BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times
APRIL & DRE’ CHILDS
Live: Gardendale
Married: Aug. 18, 2012
Met: Spring 2004, at Holiday Bowling in Bessemer. April was a freshman, attending Fairfield High Preparatory School, and Dre’ was a sophomore at Minor High School. They shared a friend group because both were in high school sororities and fraternities, and they met up for group gatherings. They began hanging out often, but “the truth is, he had a girlfriend, and I had a boyfriend,” April said, “so we would double date… he used to flirt with me, but for the most part, we kept it friendly for years.”
Eventually, both graduated from high school and wound up at the same college. When April enrolled as a freshman at Jacksonville State University, Dre’ was in his sophomore year, and they reconnected on campus. “I was excited to see April, and it surprised me that she was there. But we did not really get to hang out much,” recalled Dre.
However, during summer break 2008, they were home in Birmingham and would officially move past their years-long friendship. It all started with a call.
“I called Dre’ to say, ‘what’s up?” April recalled. “I was really calling to check his temperature because I wanted to go out with him. And he was at work, but he asked me what I was about to do, and I said I was about to get something to eat. And he said, “Put on some clothes and stay right there.” I am on the way. He was all the way in Anniston, about to get off work, and I swear he made it to my house in under 45 minutes,” April laughed.
“When she called me that day, I was about to get off work, and I was happy to catch up with her. We were honestly just friends for all those years, so it was cool to [reconnect] with my girl,” he said.
First date: The same day, in June 2008, at Up The Creek restaurant in Hoover. Dre’ picked April up from her home in Midfield, and they went to dinner.
“Dinner was exciting,” April said. “It was kind of weird at first because I was used to being around him in a group setting, and this was our first time sitting across from each other, and he gazed into my eyes the whole night,” she laughed. “He was just smiling, and it gave me butterflies and made me so nervous that I could not even eat my food. He was paying such close attention to me that it made me act shy, and I literally felt like I was floating the whole night.”
“Back then we were young and you really don’t realize what’s happening [in the moment] I was going through the motions and riding the wave with her,” said Dre.’ “But that night, everything changed. When I went to drop her off, we stayed in the car talking for hours, and the next day we ended up together again.”
After the date, “we were together every day that summer,” April said. “And when we went back to school, [the following semester] he left the school and moved back to Birmingham, and I left [JSU] too, and transferred to UAB…”
The pair said they went fast and hard for about a year, until Dre’ tried to slow it down. “He broke up with me for no reason,” April said. “He said something about focusing on school… and I was heartbroken for 60 days straight. But then, he started stalking me. Riding past my house every day and calling my phone… and finally one day, I just picked up and said, ‘What, Dre’?’
“I was like ‘Do not hang up,” Dre’ remembered. “And after that, I fell into the trap. We went on another date, and I played hard to get with him for a few weeks,” April laughed.
The turn: July 2010, April and Dre’ got an apartment in Forestdale. “That’s when it really got serious,” Dre’ said. “I was rough around the edges, and it took me a minute to adjust … Come Friday night, I was ready to get in the streets. She used to think it was about her, but I was just used to moving around and not sitting still, so I had to mature a lot before April, and I could really get on the same page.”
“He was raised to do things one way; I was raised doing things another way. I was raised more conservative … it was just a lot of adjustments we had to make with each other’s lifestyles before we could really take it to the next level,” April said.
The proposal: February 2012 at Vulcan Park in Homewood. “I was so nervous I cannot even tell you how we got up there [to the viewpoint on the top of the mountain] … The last thing I remember is turning left at the light,” Dre’ laughed. “It really was not planned. I did not have a plan about how I was going to do it, I was just going for it. I had talked to her [parents], and they gave me their blessing, and I bought the ring, but I was sitting on it for a few months. I was going through something personal; I was evolving and entering a new phase of life, and I decided it was time to do things the right way. I was young, I was only 24, and we did not have any kids yet … And that night I was riding and thinking and praying about it and said, ‘I am going to do it tonight.’”
“He came home, called me, and told me to come outside. And when I got out there, he said, ‘Take a ride with me.’ And I am like, take a ride with you? where?’ And he said, ‘just get in,’ and we headed to Vulcan [Park and Museum]. And when we got there, he said, ‘Get out, I want to show you something.’ And it was February, so it was freezing and [I was resistant] at first,” April said. “Plus, I was nervous because I am like, ‘Where is this man taking me in the dark?’ And we got to the top, and he told me to turn around and look at something, and when I turned back around, he was down on one knee, and I froze because I was cold — and shocked.
“I paused for a long time, and he was looking nervous like he was scared I was about to say ‘no,’” she laughed. “I do not even think I answered him, I just started kissing him and asking if he was sure, and he said ‘yes.’ Then we left and just rode around the city, and I remember thinking, ‘Thank you, Lord. After four long years of dating, he finally did it.”
The wedding: At Greater New Antioch Church in Ensley, officiated by its pastor, Dr. E.O. Jackson. Their colors were canary yellow and teal.
Most memorable for the bride was the kiss, “and that is because I was young. I was only 23, and I had to kiss him in front of my parents and grandparents, so I was nervous, and there is a level of embarrassment that comes along with that,” said April. “And I gave him this little kiss, and the pastor was like ‘now y’all can do better than that’,” she laughed.
For the groom, the most memorable part was also the kiss. “When the pastor was like, ‘You may now kiss the bride,’ I was frozen. I was stuck, still, like a dead weight, and April had to grab my arm and kiss me,” Dre’ laughed. “Everybody still talks about that till this day, they say, ‘boy, you were up there just standing straight like a deer caught in headlights,’ and that’s exactly how the picture looks too.”
They went on a pre-wedding honeymoon in Jamaica. “I think we did it backwards,” April laughed, “because a month before the wedding we went to Jamaica.”
That was a result of the vacation already being planned and of April and her grandmother pulling their wedding plans together much more quickly than anticipated, Dre’ shared. “April and her granny had that wedding planned in three months, I didn’t expect it to be that quick,” Dre’ laughed. “And we had already had that vacation planned and just kept the date. So, we honeymooned before the wedding.
Words of wisdom: “Be honest even when it hurts. You cannot fix things unless you know the root of the problem,” April said. “You have to really know what is going on in order to make things better. And make sure you put God first in everything that you do: from every choice that you make, to every meal that you make, put God first.”
“For a successful marriage, there is no road map to it. What worked for my marriage may not work for yours,” Dre’ said. “You have to be a great listener. Do not respond just to respond; listen to understand. And continue to date; that’s key. Especially when the kids come because that is a life-changing event. Things shift from you and her to being all about the kids, and that is when a lot of things start to shift. Keep positive people around, and you cannot vent to everybody. [Lastly], keep an open line of communication with God.”
Happily, ever after: The Childs have two sons, Dreyson, 9, and Denver, 5.
April, 36, is a Fairfield native, and Fairfield High Preparatory graduate. She attended Jacksonville State University before transferring to the University of Alabama [UAB], where she earned a B.S. in social work, and the University of Alabama [UA], where she earned a master’s degree in social work. April works as a licensed independent clinical social worker administering school-based therapy at a local school district.
Dre,’ 38, is a Graysville, Alabama, [Jefferson County], and Minor High School graduate. He attended Jacksonville State University, where he had planned to study engineering before transferring to Lawson State Community College where he obtained an associate’s degree in industrial maintenance and works as a maintenance technician for a car manufacturing company.
“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 editor@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s), and what makes their love story unique.
