How It All Began

Together in 2008. Can you tell it was St. Patrick's Day?
The story has been told many times. Dad can just hear the girls, "Yeah, yeah, we know. You met at Kinko's..."

But if you have not heard how Dad and Mom met, sit back and take it all in.

On April 22, Mom brought her resume in to Kinko's to get it "re-typset" as they used to say. Dad was in a rush to get out the door and on his daily bike ride so he pretty much brushed her off that day. But he wasn't completely disinterested in her that day.

You see, he had noticed her from pretty much the moment she walked into the store. She stopped off at a display called "The Recycling Tree" - which showed off the latest in recycled paper (the hot item at the time).

A little voice (later determined to be his guardian angel) told him that the girl standing by the display - snappily dressed with long, flowing hair that you only see on maidens in Robin Hood movies - would someday be his wife.

Yes, it's sappy. But it is the truth. But the courtship would have to wait for another day.

What Mom didn't know that despite being brushed off that afternoon, Dad was solely focused on doing the best job possible on her resume. He returned to the store that night (probably around 8:30 or so) and cranked it out. As an added touch to making her credentials look even more impressive, he included little apples as bullet points. (She's a teacher, after all.)

The next afternoon, Mom returned to pick up her resume - again, just around the time Dad was getting ready to bolt out the door. When she walked in, he was assisting a regular customer, Rick Anderson, of Anderson Amoco. He excused himself and grabbed her resume, proudly handing it off to her and inviting her to look it over carefully.

She seemed mildly impressed, thanked him and made her way over to the counter to get copies made. Sensing his opportunity to make an impression - any impression at all - was slipping away, he knew he had to get in front of her one more time.

So - dashing out the back door at 4:30 to get to his daily bike ride - he wheeled his gray Ford Escort around the building and nearly ran down Mom in the parking lot. Rolling down his window (and not knowing exactly how he was going to get from just meeting her to trying to ask her out), Dad asked, "What kind of paper did you get it put on?"

"What?" Mom asked.

"What kind of paper did you get your resume copied onto," Dad asked.

"White linen," Mom replied.

"Good choice," Dad said.

And that was it. She walked off. And Dad drove away. But there's more to it than that. But that's a story for another day. Stay tuned.

It's 50 years and counting for Grandma Bep and Papa.