With Valentine’s Day later this week, the Rider Chronicle sat down to interview a few Rider couples about their relationship.

Teachers Robby Wood and Falesha Wood have been married for more than 20 years. They discussed how they met, their favorite memories and what annoys their partner among other topics in this Q/A.

Q: How did you two meet?

R: We met at a restaurant. I was out eating with some friends and she was actually a manager at a restaurant in Ardmore, Oklahoma and I just met her through conversation that evening.       

F: We met the first time at a party, and I think if I’m remembering correctly and then after that somebody had introduced us, or he had given me a ride home. Then I moved to Hawaii and then I came back and I worked in a restaurant. That’s when we really got to know each other.

Q: Describe your spouse. 

R: She is a person with the biggest heart on the inside but comes across to everyone else as very mean and forceful.  

F: Intense, goofy, dependable and hardworking. 

Q: How long have y’all been together?

R: Over 22-plus years.

F: We’ve been married 21 years, almost 21 years I think and we’ve been together maybe 23?

Q: What’s it like working with your spouse?

R: It’s good in some ways and bad in some ways. It’s nice to be able to see her throughout the day, and so that’s really good. We have the same areas that we support being both teachers and so we’re both committed to Rider High School. The bad would be that sometimes she thinks she’s my principal and tries to tell me what to do. 

F: Well I like seeing him every day, but he’d probably say it’s hard because I act like I’m his boss all the time. Which, that’s probably true.

Q: What’s your favorite memory with your spouse?

R: There’s so many. We’ve been together for so long. My favorite memory, watching her sing at church. That’s the thing that popped out first. 

F: That would probably be when we got married on the beach in Maui. 

Q: What’s your plan for Valentine’s Day?

R: Well we have games to go to so there won’t really be a date and so I’m going to bake her a cake.

F: We don’t have one. It’s probably watching one of our kids play a sport to be honest.

Q: What is something you do that annoys your partner?

R: Any time that I act stupid and old and senile.

F: Several things. I like to scream in the house and he hates that, and I like to sweep stuff up and leave it in a pile and not pick it up.

Q: What is something that your partner does that annoys you? 

R: She will sweep the floor and sweep it into a pile in the corner and leave it, like her grandmother did and so I’ll always call her by her grandmother’s name when she does that.  

F: Let me think, the list is long. Snoring, that annoys me, he tries to be funny and he’s not because I’m the funny one. When he says dumb stuff, like he’ll come up with these dumb words that are not even words and he’ll say them or sing them. Crunches ice constantly, hate it. That’s it.

Q: What are the keys behind a successful marriage? 

R: Communication. Always putting your spouse ahead of you as far as everything. 

F: Communication, respecting one another whether it be an emotional state or you know every faucet of the relationship is about respect and communication. Openly, open communication and respect.