United by Sorrow, They Forged a Joyful Future
The New York Times
Christina Vance and Greg Winick met in 2010, when they worked together for a few weeks. Years later, after each had suffered hardship, they reconnected and started to build a relationship.
Christina Vance and Greg Winick dressed up as superheroes for their first date at a 2017 Halloween party in Totowa, N.J. She went as Batgirl, he as Batman. A good pair for couples, the costumes also alluded to the strength and resilience that brought each to that moment.
“Before we began dating, life had kind of beaten us up,” said Ms. Vance, who teaches English to sophomores and juniors at Mount Olive High School in Flanders, N.J. “We were both in marriages filled with pain and suffering.”
“From where both of us were coming from, it felt more like the first day of the rest of our lives together than it did a first date,” she said.
