Codi and Simon
By: Jeff Burkhead
Tags: Couples, Lovestory, How We Met, Relationships, Love

I’m fascinated by people’s stories, especially their love stories. So I thought it would be a fun words-and-pictures project to ask people about the origins of their relationship. This is the first in a series. Meet Codi and Simon.

Codi:

How did you and Simon meet? “We had a mutual friend who introduced us. I was at K-State. Simon is five years older; he had moved to Manhattan to be with his band for six months before they moved to Chicago. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 15, 2007. Our mutual friend, who I did theater with, was in Simon’s band. He asked if I would make food for their music video shoot, and so I did. I knew who Simon was, but we hadn’t met; I had seen his band play. My best friend and I would sneak in to places with our fake IDs.

“It was a really long day. We didn’t have school that day. I had started cooking the night before. I think there were about 15 people on set; it was at a friend’s house. That’s when I met him. We were crossing paths all day and we sort of talked a little at the end. Then he asked me to get some coffee with him sometime, and the rest is history.

“A few weeks after that, I was stage managing a show and we were getting ready for tech week, so my schedule was crazy; I was in rehearsals every night until 10 or later. It was Feb. 14 and we had a snowstorm, and rehearsal got canceled. I didn’t realize it was Valentine’s Day. I texted him to see what he was doing. He said he was at a coffee shop and asked me if I wanted to come meet him. I said, sure. We sat in the window at Radina’s and had mango ceylon tea and we just talked for a few hours.

“In July, he moved to Chicago. Six months after, I transferred to Columbia College in Chicago. We lived there for about a year and a half together. Then we moved to Lawrence and started the whole shebang, Bates Co.

“He proposed of September 2008; we were living in Chicago still. We moved to Lawrence in January 2009 and we got married June 2009 and we started the businesses in February 2009 and we bought a house in May 2009. It was a busy year. We now have the Burger Stand in Lawrence and Topeka, we have Bon Bon, we have Cider Gallery, and we have Luna; all our children.

“We have been together 13 years and will celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary in June. We celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary about a week after we got back from Thailand with Luna. She was almost 3 when we adopted her. June 20th is our anniversary.”

How did he catch your eye? “He was kindhearted; I knew that from the start. And incredibly passionate about creating, whether it be food … I didn’t actually know he was a chef when I met him. I knew him as a musician. But he’s an artist in all forms. The passion he has with his art and his work ethic … He doesn’t work hard for anything that he’s not passionate about.”

Why do you make a good team? “We complement each other’s strengths and challenge each other on our weaknesses. We are very stubborn and passionate people. But the underlying factor is we are most passionate about each other and about our life together. Even if we disagree, we still choose each other every day. We say that a lot. We could choose not be together, but what fun would that be? We choose each other, every day.”

Simon:

How did you and Codi meet? “We met during a video shoot for a band I was in. It was January 2007. Codi was in the theater department at K-State and there were some other theater majors in the band. She liked to cater and to cook, and they asked her to cater that day. We met there.”

When was your first date? “I think it was Valentine’s Day. We weren’t really paying attention to what day it was; we were just busy with our lives. I called her and asked if she wanted to get coffee or tea and just hang out. We met at this coffee shop in Aggieville. We sat there for a couple of hours, just talking, getting to know each other.”

How did you propose? “I proposed when we were living together in Chicago. I had this plan. I bought a bouquet of flowers. First of all, it’s impossible to hide anything from Codi, so I was really nervous. I had this ring that I had somehow managed to buy and I had to hide it in our apartment. I put this bouquet of flowers in the oven and I think I put the ring in there too. I had planned this really romantic night where we went to the marina. We sat there and we were talking; I think we had a bottle of champagne with us. I can’t really remember; I haven’t told this story in a really long time. We were looking at the skyline; it was really nice, really romantic. We went back to the apartment. I pulled the flowers out of the oven. Then I tried to propose, but I kind of lost it. I wrote this list of 50 reasons why I love her. I read her the list. We still have the list; it’s framed. Then we went out with friends and made some phone calls to our families and just had an amazing night.”

What about Codi caught your eye? “I think the first thing that really got me was her kindness. And she’s still like that. She’s kind and caring and she puts everyone else before herself. She’s just really sweet.”

What do you like about being married? What’s the glue for you guys? We’re a team. We run the company together, just the two of us. We’ve got really good at working together and knowing our strengths and weaknesses. I also like that we are different. We see things completely differently a lot of the time. But I think that works to our advantage; I think it makes us stronger. We know how to compromise. My favorite thing about being married is just knowing that we are always going to have each other at the end of the day.”