This is a love story. About a bond as eternal as never-ending breadsticks, a relationship as grand as the Tour of Italy, a kiss as luscious as fettuccini Alfredo. It is the story of a couple about to welcome their first child into the world with love and hospitaliano.
Meet the Gartons—Justin and Jordan—of Fort Smith, Arkansas, whose worldview of Italian cuisine was limited due to geography. Their restaurant of choice: Olive Garden. Jordan Garton told ABC News: “I just love Italian food and growing up in Arkansas that’s pretty much one of the only Italian places that we ever got to go.”
Her husband, too, grew up with the taste of Olive Garden. When they got married two years ago, the couple purchased a Never Ending Pasta Pass, which entitled cardholders to unlimited pasta for eight weeks, for $100. Notoriously difficult to procure, this past year saw 22,000 people get their hands on the pass—which was sold out in one second online. The Gartons wanted to make the most of their pasta pass, and so they ate every night at Olive Garden for nearly seven weeks.
This past summer, the Gartons found out they were expecting a daughter.
Garton. Garden.
Was it meant to be? They announced on Twitter that they would naming their child, due in December, Olivia.
Olivia Garton.
After initial reports suggested the Gartons explicitly named their daughter after the restaurant, Justin Garton went on Twitter over the weekend to clarify that it was all a happy coincidence.
In any case, may their love for young Olivia be as full and voluminous as a heaping bowl of pasta e fagioli.