Jeanine Bonifacio had almost given up on love.

Despite her friendly demeanor and cheerleader status, she went through high school without a boyfriend.

Once, on the urging of her friends, Bonifacio boldly asked a classmate to her senior prom. But he already had another date — and Bonifacio was devastated.

After graduating from Leilehua High School, Bonifacio started working at Sears in Pearlridge Center to earn money for college.

Meeting guys was the last thing on her mind.

"I looked to the future resigned that I would probably be alone," said Bonifacio, 45, a patient services coordinator at The Queen's Medical Center.

Then in 1980, soon after starting her job at Sears, she met Morris Oshiro, a friendly salesman who worked in the hardware department.

He was a friend of Bonifacio's co-worker, who had asked him to drive them to the store's credit union annual membership banquet that month.

One Sunday Bonifacio's dad needed a socket set that was on sale at Sears. So she drove to the store to pick it up.

When she went to pay for the set with her employee ID, the cashier recognized her name.

"Oh, you're Jeanine," he said. "I'm Morris. We're going to the banquet together."

She smiled and left the store. She never thought anything about the encounter.

But her feelings changed when she saw Oshiro again a few days later.

"That's when I noticed him," Bonifacio said, smiling. "I thought he was cute."

They sat together at the banquet and talked all night. He made her laugh and she felt comfortable around him. The next day he stopped by her department to chat. But Bonifacio had her reservations.

"I felt as if I would never see him again," she said.

So she decided to do something about it. She asked him on a date.

"I decided this was my last chance," she said.

Their first date was to see the movie "Kramer vs. Kramer" on Valentine's Day in 1980. They instantly became a couple, hanging out nearly every day and even taking a trip to Maui.

"The next few months were a whirlwind for me," Bonifacio said.

But six months later, Oshiro had a change of heart.

He was feeling so much pressure from his family to marry a Japanese woman that he broke it off with Bonifacio.

"I was heartbroken," she said, tearing up. "To this day I still cry when I think about it."

For a few months, they both dated other people and hung out with their friends. But they missed each other dearly.

By March 1981 they started talking to each other again. A few times Oshiro would come over to Bonifacio's home to watch TV. Their relationship began growing.

A year later they were talking about marriage.

The couple began planning their wedding when they found out Bonifacio was pregnant. They decided to postpone the wedding until after the birth of their first child, Courtney, in October 1982.

The experience brought them closer together.

"I realized I loved him even more when he leaned over, kissed me and said, 'I love you and thank you,' in the labor room after she was born," Bonifacio said.

They were married on March 26, 1983, at St. John Apostle & Evangelist Catholic Church in Mililani. They held their reception for 425 guests at the Disabled American Veterans hall.

Now living with his parents in Waipahu, Bonifacio found the situation difficult at first. But they focused on their marriage and made it a priority to spend time together, whether it was at the movies, at dinner or at a University of Hawai'i football game.

She still talks fondly about Oshiro, 50, who now works in food distribution.

"I loved the way I could talk to him about anything, without judgment, and he would listen like no one else in my life," Bonifacio said. "Whenever I have those crazy, hectic and stressful days, I looked forward to being with him."

After 23 years of marriage and six children, the Oshiros still schedule date nights at least once a month and hold hands every chance they get.

It took patience and perseverance — and a lot of faith.

But the wait, Bonifacio said, was more than worthwhile.

"Our relationship has been a constant discovery," Bonifacio said, "of discovering how much more I could love him, of how much more he can amaze me."

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