“You want to go over to your ex-husband's for Thanksgiving?”

When Denny Daniels (R) and Larry Rolf (L) met in 1990, they were prepared to dislike each other.

At the time, Denny was dating Larry’s ex-wife, Sharon.

At StoryCorps, the two talked about how their unlikely relationship began.

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Recorded in Minneapolis, MN.

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Music Info: "Black Fur" by Fredrik from the album Na Na Ni.

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Produced by Katie Simon with Jasmyn Belcher.

Facilitated by Gaspar Caro.

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Click here to read the transcript for this story.

Interview transcript

Denny Daniels (DD): I asked her what she wanted to do for Thanksgiving. She said, "Well, lets go over to Larry's." I said, "Wait a minute. You want to go over to your ex-husband's for Thanksgiving?"

Larry Rolf (LR): I didn't really have a problem when Sharon said that she was bringing somebody. You want to bring someone along, it's just another cup you add to the soup.

DD: I said, "Well, I'll compromise. We'll go for an hour." She says, "That's okay." But we kind of hit it off.

LR: Yeah, by 10 o'clock I thought, "Was this guy going to move in or what?" But I am so glad that Sharon and you got married. I was a complete horse's ass with the relationship that I had. I was drinking, chasing; and Sharon was there. She took care of the kids when I was out in bars. And how she made it--sometimes it just amazes me. And, um, her last years with you I think were probably the happiest in her life. And a couple of weeks before she died, I got to tell her how sorry I was and she forgave me.

DD: I do not know without you if I could have gotten through it. Everyday you would call me, make sure that I was okay. You still do.

When you lose someone that you love, it creates a hole in your soul that is hard to fill and you helped fill that. You are more like a brother than a friend. And I appreciate that so very much.