Troy Sutton – a Rockdale native, plumber in Fredericksburg and allaround good guy – has lived a feel-good fairytale for the past few years.
At Rockdale High School in the 1980s, we had two foreign exchange students from Sweden. These two young girls — Mia and Helene — did all the things we other students did with a Scandanavian twist.
After her exchange program, Mia returned to Sweden, but then came back to Rockdale two years later to watch a third Swedish exchange student participate in graduation from high school. It was then she and Troy started dating. Young and head over heels for each other, Mia extended her visit as long as her tourist visa would allow.
Troy said the two were going to try to continue their relationship. Back in those days, it was snail mail or very expensive long-distance phone calls. Troy even got as far as wanting to sell his motorcycle to get a plane ticket, but it turned out neither young person could afford to travel at that time. So Troy and Mia went their separate ways, built their own careers, and began their own families.
Fast forward to Fredericksburg, 2002. Troy and his wife moved here and he began his Sutton Plumbing business. As the old Charlie Rich song goes, “Life has its Little Ups and Downs,” and after Troy and his wife raised their sons into young adulthood, Troy found himself single again.
While having beers in 2018 with friends in Fredericksburg, they discussed life and regrets. Troy confessed a single regret — that he didn’t try harder to book that plane ticket to see the Swedish girl.
That evening, almost 30 years later, he found her on social media. He saw she had raised her own children and had a career. He messaged “hello.” She quickly replied and told him she had also divorced in 2014. Perhaps also sensing a pang of regret, Mia asked, “When are you going to come see me?”
He vowed he would not make the same mistake twice. He flew to Sweden, she picked him up at the airport, the two have been inseparable ever since. Just eight months later, they married on Oct. 19, 2018.
Mia has been helping him with his plumbing business.
In our sometimes-jaded world, it’s wonderful to see that spark reignited, even after three decades and thousands of miles apart.
So we will see what the future holds for these two love birds. Whatever they do, I’m glad they’ll be together. We are happy for the next verses in their song, this fairytale that will start a new chapter.
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