LOVE STORIES
Leaving job meant finding love

By Tanya Bricking Leach
Advertiser Staff Writer

Chris Robbins and Mary Ann Ganir started dating after they quit being co-workers. Once they did, he knew she was The One. They married June 12, with her daughters, Ashley, left, and Gladys by their side. Family photo

He was going on to finish his bachelor's degree and move on to a new career and needed to make arrangements to pick up his last paycheck.

When he called about his check, his co-worker, Mary Ann Ganir, happened to answer the phone. And he realized there was something else at the thrift store he didn't want to leave behind: Mary Ann Ganir.

They had known each other since the summer of 1998 and had always had a friendly but professional relationship. With Robbins as a store manager and Ganir as one of the product pricers, he hesitated to ask her out until the day he left the job. He gave her his phone number, saying something about giving him a call if she was going to be up on the North Shore visiting her family.

She called. They made a lunch date.

And then they fell in love.

Truth is, red-haired Robbins felt a spark for the woman from the Philippines long before the date.

"I thought she was attractive, hard-working, responsible," he said. "And because we had known each other, we had a friendship to build on."

Ganir was impressed with him enough to call. She was even more impressed when he showed up after she got off work one day and gave her a red rose.

Things blossomed from there.

They had dinner dates and trips to the beach, and Robbins slowly grew closer to her daughters, 13-year-old Ashley, and 11-year-old Gladys Longboy.

Robbins and Ganir discovered they had a lot in common, such as they both moved to Hawai'i when they were 12.

They also had a lot of differences. She had moved here from the Philippines and has nine siblings who live all over the world. Ganir, who was divorced from a man who shared her heritage, had never dated a man who looked like an Irishman.

She fell in love with "his kindness and loving personality," she said. "Everything. He's just caring."

Their union was a beautiful clash of cultures, sealed with a kiss when he gave her an Irish Claddagh ring, depicting two hands clutching a crowned heart.

By the time Robbins got down on his knee and proposed to her with another ring last Aug. 3 at the beach in Waikiki, Ganir immediately said yes, and her daughters were eager to help with the wedding favors (bubbles and candies) and the silk flower centerpieces.

Robbins, 35, a Honolulu Advertiser account executive in the classified department, and Ganir, 34, a nursing assistant, tied the knot June 12 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, a Catholic church on Bishop Street. Presiding was the Rev. Gary Colton, who was Robbins' pastor when he lived on Maui. They celebrated with a reception at the Marriott Resort in Waikiki with more than 100 family and friends.

After a honeymoon in Las Vegas, they returned home to Pearl City.

Robbins says he knew almost immediately after their first date that she was The One.

"When we started dating, for me it was like a dream come true," he said, apologizing for sounding corny.

"We've been through struggles and different jobs, and it made us closer. We've never really lost that spark."

Tanya Bricking Leach writes about relationships. If you'd like her to tell your love story next, write to tleach@honoluluadvertiser.com, call 525-8026 or mail your photo and details to Love Stories, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802.