After Their Divorce, She Was ‘Best Man’ at His Second Wedding

In Unhitched, couples tell the stories of their relationships, from romance to vows to divorce to life afterward.

Marissa and Mike Mitchell, of Newburgh, Ind., met in seventh grade and became sweethearts. They parted before high school, but reconnected in their late 20s and married. Ms. Mitchell was deployed by the Army to Iraq within weeks of their wedding. They said the stress caused by the distance and her subsequent re-entry 16 months later was one challenge to the relationship. The 11-year marriage eventually ended when Ms. Mitchell, after much soul-searching, came to understand that her attraction is to women.

Dates of marriage December 2006 to October 2018

Age when married Ms. Mitchell was 27; Mr. Mitchell was 28. (They are now 44 and 45.)

Current occupations She’s a high school teacher; he’s a police officer and sheriff’s deputy.

Children One daughter, age 13. He also has a 3-year-old son from a second marriage.

How did they meet? In middle school they bonded over being “nerds,” she said. They became a couple and he was her first kiss.