Day Four: He watched her cross the room

Editor’s note: To celebrate Valentine’s Day, InMaricopa News interviewed six local couples to get their take on what brought them together and what keeps their love strong. For a little longer version of their stories, we focus on one couple each day online through Feb. 14.

Dawn Madden, 38, and Chad Anderson, 43, are business partners at Maricopa Properties on West Honeycutt Road. The couple wed Oct. 22.

They met at Arena Sports Grill (now O’Shay’s). Chad said he was talking to a friend at the bar when Dawn walked in.

“I watched her walk across the room and I couldn’t stop staring at her. I had to meet her,” he said. “She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I followed her outside to the smoking section — neither of us smoke — where she was talking to her friends. I stood as close to her as I could without being too obvious although I’m pretty sure she knew.”

Dawn said, “I like to kid that he successfully stalked me until I noticed him.”

Chad added, “When she looked at me I couldn’t help but smile. Her laugh, her eyes, her smile, they completely stole my heart. When we began to talk I knew then I never wanted to stop talking to her.”

Dawn, who admitted she is not a believer in love at first sight, said, “Ever since I locked eyes with Chad and he smiled at me we have been inseparable. I guess that is as close to love at first sight as I have ever experienced.”

“Dawn has this way of capturing you when she speaks and laughs and smiles at you,” Chad said.

Dawn called Chad’s honesty, open communication, intelligence and sense of humor his best qualities.

“And obviously, he is gorgeous,” she said.

To Chad, “I found her overall approach to life to be bigger than life itself. I loved how I felt and still do when I look at her. I’m seriously into this woman.”

As a new couple, Dawn said they plan to keep the spark alive by making time for themselves, whether it is a date night or a weekend away.

“It’s important to remind each other and ourselves that we are parents, company owners and a significant other.”