Claire Johnson and Mark Gaffey got married in their 50’s after they’d met in a class. While the story doesn’t sound extraordinary, why they met was far more unusual.
The class wasn’t a typical college course meant for conventional education. It was a training course to help with their guide dogs. Both Claire and Mark were visually impaired and required a dog to help them around. The dogs, Venice and Rodd, ended up liking each other and became the talk of the class. Many of the other attendees made jokes that the dogs were simply meant to be together.
Due to their dogs being attracted to each other, Claire and Mark set up meetings so their dogs could see each other. Those meetings turned into personal dates for the two adults. Soon, they were in love as well. Mark asked for Claire’s hand in marriage and she said yes. During the ceremony, Venice and Rodd were the ring-bearers. Seeing as their original love was the reason that Claire and Mark found each other in the first place, having the two dogs play such an important part in the ceremony made perfect sense to them.
Claire openly says that her dog is the reason she found her best friend and the love of her life. Like the dogs were soul mates, the owners were meant to be too.
