Becoming The Browns - Part 3

The Date: December 1998

The Place: Chicago O'Hare International Airport

The Event: Mr & Mrs Brown meet each other for the first time

Yes, that's right. We met at O'Hare. It wasn't as random as it sounds but it's still a cool place to have met. We were both interviewing at the same company. They were looking to hire several hundred new associates over the course of the year and were interviewing large groups - probably 50-75 people at a time. The routine was that candidates would be flown in, driven to the hotel, given a nice dog & pony show dinner, and spend the next day interviewing, touring the offices and being wowed by their hospitality.

As I mentioned in Part 1 - I had already graduated from college but was looking for a full-time job after leaving graduate school. So even though most of the other candidates were college seniors I managed to get in with that group. One of my good friends from college (and soon-to-be roommate) worked for the firm and recommended me to HR. After a phone interview I was selected to fly out to Chicago for a 2nd interview.

As I mentioned in Part 2 - Mr Brown was running as fast as possible from the Motor City and interviewing at a lot of Chicago companies.

This is what brought us together that day at O'Hare. I had flown in from California. Mr Brown flew in from Lansing. We happened to arrive at the airport around the same time. We made it to the limo pickup area at the same time. And since the limos were taking candidates in groups of 4 we ended up in the same car - me, Mr Brown and two other students from Alma College that he was friends with. One friend - Byron - we still keep in touch with. The other friend was a female. A girl Mr Brown had a little thing for. This was not "the girl". No, she was back home in Michigan working away.

So the limo ferreted this motley group of us away to a beautiful hotel in Chicago's North Shore suburbs. It was Christmas time and everything was decorated beautifully and had that Christmas-y feel to it. Since we arrived at the hotel at the same time, Mr Brown and I were assigned rooms next door to each other.

Now, now.... I know where your mind is wandering to. Shame on you. It was nothing like that.

We had several hours until our dog & pony show dinner so the four of us wandered the grounds of the hotel (it was more of a hotel & resort). I had a great time getting to know the three of them. After dinner, they were looking for a fourth person to play Euchre. If you aren't from the Midwest, Euchre will sound kind of funny. But it's really a quite simple card game of trump - sort of like Hearts. I had only played a few times in college but my rusty skills came back to me. We stayed up late (probably not the best idea before a big interview day), ate pizza we had delivered (I'm guessing dinner was only mediocre) and played Euchre. It seemed quite obvious to me that Mr. Brown and the female of the group were playing a little flirting game. No matter to me - I didn't know these people and wasn't sure I'd ever see them again. We didn't exchange contact information and if we'd made different employment choices our whole lives might turned out differently

As it turned out... we were all offered jobs with the firm. I took my job and started right away - January 1999. Mr Brown was still in his last semester of college. He and Byron accepted their offers and started in summer 1999. The female companion didn't accept the job. But she did move to Chicago...

Is it really vacation?

We spent 10 days in Michigan on vacation this month. The kids had a great time seeing Grandma & Grandpa Brown and their Aunt, Uncle and cousins. Allison really loved going in Lake Michigan despite the fact that it was freezing cold.

It wasn't so much a vacation for mom & dad however. I was sick the day we arrived. Whatever I got I gave to Allison who was sick Tuesday & Wednesday and then Peter was sick Friday & Saturday. At first I thought Allison had been Patient Zero since she'd had a runny nose before we left home. Turns out it was Mr. Brown. He had told me he had a headache but failed to mention the fever, chills and other aches.

We stayed at a nice little cottage on Grand Traverse Bay (don't be misled by it's name as The Lake Michigan Cottage). While it was a nice place with waterfront access, it wasn't exactly kid friendly. No cabinet locks, no grassy area, and poison ivy in the brush just off the deck. That meant someone had to be constantly vigilant of the kids. This was very difficult to do while still trying to help make meals, keep things tidy and actually enjoy ourselves. Add that on top of being sick and it was just a lot of work. Still fun. But lots of work.

A few highlights from our trip included:
* an afternoon spent in Frankenmuth where we enjoyed sampling 10 year old cheddar cheese, taking a horse-drawn carriage ride and chowing down on a bratwurst and soft pretzel.
* a trip to the Battle Creek zoo (after learning that our original plan to go to Kellogg's Cereal City was not to be because it's CLOSED). The kids got to pet pygmy goats and we got up close with giraffes who will eat right out of your hand.
* Allison rode the boogie board with her cousins
* Eating lots and lots of cherries and cherry products

Overall we did have a great visit and look forward to going back again in a few years.

Becoming The Browns - Part 2

In my last post on this topic you learned a little bit about me and my journey before meeting Mr. Brown. Now let me give you a bit of background on Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In high school he met a lovely girl who became his girlfriend. I'll call her the girl. After graduating from high school Mr. Brown moved to the small town of Alma to attend Alma College. Mr. Brown and the girl dated through his senior year of high school, all 4 years of college and awhile after graduation. It is my impression that most people assumed that the girl was "the one". It seemed a foregone conclusion that they would marry, move back to their hometown (or close to it) and live happily ever after.

