Milton and Marcia Livingston Galloway… A love worth waiting for

Milton Galloway (age 53) and Marcia Livingston (age 44) moved in similar circles for years; Milton hails from Jones Town and grew up in ‘the village’ in Jones Town, Pembrook Hall, and Denham Town; while Marcia was born in Denham Town and grew up in Rose Town and Trench Town.

THE 11-YEAR JOURNEY

Both are past students of Excelsior High School; they just never met each other until they hooked up at a reunion in 2006, when he came over to congratulate her on doing a great job as the keynote speaker. 

There were no sparks then, and even if she might have liked him, Marcia said she did not allow her thoughts to stray as she thought he was a married man.

“As far as I was concerned, he was just one of the guys that came by to say, “Job well done,” because I assumed incorrectly that a professional his age was married,” she said with a laugh.

Marcia, who has a doctorate in education, and Milton, an engineer, led busy lives, and following that 2006 meeting, they never met again until the 2009 reunion in New York, where Marcia was being honoured by the alumni. After congratulating her, he asked if she was still living in Oklahoma, to which she answered in the affirmative.

Reminiscing with a smile, Milton said she gave him a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ invitation: “You should come visit,” which he never took upon himself as he knew she wasn’t serious.

Again, Marcia didn’t look at him as a serious candidate for a relationship, as nothing had happened to change her assumption that he was a married man.

They kept running into each other, for a few more years with no follow-up until 2017, when they met at a reunion she wasn’t even planning on attending.

“Every year the reunion falls in October, but somebody moved it to September, so I was not scheduled to be there as I would be teaching at that time,” she explained. However, her good friend and an Excelsior classmate were insistent that she must attend. Her excuses were brushed aside, with her friend even going to the extent of purchasing her ticket to attend.

In the end, Marcia arranged for a colleague to be in her classroom, setting the stage for her to teach the lesson via the Zoom platform.

“At the event, we were there, and my friend was sitting at my table; Milton was sitting near the door and saw her and came over.  At first, he didn’t even realise I was there. I could hear the surprise in his voice – ‘Oh, you are here tonight.’”

THE LAST DANCE STARTED THE ROMANCE

Milton, who contributed to the story, said he wasn’t going to allow the moment to pass, and so he invited her to have the last dance of the evening with him.

He complained that she was always surrounded by her friends, he never really got the opportunity to lyric her whenever they met.

After that dance, Milton said the rest was history as far as their relationship was concerned. 

The two tied the knot on October 13, 2019—both for the first time, and for the couple, finding each other was worth the wait.

Although the union doesn’t come without differences sometimes popping up, Marcia shares that she is not the kind of person to argue over everything but rather ‘process them’ until she is ready to deal with them.

“I am one of those persons who, if we have a conflict, I like to think first and decide if it is something worth arguing about. If it’s a pattern, I will address it. He may prefer that I talk about it right away, and when I do bring it up, he will be like, “OK, that’s why you were acting that way,” Marcia recounted.

The two may share the same birthday (April 3), but they have very different personalities. Laughing Marcia, humorously related them.

“I am outgoing and like to go into details; Milton just gives headlines. He is quiet and likes to relax, whereas I just have to keep moving. He also hates being photographed.”

With a chuckle, she shared an experience when they came to Jamaica and visited Helshire Beach. I had a hard time reminding him that photos create memories and asked him to do some posing.

Still grinning, she said to this day she can’t look at the photo and not laugh. “You should see him; it was like he was trying to do kung fu!”

FIGHTING IN THE CLOSET

Now living in Florida, Marcia has so much that she loves about her husband’s care and understanding. Growing up, she says the one constant in her life was always having ‘a prayer closet,’ where she fought her battles. When she moved in with her husband in New York, she said she felt miserable because she didn’t have that space.” 

I was in a space that was confining, and I was so miserable because I didn’t have a space that I could consider my prayer closet. So, I wasn’t happy, and I think he realised that, so he converted a little space for me to work and called it my ‘vibe space’, so I really appreciated it,” she informed.

After they moved to Florida, she didn’t have to say a thing, as the first thing Milton did was set up a space for a closet!