Elkridge Couple Reunites After Decades Apart

"We liked each other since sixth grade. I thought he was so adorable and I still do. I was drawn to him," said Jocelyn Martin about friend and former husband, Steven Ensey.

After their puppy love in grammar school, the pair became high school sweethearts, then married in 1975. 

But five years and two children later, they divorced.

While severing a marriage is usually the final act in a relationship, Cupid had other plans for this couple. Through a sequence of events, 30 years later they would reunite.

Two halves

After their divorce, Martin remarried, had another child, and lived with her new husband and children in Elkridge.

Ensey moved to Pasadena from Lansdowne, where he and Martin grew up. There, he remarried, had another child, and divorced again.

Ensey works in the building trades. Martin is the current cafeteria manager at . She's also a cosmetologist and attends Anne Arundel Community College with the goal of becoming a teacher.

It was one day at a funeral home that the rusty gate of the past opened to the future.

"I was thinking of separating from my husband, when I saw Steven again at his father's funeral. I hadn't seen him in about 10 years," said Martin. "But I didn't jump into anything; there was a lot to think about," she added.

After she split from the husband she had been with for 25 years, she began dating Ensey and they realized the chemistry was still there. Ensey summed up his feelings simply in one eloquent declaration to Martin: "I've missed you for 30 years."  

'No matter what' 

The two were only 19 when they were married those decades ago, but now they often feel the years they were apart tumble away.  

"It's just amazing. The love is still there, even after all the years in between," Ensey said.

Today, they keep the romance alive through going out to swing dance and jitterbug. And Ensey, with his great singing voice, is usually front and center anywhere there's a karaoke machine. But he doesn't always need an audience; he's been known to sing at home too, using his own karaoke machine.          

"I like to sing 'After the Loving' to Jocelyn, and sometimes we dance in the living room," he said. Not surprisingly, one of their favorite songs is Barry White's song with the line, "You're my first, you're my last, you're my everything."

However, their reunion wasn't all singing and dancing. When they told people they were a couple again, they faced questions, concerns and negativity from some friends and family members.

"People were shocked," said Martin. "Not everyone is happy about this, but we are soulmates. When we were married, we were so young and had a lot of money problems—we really struggled. I don't know why things happen. But I got a wonderful son from my second marriage, so I wouldn't change that," Martin continued, adding that she's maintained a good relationship with her son's father.

Renewing the relationship with her first love was difficult, but Martin had support. "My faith really  helped me," said Martin, who's a member of in Elkridge. "The church was a great support." Ensey agreed.

"I wasn't much of a churchgoer before, but when we got back together, Jocelyn got me going there. There's a wonderful bunch of people there. They accepted me," he said.

Among the skeptics about the couple's reunion were Martin's parents, who were eventually won over. "Once we got back together, he was so good to my parents and took care of my father when he was sick," said Martin. "He ended up taking care of my parents until they moved to Florida."

As they've hewed out a new life together, the couple sees their love as a bulwark against all obstacles. One day, they even carved into a piece of driftwood the motto they frequently repeat to each other: "No matter what." 

After living through a reclamation love story akin to a Lifetime channel saga, Valentine's Day might just be a tad anticlimactic. The couple agrees that they don't do anything especially exciting on Valentine's Day. Ensey usually gives Martin jewelry, candy and/or stuffed animals. They might go out to dinner but don't seem to need the trappings of Valentine's Day when they're striving to make the most of the other 364 days they have together. They've learned to appreciate each other and know better than most couples that Cupid's timing is his own.           

"Timing is everything," Martin stated. "I'm glad this time I've gotten my love back. Steven touches my heart. I had a comfortable life before, and now we're struggling like newlyweds, but it's OK now. God has blessed me. We're not losing a minute this time, no matter what."