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LaPortia McNeil and Jamal McKinley believe they long have been destined to be together.

Their mothers, Janet McNeil (hers) and Lolita McNeill (his), met in high school homeroom. They became best friends, and later gave birth just 40 days apart. A photograph shows McKinley’s mother holding both babies.

Their children began dating as high school juniors in Lumberton. Now 29, they have been a couple ever since.

“I really believe that it is something that God put together to last forever,” says McKinley.

Life has separated them at times. McKinley moved to California at age 3, then returned to Lumberton in third grade.

McNeil developed a crush. They laugh as they remember her, wearing a pink jacket, approaching him with a note reading, “Do you like me? Check yes. Check no.”

“We talked on the phone and I remember that he kept saying, 'I like you,’ ” McNeil says. “But my definition was that he didn’t ask me to be his girlfriend, so it never counted to me.”

Early in high school, they ran in different circles. “Jamal played three sports. All the girls loved him,” McNeil says. “I was this 95-pound girl with braces who sat alone at lunch every day with a book.”

But when her best friend committed suicide in 10th grade, McNeil moved her homeroom desk closer to McKinley’s. Gradually, they saw each other in a new way.

During senior year, McNeil’s beloved mother died from complications of lupus. So when McKinley went off to N.C. A&T, McNeil stayed home in Lumberton, gained custody of her younger brother, and went to work to support them.

They made frequent long drives to see each other. “We have had to endure a long-distance relationship, and it always worked,” McNeil says. “No one compared.”

She waited until her brother, now 25, had a stable life before she moved to Greensboro four years ago.

They both work long hours, McKinley as an account executive for Sheffield Financial, McNeil as an analyst for Volvo Trucks North America.

The most difficult issue that they have faced is “getting older, and finding ourselves,” McNeil says.

“Jamal is very spiritual, very laid back, very calm. I’m all over the place. But we are always able to compromise and see each other’s point of view.”

They have argued perhaps three times in 13 years. “I can’t really get mad at her without laughing,” McKinley says.

Their most embarrassing moment happened at a furniture store, where McKinley wanted to test the sturdiness of a bed. When he jumped on, it collapsed.

“Everyone was laughing and pointing at us,” McKinley recalled.

As they get older and hope for children, they see the importance of getting married, McNeil says. They became engaged 18 months ago and set the date for Nov. 11, 2011.

But they gladly will move that date to February. “She has always been wanting to get married here,” McKinley says of the Proximity.

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com