Hi, listeners, it's Allena on our show, we usually cover the worst of the worst outrageous crimes, criminals and cases which have forever changed the face of history, but not today.

Today, instead of counting down, I'm recounting something very near and dear to my heart, my relationship with my husband, John. And it's featured in a very special episode of the fantastic podcast, Our Love Story.

We're grateful to have you as part of the Crime Countdown family, and that's why I'm excited to share my story with you. I hope you will all find it as entertaining as I do. And here's something else fun. Our love story has also highlighted some of your other favorite precast hosts, including Ashe, in her love story with Drew and a handful of really adorable episodes.

But to hear hers and the rest, you'll have to head over to our series, Our Love Story, and subscribe today. Listen free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast.

Hi, my name's Elena. I am thirty five years old, I'm from Easton, which is a town in Massachusetts, probably 20 minutes outside of Boston right now. I'm an autopsy technician. I'm also a pod caster. I have a podcast called Morbid, a True Crime Podcast and also a podcast original called Crime Countdown.

Hi, I'm John. I am thirty seven years old. I'm from Randolph, Massachusetts, and I am a total examiner.

John and I have dated and been engaged and married all together about 13 years. It's kind of a hotly debated topic and we'll get into that later. But we dated before we were engaged for about four years.

If I had to describe our love story, I would say that it is truly delightful and always evolving.

Welcome to our Love Story, a Spotify original from podcast. Every week, a real couple recounts how they met, how they fell in love, and the biggest moments of their relationship. Now let's hear their love story.

Before I met John, I had two serious boyfriends, I hesitate to call them serious, but we'll go ahead and do that. The guy I dated right before, John, was kind of a dud. So when I met John and we started dating, I was like, wait, this is how relationships are supposed to be.

My relationship life before I met Olina was pretty similar. I also had two serious girlfriends before meeting later, did a little bit of casual dating mixed in. But at the time I was definitely looking for a serious relationship.

How I met John is kind of a fun story. So my older sister worked at a furniture store that's in Massachusetts, Jordan's furniture. It's like really well known in Massachusetts and she worked in the sleep lab, which is like they make it like a whole thing where they all wear lab coats, which is ridiculous, but it's fine.

She worked with a guy named John and she was constantly, constantly telling me about this guy named John and how right now he has a girlfriend. But I think they're breaking up and I really want you guys to be together. And I was like, well, this doesn't really like what I. He has a girlfriend. And at the time I was like kind of dating my ex boyfriend. So I think what she was really looking for was to have John as a brother in law, eventually someone while also looking to, you know, get me in there.

But it was definitely I have to give props to my sister because she knew it, like right off the bat. She was like, you guys are made for each other.

I actually knew a lot about Elena before meeting her just by hearing a lot of stories from her sister. And I was definitely intrigued by the stories that I was hearing. So she actually came into the store on the Fourth of July with her mom, and we talked for a little bit. We definitely unfortunately, looking back on it, we had a similar bond for the comedian Dane Cook.

Luckily, our sense of humor is have evolved since then, but that's kind of how we responded. And so we talked for a few minutes. Mean I left the store and of course, her sister ran over to me and asked me what my first impressions were. And I was a little speechless. And I think I kind of muttered, Oh, man, your sister's hot. I think right away I knew I was in a little bit of trouble.

So the first thing that drew me to John was very shallow because I looked at him and I was like, oh, he's really handsome. And he was very tall, which I was like, oh, look at that tall drink of water. So I was definitely the first thing. But then I think when I first met him, I made because I was very nervous and like very awkward. So I think I made a Dane Cook reference like that joke.

And he finished the line when I said it and I was like, oh, this is it. Like, that's it.

And now I look back and I'm like, oh, God brought us together. He didn't. So on our first date, we went to dinner and a movie, we went to a restaurant called Bertucci's, which is a local chain, Italian restaurant, and immediately I was concerned with how the date was going because Elena did not order real food. She ordered bruschetta as a meal, which I immediately asked her why. And she said that she ordered a large Italian sub about an hour before I picked her up and that she wasn't very hungry.

