Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds caps Christmas with re-proposal

Dan Reynolds and Aja Volkman are closing the decade with a new beginning.

On Christmas Day, the front man for Imagine Dragons re-proposed to his wife, the singer from Nico Vega and mother of the the couple’s four children. Volkman posted a lengthy, heartfelt message on her Instagram page on Thursday, referring to the couple’s seven-month separation ending in November 2018.

“It was a wild story that just kept getting more wild as time passed. We wrote love songs, and we got married. Then came children,” Volkman wrote. “We were both emotional and driven and also hard on ourselves. We went through a whirlwind of successes and failures and we held each other tight because it was scary. But we also suffocated each other.”

Reynolds and Volkman reconciled in November 2018. On Oct. 1, two years after the Route 91 tragedy, they welcomed their “Vegas Strong” third child, Valentine Reynolds. The couple have three other daughters: 7-year-old Arrow and 2-year-old twins, Gia James and Coco Rae.

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Well, the last two years have been transformative to say the least. I’ve never caused so much hurt or been so hurt by another human in my life. It took us a long time to really see each other. We weren’t reckless at all. In fact we were so careful that we didn’t do what we needed to do. We didn’t listen to who we were. We loved each other at the expense of everything. Two different backgrounds, and practically two different generations. It was a wild story that just kept getting more wild as time passed. We wrote love songs, and we got married. Then came children. We were both emotional and driven and also hard on ourselves. We went through a whirlwind of successes and failures and we held each other tight because it was scary. But we also suffocated each other. We didn’t know ourselves well enough to maintain the strength from within. And it all began to crumble. The world was harsh. There was so much love, but also criticism and ugliness. We weren’t prepared to be disliked or misunderstood. It hurt. We were distorted mirrors of each other. I missed the stage and he had too much of it. We fell apart. Our oldest daughter was suffering. Her foundation fell away and all that she knew was destroyed. We hated ourselves. The night was long. 7 months long. Then one evening he came to my door. I looked at him timidly because of all that I had gone through. Endless days of hiding in my closet crying beneath my clothes. Deep soul searching accompanied by the darkest thoughts that would eventually turn to light. He stood there on my porch and all I could see was my most favorite person staring back at me. I understood it all. We didn’t need the words. We were both forgiven..but... I wouldn’t put my ring back on. Even when we decided to stay together. I just couldn’t go back to what we were. I told him that we would have to start again. He agreed. Tonight we put our kids to bed and began to clean up the mess of the day. I could see that he was nervous but I didn’t know why. He got on one knee and before he could open his mouth I began to cry. Loaded tears that held nearly 10 years of growth. The answer has always been yes. Even before we knew what that meant.

A post shared by Aja Volkman (@ajavolkman) on Dec 25, 2019 at 10:49pm PST

Reynolds and Volkman, both 32, met in 2010 at the since-closed Wasted Space music venue at Hard Rock Hotel, when Imagine Dragons and Nico Vega were on the same bill. They married in March 2011, and announced their separation in April 2018. That November, the couple announced they had not divorced and were reconciling their marriage.

“The world was harsh. There was so much love, but also criticism and ugliness. We weren’t prepared to be disliked or misunderstood. It hurt,” Volkman wrote. “We were distorted mirrors of each other. I missed the stage and he had too much of it. We fell apart.”

She recalled Reynolds appearing on her doorstep one night.

“He stood there on my porch and all I could see was my most favorite person staring back at me. I understood it all. We didn’t need the words. We were both forgiven … but … I wouldn’t put my ring back on. Even when we decided to stay together. I just couldn’t go back to what we were. I told him that we would have to start again. He agreed.”

The couple put their kids to bed to “clean up the mess of the day.”

“I could see that he was nervous but I didn’t know why. He got on one knee and before he could open his mouth I began to cry. Loaded tears that held nearly 10 years of growth,” Volkman wrote. “The answer has always been yes. Even before we knew what that meant.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.