No one counted on the fact that a 21 year old guy sometimes grows restless. Mr. Brown's restlessness took him to Europe a few times - for travel and study. And in doing so, he made a few poor choices regarding his relationship with the girl. I should also mention that the girl was a year older than Mr. Brown and so his senior year of college he had time to make new friends with other girls while the girl was off growing her career. Again, poor choices were made.

Finally, the time came for Mr. Brown to think about his life after college. There were two obvious options for people at small colleges in Michigan - move to Detroit (the suburbs of) or Chicago. As a small town boy who'd never lived more than a few hours from home, he wasn't really interested in Detroit. The way he tells it, he foresaw that if he took a job in Detroit that things with the girl would proceed as planned. He could see his entire life laid out before him - the wife and kids, the small town, being related to a good 30% of the others in town (the girl was from a large extended family), never really venturing outside the sphere he'd grown up with.

And as 21 year old guys are apt to do... he ran from that picture of domesticity. He interviewed at as many companies as he could in Chicago.

And this is where "our" story starts.

Soooo Annoying!

My friend Jennifer made this hilarious blog entry about how kids can be so annoying sometime. And so I figured I'd join in and share the ways Allison makes us crazy. Peter is exempt for now since he can't really talk yet. Yes, she's cute and most of the things she does are endearing. But sometimes it's just soooo annoying!

* Opening the refrigerator 100 times a day. There is NOTHING in there you need or want. Just close the darn door already! Thank goodness our fridge has an alarm if the door is left open too long or we'd have issues keeping food cold.

* Refusing to share - even things she doesn't want. She will take anything and everything away from Peter. It's not that she wants it she just doesn't want him to have it.

* Pushing her nose into mine as hard as she can when giving eskimo kisses. How do I explain that this is NOT a game of let's try to break mommy's nose?

What about you. What things are your toddlers doing that make you crazy.

Becoming The Browns - Part 1

I've been itching for awhile to tell the story of how Mr. Brown and I met and came to be the family we are today. I figure this can be a series of posts. Hopefully each will be intriguing enough to have you waiting with bated breath for the next installment (or at least interest enough to read a next installment when it comes up).

To tell the story of how we became The Browns you first need a bit of background on each of us. I was raised in central California. My entire family lives there still. There are a small handful of us who have moved away from California but the majority of people still live within a few hours radius of my home town. Being the adventurous person I am I made the leap and moved out of state to go to college at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

Notre Dame was an amazing experience. It developed so much of the person I have grown to be. I am deeply in love with the place and the people. As with everything else in my life up to that point, I had a plan for after graduation. I would attend graduate school in Operations Research/Industrial Engineering at Georgia Tech and then get a job at an airline. It was all worked out. I had an internship lined up down the road in Fort Wayne, IN for the summer and was proudly holding my acceptance letter to the #1 I.E. school in the country for the fall.

And then came graduation weekend. I decided that I had been away from my family for too long and wanted to spend my last summer before truly embarking on adulthood at home. So I called and resigned my spot at the internship. I got another job at home in California. And then I met a boy. I boy I really liked. And suddenly I started to think that maybe I was crazy for wanting to move all the way to Georgia and pay out-of-state tuition when I could pay in-state tuition at another Top 5 school right there in the Golden State (and I wouldn't have to break up with the boy). I got the brilliant idea to call UC Berkley and at least ask if I could reapply for a different semester (I'd already been accepted there and declined). To my surprise and delight they were happy to have me for the fall.

And so already the plan had changed. No great IE internship in Indiana. No spot at Georgia Tech. Instead I would be spending 1/4 of the amount of money on a excellent education, close to my family and continue to be happily ensconced in my new found relationship.

I didn't count on the fact that I would hate it at Cal. I'm not talking about "my classes were hard" and "I don't like my roommate" kind of unhappiness. I'm talking downright misery and fear and anxiety every.single.day. I liked my classes and classmates but that was about the only thing I liked. I hated where I lived (Lake Merritt in Oakland). I was terrified of living alone in that city. I missed my friends from ND terribly. I had gone from having all of my closest friends within a 5 minute walk of my dorm room to having exactly 1 friend in the area who lived an hour away. And the boy.... I liked him but he also lived an hour away. And then I found out he lied on his resume. He lied about finishing his degree when really he had left school a semester early. Who does that? And did I mention he was a vegetarian? Nothing wrong with being a vegetarian but as a steak-loving girl it was just not the right relationship for me.

So exactly 2 months in to my education at Berkeley I left. Just like that I quit the program, packed up my car, relinquished my apartment and drove back home to my parents house.

I am lucky enough to have the most understanding parents in the world who want nothing more for me than to be happy and healthy. They were fine with me quitting graduate school. But I could not live off of them. I had to get a job. So I got a temp job while I looked for a full-time position with a respectable salary.

And this is where the story of The Browns really begins.

Delights of Summer

Generally enjoying the outdoors

Mr. Brown working in the yard

Playing in the sprinklers

Blueberries by the handful

Praying Moms

This is a beautiful prayer offered by a soon-to-be mother-in-law for her new daughter.

As a mother, it's fun and exciting and a little bit scary to think about how our family will grow when my children get married. Already I am praying for the men and women who will join our family. Some of them may yet be a vision in the eye of God. But still, I pray for their healthy and happy life and development into the kind of good and Godly people I know each person deserves in a spouse.