So I kind of assumed that she was looking for the date to end as soon as possible. At that point, everything that John just said is true. I copped to it definitely did eat a large Italian sub before we went on a date. But here's the thing. Food comforts me. And I was very nervous. And I also didn't want him to know that I ate because I just had not been on a date in a long time. And I was like, I don't know if I can, you know, I eat a lot of food all the time.

So I ordered bruschetta. And what's the funny thing is, I don't like tomatoes. Like, that's pretty much what bruschetta is. It's like tomatoes, right on bread with a little cheese. So I'm not really sure why that. But, you know, we went through it. It happened so later and I his first kiss, it took place on your porch, right? It did. Outside of your parent's home. Yes. Where you were living at the time.

It was probably long overdue, but one might say. But to set the scene for it, Eleanor and I were both getting out of long term relationships. We were attempting to take it slow. I was very nervous to rush into anything, not only for myself, but for her as well.

So the first case probably should have taken place a lot earlier.

But if it wasn't for Alain, his actions that night, it probably wouldn't have come for another week, two weeks, months.

Who knows?

We might be thirteen years down the road and still waiting. It's quite possible.

Our first kiss, the rumors are true. I did bully him into it. I will say that. So it was a few dates and and I was like, I really want to kiss him, but I'm not going to do it.

I don't know why, but I was like, I'm going to do it. And he hadn't kissed me yet. And I was getting a little annoyed and like a little offended, to be quite honest, because I was like, why is he not doing it? So one night he hugged me goodbye and I was like, and so I let out the most Meryl Streep worthy sigh.

Like somebody should have handed me an Academy Award. Absolutely. I made it so theatrical. I don't even think I did it intentionally to, like, make you do it. But it worked out. And he kissed me and it was worth it. And I will forever say it was worth bowling.

You do it again. Eleanor and I had a couple of hurdles that we had to leap over. The first was relatively early on in our relationship where we had realized that we probably rushed into it a little too fast and we actually broke up for the time frame is debated between us.

I like to for a few months, let's say, but in that time for me, I realized that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. It was difficult to go day to day without you in my life.

And I also realized the same thing. So, see, it was a good thing. So it was meant to be. And I'd say the second hurdle that we really had to deal with came later in our relationship when we were married and when we got married, we knew we wanted to have kids.

But in the beginning we were like, OK, let's have like a year of marriage, just enjoy marriage and then we'll talk about it. So we did. And once we talked about, OK, let's start trying, we were like, OK, it should take, you know, a few months. That's how it works. But a few months turned into a few more months and it turned into a full year where we were like, OK, maybe we should see a doctor here.

And it turned out that we had to go like into full blown fertility treatments. It took close to three years for it even to work. And we ended up going through, I think, for IUD and for IVF to end up having our twins. Our first pregnancy actually ended in a miscarriage. So that was an extra hurdle. But I think the entire thing, because if anybody's gone through fertility treatments, they know that. I think that's either going to completely demolished your relationship or if it's not strong and if it is strong, it's going to even solidify it even more.

And for us, it was like I didn't even know we could be that close, but we got like a million times closer.

I mean, John was the one giving me the shots every night. And at the time, we were scraping together money to pay for the fertility treatments because they're very expensive. And he actually had to get a second job at the time that he so he was working like 12 hours a day, like his full time job, then going to another retail job at night. And I used to have to come to get shots from him because you have to get it at a certain time every night.

And at that time, he would be at work and he'd take a fifteen minute break where I would scarfed down a sandwich and give a A shot in the parking lot at night. I was absolutely terrified that someone would see us and thought we were doing something illegal or that we would get a tap on the window from a police officer, which would have been a very awkward conversation to have.

But the experience allowed me to see just how strong Elaina is and the sacrifices that she was willing to take in order for us to start a family, something I will forever be grateful for. I didn't think I could fall in love with Elaina any more than I was at the time, but it was tenfold.

After watching her go through all the physical struggles that she had to go through, I was the first to say I love you. I knew probably a couple of weeks prior to that that I wanted to say it, but I was obviously nervous. It's a big step to take in a relationship. Yeah, it is.

I did muster up the energy one night to tell you that I loved her and she gave me the very romantic response of whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. This is true.

I was mean, which I believe is the second time, the first time being when you didn't order food on our first date. This was the second time when I was thinking maybe this isn't going. I think it's going.

So my response of whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down was I mean, it was all dragged back to I needed a little more time to get out of that headspace that I was in with my previous relationship.

So I think I was just like still in that place where I was like, he's going to flick the switch. And I don't want to say I love you and have him flip that switch and be this demon after that. It didn't take me much longer after that to be like, wait a second, bro, I love you.

But but at the moment, I think I was just a little caught off guard, but it was amazing and so sweet. And at this point, I wouldn't change it because it's hilarious and who we are as people. I decided to propose to Elaina in December of 2010. I knew pretty early on that I wanted to do it in New York since that was a city that we frequented often. So on this particular trip, we decided to take the train down just so we weren't going to be driving in a potential snowstorm, which I thought was the safe thing to do for whatever reason on that particular train ride.

I don't know if the heat broke or what happened. But it was about 100 degrees on that train for five hours from Boston to New York, and I had the rain in my inside jacket pocket. So while everyone took their clothing off to get more comfortable with the temperature, I remains fully garbed in my winter jacket, sweating red face.

Elaina was asking me, why don't you just take off your jacket?

I was like, you're not normally this color, are you? OK? But I was way too afraid that the rain was going to fall out on the train. If I took it off, I just needed it right on my person for that duration. So that kind of kicked off the weekend. It definitely did.

So I decided to propose at Rockefeller Center. So original at Christmas time it was no one else does. Doesn't matter.

It was great. But we got there.

It was seven days before Christmas. So that was roughly 30000 people in a two block radius. Yup. We got to a point where a few hundred yards away from the tree and it was like, that's beautiful. What a nice looking tree. Let's move on to the next thing tonight, because there was a million people. It was it was look like it was going to be absolutely impossible to get any closer. Yeah, but I was determined. So I grabbed Elaina's hand and somehow got us through the crowd.

And by somehow he means like tossing elderly people aside, throwing small children.

I mean, we were we were like, that's extreme. We were steamrolling through this crowd. But we did make it up to the skating rink, right against the gate.

And for whatever reason, I'm pretty sure we were in a place where we were allowed to be. But for whatever reason, there was no one within a 20 foot radius of us.

It was just an open spot, just this open spot right next to the rink, right next to the tree. It didn't make any sense, but I took it as a sign that that was our moment. I don't even remember what I said, muttered a few sentences to you. I was very nervous.

I realized as we were walking towards the tree while you decided to propose five hours away from our home when we still have two more nights booked in the city, if she has a reaction like she did on our first kiss, this is going to be a very awkward next 48 hours.

I started to get a little nervous about it. I went for it anyway. He turned a shade of gray that I have not seen since or before, but I got down on one knee and I proposed in. Spoiler alert, she said yes, I said yes, guys, I. Our wedding was the most fun wedding that has ever wedding. I'm pretty sure our guests agreed. They do agree. They still talk about it like eight years later.

So I think we did it pretty well. But I'm not like a very fussy person. I mean, it was so casual. It was so laid back to me because my main concern was just getting married to John. That was really the end game here, is to get married to John. Everyone have fun. So anything more than that? I was like, it's just a bonus. So I didn't even have a hair trial with my hairdresser before that.

So I kind of just sat down in the chair, was like, I would like my hair up and I would like a braid if you could. And she nailed it. But I was like, whatever my hair is, my hair. I painted my nails about an hour before the ceremony, empty hotel room.

And probably the biggest thing from our wedding is that I forgot my dress at home and I ended up having to text John and be like, hey, so can you run home?

Go grab that big bag hanging off the closet. Eyeliner, nice honeymoon. We went to Aruba. It was absolutely amazing. We had never been to any sort of exotic a Caribbean island before. So it was new for both of us. I think anyone who has been married knows that some sort of break right after the wedding is needed because there's a lot of stress of everything coming together for that one night.

So getting away, I think we got away for about ten days. Yeah. And the best part for me is we purposefully did not get an international plan on our cell phone. We went down there, we put our cell phones in the lockbox. We didn't see the cell phones again until we were checking out. And for the next ten days, it was just a leaner and I at this resort, you know, I just remember waking up and strolling over to eat breakfast on the beach every single day and just having the most relaxed, full ten days I think I've ever had in my life where I say, relax, fool.

But there was one stressful moment early on in the honeymoon. Elena does not like the water very much. I absolutely love the water. So I just needed to get into the ocean. We got there that picturesque light blue, like crystal clear ocean that I've never seen before. At the time, I did not realize that my wedding band was just slightly bigger than it should have been. So I dove into the ocean roughly three hours into our honeymoon and the wedding band came off.

And I didn't panic because the water was so clear. I figured this would be an easy find until I couldn't find it. I think I stayed in the ocean for forty five minutes. Easy. I think Ilina was the one who decided to call off the search. I was like I was petrified to come out of the ocean.

And for the next ten days Elena had a wedding band and I did not, which now I'm looking back on it and I'm like, you know, when we were sitting out to eat and at the bar, you have a wedding band on.

And I don't there must have been some questions for the people around us, but one hundred percent like what's going on here.

But I wasn't able to replace it until we got home. So the wedding band that we got married and I had for roughly 72 hours and is now at the bottom of the Caribbean Ocean. What I love the most about John, is about a million things I could definitely not narrow it down to one thing, but the first thing I can say about John is that he is the most selfless human being I have ever met. He thinks of himself last in every situation.

He is always thinking of me first and the kids always. But he's also hilarious. He's one of the funniest people I've ever met. He makes me cry, laughing constantly just by doing something really small. And he just gets my sense of humor, which is something I think you absolutely need in a partner. And he's the greatest father in the world. I can't say enough about I mean, the girls are the luckiest to have a dad. That is John.

I mean, so lucky. And he's just so encouraging and supportive. And I just love him.

What I love most about Elaina is I'm a little bit of a stress ball. Elena always has the ability to calm me down when I'm stressed. She is the most talented person I know. She literally excels at everything she does. She could have taken many different paths career wise and succeeded, but she was patient and found the one that she's most passionate about. And I really admire her for that. She's an amazing mother. She's truly a superhero. We're together every day, all day during quarantine and I will go to bed at night.

Still not understanding how she's able to do everything she does in that day. What I'm most excited about my life with John looking forward is just being with John just growing old together and seeing our kids grow old and seeing who they're going to be. And I know we're going to hit that point because we have three girls and I know we're going to hit that teenage point where they hate me for a little while. So I'm really excited to, like, jump over that and then be best friends with them.

And I'm so excited for that moment. And maybe someday being grandparents, that would be really rad. And I think we also we've always talked about someday going on. We call it the heritage trip where we want to go to Europe and like see the places where our families are from. So we want to hit like Scotland, Norway and Ireland, and someday we'll be able to do it.

And looking forward to it all I am looking forward to most with Olina is to just continue to go through this crazy life with her parenting our three beautiful girls.

I cannot wait to see what they grow up and become. Is there anything like Olina? Then it's going to be great. I just look forward to growing old with a leaner and just experiencing life each day with her.

Thanks for listening to our love story. Don't forget to check us out on Facebook and Instagram at Perkiest and on Twitter at Parke's Network. For more episodes of our love story, follow us on Spotify and check out other precast originals all available on Spotify, our love stories executive produced by Max Cutler. And it's a Spotify original from Park West. It was created by Jon Cohen. Sound Design by Kristen Acevedo with Associate Sound Design by Jamie Ryan. It's produced by Jon Cohen, Kristen Acevedo and associate produced by Alex Trigged Otter.

Thanks for listening to this very special episode of our love story. If you enjoyed it and want to hear more, be sure to follow our love story free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes air every Tuesday and has an extra special treat. You can hear more behind the scenes love connections from some of your other favorite park Assoc., including ushe. Just head over to Spotify original from podcast Our Love Story and listen free today.