LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — True love is a tricky thing.
We hear about it throughout life but finding it is far from easy, some may never get that feeling.
For those lucky enough to attain it, they can normally trace it back to a particular moment.
In the case of the Jeff and Marietta Baxter, that moment takes us back in time 35 years to the University of Kentucky.
“The roommates that I had set up a game night with Marietta and some of her roommates that I had no idea about," Jeff Baxter said.
"I came home, believe it or not from studying, and they were playing the games. They asked me to join in and the rest was history from there.”
Little did Jeff know that's exactly what Marietta hoped for.
“I actually think I noticed him before he noticed me," Marietta Barton-Baxter said.
"We convinced him to come and play the game with us. He wasn’t very happy at first but we convinced him to come play the game with us. He was funny and he had a great personality and he was cute. I’d heard about him from other people I went to school with and I knew I might be interested in him.”
It didn't take long for that interest to grow into a strong bond.
Game Night turned into Jeff asking Marietta out, and just ten dates later he asked for her hand in marriage.
"I thought this was someone I could spend the rest of my life with. I couldn't wait any longer after that tenth date. It had to come out then," Baxter said.
The promptness didn't stare Jeff and Marietta wrong as they've spent the better part of four decades as husband and wife.
They've had to navigate a lot in their journey, arguably the most challenging impacting Marietta's health early on in their matrimony.
"I was getting ready to go to class and I woke up and my hand was numb. We went for over a year before I actually got the diagnosis that I had Multiple Sclerosis," Barton-Baxter said.
"It was a very trying time, very scary because we just didn't know what was going on."
There wasn't a lot of research on MS at the time and the information that was available didn't paint a positive picture.
Jeff quickly jumped into the caretaker role for his wife, while also dealing with some heart health scares of his own.
"One of the courses I had to take at UK was a golf class. In the midst of one of those classes being out playing, I had an episode on the course. It felt like I was going to pass out," Baxter said.
"The doctor found that there was a heart valve issue which led me to be followed by UK for many years. At the time they told me 'by the time your 30, you're going to have had a heart valve replacement.'"
Thankfully, Jeff made it to 46 years old before that replacement happened.
For Marietta though, the symptoms of MS have persisted throughout her adult life.
It nearly pushed her away from the love of her life.
"I have absolutely no idea what I would have done because I tried to get him to leave during the worst part of this because I didn't think it was fair. I've so thankful that he didn't it," Barton-Baxter said.
"I would have given up if he hadn't been there to push me and keep encouraging me to keep going."
A long, winding story of love, support, commitment and overcoming adversity.
It would make a pretty good book.
At least Jeff thought so, encapsulating their journey on the pages of "10 Dates Later: The Story of an MS Caregiver."
"The intent of the book was to be a gift for Marietta. Some of the folks that she works with came back to us and said this doesn't need to just be something private for you guys. You guys need to put your story out for other people," Baxter said.
"Other people need to know this and need to know that there's hope there."
The couple has traveled around the country, telling the tale of how they found true love while also guiding others living with or caring for someone with MS.
"There are times she needed help, there are times she needed space. There are times she just needed somebody to scream at and that's okay. It led us to where we are now," Baxter said.
All the proceeds from buying the book go back to the University of Kentucky for its MS research.
If you want to check out the book yourself, click here.
