By Caitlyn Meisner | cmeisner@alextimes.com
It was the summer of 1996. A young Dr. David Weintritt was in the Wilmington, North Carolina, airport en route to Atlanta when a young woman caught his eye. Weintritt was intrigued but there was a minor problem: She was talking to another man.
Passengers boarded the plane, but the other man did not. Then it was wheels up. Not an hour later, the plane stopped to pick up stranded passengers at the Asheville, North Carolina, airport. Then after that detour, there was another problem: The plane was low on fuel and had to land in Macon, Georgia, to fill up.
David and the young woman both deplaned and were waiting in the small airport to reboard for the final leg of their trip when David made his move and struck up a conversation with her.
But the conversation was short and the two went their separate ways – until they ran into each other in December 1996 as David was shopping for Christmas presents. And, they quite literally did run into each other.
“I’m in this shoe store, and I was looking for things, getting kind of frustrated. I’m not a very good shopper. I saw something that I was interested in, so I started walking over to this rack, and this lady was coming at me and … she cuts me off, and I’m exaggerating, like, ‘Oh, geez, excuse me,’ and take two steps back,” David said, “and I hit somebody behind me, and I turned around, and it was Tara.”
The pair finally exchanged phone numbers, but that’s not the end of the story. When they first met, Tara couldn’t recall if David told her his name was Dave or David, so when he called her at her home, she didn’t call him back.
“I was living with a bunch of my roommates in college. … I [tell my roommates,] ‘Oh, I met this really nice guy,’” Tara recalled. “When he left the message, he said it was [either name]. Literally on the chalkboard, it said like, ‘Dave called Tara’ or something like that. I don’t know who Dave is. That’s so weird.”
It took one last time to run into each other before the two went on their first date in January 1997. As a surgical resident and a college senior, respectively, the pair started a relationship that has lasted more than 25 years and took them from Wilmington to Alexandria.
“Acts of God, angry people in the mall and absent-minded roommates, and we managed to somehow connect through it all,” David said.
David had an active duty military commitment in the United States Air Force when he was to finish his residency, so the couple was quick to discuss their future.
“There wasn’t any active hostility occurring at the time, but it was not too far after the original Desert Storm. There was the real possibility that I would get deployed,” David said of the time. “We kind of made a pact that once we got engaged, that we would probably, in some way, shape or form, get married at least officially on paper before I started on active duty.”
As Tara was graduating college with her eyes set on Chicago or New York City, David’s move to another city posed a great challenge to their future.
“I really thought, like, [Tara] is the one,” David said. “I don’t want to have some distance come into play after all this. I don’t want that to go to waste.”
The couple was able to rank different cities across the U.S. and Tara was happiest with the possibility of Washington, D.C., one of the largest cities on the list of possible home bases. But, when David spoke to Andrews Air Force Base, they told him not to get his hopes up.
“[I] had a great conversation. And at the end of it, [the squadron commander] said, ‘Hey, listen, I’m going to let you go, and don’t waste your time. We have two more surgeons here than we’re supposed to, so we won’t be getting anyone for at least another three cycles,” David recalled.
As David was in Chicago for a surgery conference, he decided to go to Tiffany’s to buy a ring and propose to Tara.
“It took me three trips to Tiffany’s, and finally, the security guy who thought I was casing the place, [said] on the way out, ‘Congratulations, you finally bought the ring,’” David said, laughing as he recalled the encounter.
Around Christmas 1997, David wanted to propose, but didn’t have a solid plan in mind. Tara was wrapping presents for his family, but David had one more just for her.
“I just grabbed the ring and ran downstairs and said, ‘Hey, I need you to help me with one more package,’” he said. “She turned around and I opened the ring and said, ‘Will you marry me?’”
The couple said this moment encapsulated their relationship thus far by just being in the moment. Although it was impromptu, they knew they were meant to be together, no matter what.
Soon after, David traveled to San Antonio, Texas, for another conference, which was around the time he was going to find out where he and Tara were going to land. David placed the District at the top of their list of desired places despite being warned it may not be available.
At the San Antonio airport, David sat near a man in an Air Force uniform and they talked for a while about David’s career and his nervousness about his future. Not two weeks later, David got the call from Andrews Air Force Base that he had landed a slot there.
“[They told me] you just happened to meet the liaison to the Surgeon General in the San Antonio airport, and after meeting you, he was very impressed and we received orders from the Surgeon General’s office that you were coming to Andrews Air Force Base,” David said.
In April 1999, the couple was married in Wilmington, though they were already living and working in their newly purchased home in Northern Virginia. The Weintritts were married at Myrtle Grove Presbyterian Church, their home church while living in Wilmington.
Their only must-haves were a live band and an open bar. They said they had to fund the wedding themselves, but wanted it to be a night to remember for their 200- plus guests.
“Back then, it was a big investment,” Tara recalled. “We definitely were looking at every line item like, is this worth it? Is this not?”
For their honeymoon, they traveled to the island of Nevis of Saint Kitts and Nevis. David had selected the destination and it was a surprise to Tara until they arrived on the island; he’d wanted to take her to a relaxing, exotic location, and the island was recommended to him by a travel agent friend.
The pair has lived in Alexandria since that initial move in the late 1990s – except for a brief stint in Annapolis – residing on Quay Street until 2016. Now, the couple and their three children live in a home on Prince Street.
Dr. Weintritt has gone on to found the National Breast Center Foundation, which funds breast cancer screening and treatment for uninsured women in the area. Tara is a partner at the Wicker Park Group, a consulting company that helps law firms improve their relationships with clients.
And as the couple has reached the silver anniversary mark, they’ve continued to “never go to bed angry” and remember their actions impact the other.
“We really are very thoughtful on how something will impact the other person,” Tara said. “I do think that just putting yourself in the other person’s shoes goes a long way.”
