North Woods River Runner: Thirty Years Plus

Thirty years ago today, on Saturday, December 31^st, 1988, Cindy and I got married. Her Dad used to joke that we had robbed him out of a dependent on his taxes by one day that year. Real funny! Cindy and I had started dating our sophomore year in college. She was the first girl I had ever dated. There was something intriguing about this girl who was into sports (she was on the volleyball team that fall). We had a good time hanging out and getting to know each other that year. Unfortunately we broke up as we started our junior year. I’ll admit that I struggled with that, coupled with the fact that I was also busy as an R.A. that year while having trouble in my upper level math classes. I came home to Michigan for Christmas Break. During that time I talked a lot to my parents about refocusing, starting fresh, and switching my degree to elementary education.

A week or so following Christmas Break, a bunch of guys and girls got together and played football on the front lawn of “The Mansion” on campus; at night, under the street lights, and during a snowstorm. We were a small college. Since our friend groups overlapped, Cindy was there. Throughout the football game she kept tackling me in the snow. I couldn’t quite figure out why, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to open up that quickly; although I’m not going to lie that I probably liked the attention. Not long after that we got together, talked, and decided to begin dating again. That was on Wednesday, January 21^st, 1987. Oh yes, believe it when I say that I’ve got the important dates written down!

On Sunday, March 20^th, 1988 I was on my return drive from Gaylord, Michigan heading back down to Trinity College following Spring Break, when I decided to swing by Woodfield Mall. I had been working lawn jobs since the fall and finely had what I needed for the last payment on an engagement ring. I didn’t even wait, and instead decided to pick it up that afternoon. Although it made for a really long day, I surprised her with a trip to downtown Chicago where we ate dinner at our favorite Greek restaurant (“The Plaka”-now closed). We topped it off with a carriage ride where I proposed. A carriage ride was what we had done on our very first date two and a half years before that, so it was a perfect way to be nostalgic and give her the ring. She did say yes! I had already asked Cindy’s parents for permission to marry her (unbeknownst to her) a few weeks before that when I took them out for breakfast. We called our parents late that night to tell them the good news.

Cindy graduated in May of that year. I worked up in Northern Michigan as a camp counselor throughout the summer at Spring Hill Camp. She went back home to her parents, worked, and began planning for our wedding. In the fall I student taught 4th grade at a local elementary school. When I finished in December, I packed up my stuff, said a tearful goodbye to a great bunch of friends that I had roomed with throughout my college years, and headed home to Michigan for Christmas with my family. My sister and I returned to Northern Illinois a week later driving in my little Chevy S-10 truck with the rest of my family following behind me a day later. On Saturday, December 31^st we were married. The rest they say is history, but it’s been an adventurous thirty year journey ever since; one that will continue on now into the future!

See you along The Way…

PICTURES THAT TELL THE BEGINNING OF OUR STORY: