Larry said.
Words of wisdom: “Allow each other to be their authentic selves. Instead of trying to compare ourselves to anyone else, I strongly believe a marriage can only survive if both are being their authentic selves. We don’t believe in ‘faking it til you make it’, we don’t try to be anyone else, we don’t compare our marriage, and we believe we have the perfect marriage for us. And I think that is because we allow each other to be who we are,” Kim said.
“Communication is important because when you get into a marriage things can seem to get a little somber at times, so you always have to communicate and make time for each other. A big part of [overcoming that], is letting your partner know how you feel, and if you don’t, it’ll boil over and turn things bad,” Larry said.
Happily ever after: The Glovers attend Church of The Highlands, in McCalla and are a blended family with 7 children: Carlandria, 32, Derrick, 31, Jasmine, 30, and Dawanna, 28, from Kim’s previous relationship, and Allison, 25, Alyssa, 20, and Andrew, 16 from Larry’s previous marriage.
Kim, 52, is a Gate City native, a Woodlawn High School grad, and owns a cleaning service called Organically Kleen, based in Birmingham.
Larry, 51, is a Riley/Wenonah native, and Wenonah High School grad. He attended Lawson State Community College [Birmingham campus], where he earned an associate degree in business accounting, and has worked for UPS as a feeder driver for the past 31 years.
“You Had Me at Hello’’ highlights married couples and the love that binds them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello’’ column, or know someone, please send nominations to Barnett Wright bwright@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s) and what makes their love story unique.
https://www.gusterlawfirm.com/
