A Pennsylvania native, Kelli moved to Appomattox, a town near Lynchburg, after college. A love for music previously led her to obtain a degree within the field and later become a music teacher at Mount Airy Elementary School in nearby Gretna. As a woman in her 20s, the future looked bright, until life abruptly dimmed \u2014 her ex-husband\u2019s affair ushered an unforeseen divorce, leaving her devastated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tim, on the other hand, grew up in Virginia as an only child. He participated in football, track, karate, and other extracurriculars to remain active, graduating from Gretna High School and later marrying his high school sweetheart at 25 years old. A tragic divorce about 20 years later saw the two separate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was a little depressed from the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The party<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chastity \u2014 Kelli\u2019s coworker and Tim\u2019s childhood friend \u2014 refused to ignore the pain her friends were experiencing, so she and her husband, Jim, invited them both to a game night in May 2021. Still heartbroken, both obliged. Chastity told Tim about Kelli to pique his interest, but he gave little serious thought to the notion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That changed when he saw her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was mesmerized at first sight with her,\u201d Tim said. \u201cAll my friends were trying to hook me up with other ladies and stuff like that \u2014 trying to get me to go to random places. I was like, \u2018No, I wanna see what Kelli is all about.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelli tried not to fall under the same spell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI tried really, really hard not to fall in love with Tim.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those efforts failed drastically. They agreed to become \u201cjust friends\u201d and hang out, but simply could not stop thinking about one another. One would ask about the activities of the other one day, then the next, and the following day \u2014 until both knew they could not fight the truth. They were in love, finding their once-broken hearts mending into something grand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A secret for the ages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelli initially thought the relationship would fail because Tim was 18 years older than her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI felt like that was always just a fear in the back of my mind, but as we continued to hang out, it was like the age difference was never an issue,\u201d Kelli said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once Kelli and Tim decided to date, they agreed on one other thing: to keep their relationship a secret due to the age difference, only telling family and close friends. After dating for about a year, they stopped caring about what others thought. Worries turned out to be fruitless anyway because no one could guess the age gap between them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTim looks fantastic for his age,\u201d Kelli bragged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just a coincidence?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Two years into dating, their compatibility told Tim he needed to put a ring on the relationship, so with the help of his friends \u2014 Chastity, Jim, Amelia, and Kevin \u2014 he conjured up a plan to surprise Kelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Huge fans of American rock musician and songwriter Dave Matthews, the couple traveled to see him for the fourth time at a concert in Charlottesville in November 2023 with their friends. The morning of the concert, they visited Matthews\u2019 winery in the city, where Tim found a romantic spot to propose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re joking,\u201d Kelli uttered in disbelief before running him down in a hug, completely forgetting about the ring for the moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Later that night, their friend pointed out their Airbnb number read 1111. They then looked at the time: exactly 11:11 p.m. The date happened to be Nov. 11. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were blown away,\u201d Kelli said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost a year later, they married on Aug. 3, 2024. The couple looks back now, knowing every heartache does not last forever \u2014 because life grows from what dies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think you have to keep a positive outlook no matter what\u2019s going on,\u201d Tim said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kelli agreed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would say, for people who have gone through heartbreak in the past and her maybe thinking, \u2018I\u2019m never ever going to get married again. I don\u2019t think I could ever be in a relationship ever again.\u2019 No. 1: Time heals. I would always say time heals for sure. And No. 2: just to give love a chance because it does exist.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Even for people as different \u2014 or similar \u2014 as Tim and Kelli.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The depression. The heartache. The negative thoughts. They hung over a divorced Kelli Hess like a neverending fog, replaying in her mind every day like a song on repeat. No escape existed. One man took her greatest joy away, so she swore she would never trust a man again. Tim Birchfield drifted in the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":22912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lynchburg-va\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2025\/02\/3-1024x683.png\")
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