Michael and I went to the same high school, but we lived in different “neighborhoods”, so we didn’t hang with the same crowds. I was a lowly sophmore when I first saw Michael in the hallways of John F. Kennedy High School, he was a senior. I would see him walk down the hall, but my Mom would not allow dating until I was 16, so I “worshiped” him from afar, he didn’t even know I existed. Eventually our crowds of friends ran into each other and we all became friends. We had a lot of fun nights hanging out on the corner by McDonald’s or Hale Park, we weren’t troublemakers, just harmless kids sitting around thinking we were cool smoking our cigarettes. Some weekends we would pile into cars and go to the Sheridan Drive-In on Harlem Avenue. It was AMAZING how many people would fit in the trunk. It was all good clean fun, we would bring lawn chairs and grab as many speakers as we could and sit around and watch the movies, just a bunch of noisy kids hanging out.
During the summer of 1976 my Mom allowed my brother to have a party in the backyard, it was a nice warm summer night and my Mom was home to supervise. I kinda thought, that maybe Michael liked me, so I brought him into the house to introduce him to my Mom, he passed her seal of approval and we were allowed to date. We were an item through my Junior year, homecoming, prom, picnics,and parties.
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| John F. Kennedy Homecoming, 1976. I was 16, Michael was 18. |
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| Photo taken at the Sabre Room, Palos Park, 1976. Observe the groovy techniques utilized, our faces in a wine glass, we weren’t even old enough to drink!!! |
In November of my senior year Michael joined the US Army for a three year stint, I thought my world had come to an end. We remained a “couple” for a while, but three years, at the young ages we were, caused us to drift. When Michael came back, we picked up where we left off.
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| We would spend some afternoons just going out and taking photographs, I took this picture of Michael in Lincoln Park Zoo after he returned from his time in the US Army. |
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| A photo Michael took of me, probably the same day. He kept his pictures of me, and I kept my pictures of him for all those years we were apart. I guess that says it all. |
Life was good, but as time passed we began to have different interests, no fights or harsh words, just different people and our relationship came to an end.
12 years went by, during that time Michael always held a special place in my heart. As a result of coincidences we contacted each other in March of 94. I was living in Detroit at the time and went Chicago to see Michael. We went to a movie, “In the Name of the Father” and afterwards we sat in Denny’s and talked until they kicked us out at closing time. I remember driving home that night thinking – I still love this guy, he will think I am nuts if I tell him, but it turned out that he felt the same way. We were teenagers all over again, phone calls, cards, thoughts drifitng away from my work. The thrill of being in love again.
Our first date in 12 years was April 2, 1994, by July 1st, I had gotten a new job, packed my apartment up and returned to Chicago. Michael and I had a wonderful summer, and sometime during the first week of October we thought it would be a great idea to get married. Michael wanted to know what my ring size was so he could buy me an engagement ring, we talked about that for a while and decided that due to the fact we were going to be “engaged” for about two weeks, the money would be better spent on taking a cool trip, forget a diamond!!
We went to City Hall in downtown Chicago on October 21, 1994, a beautiful sunny, warm Autumn afternoon, our families joined us for the Civil ceremony and we got married.
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| Our Wedding Day, October 21, 1994 |
We went to Ireland the following month, it was a much better way to spend $$$ than on a ring. I guess that started our travel bug.
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Michael on our first trip to Ireland together
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Anne on our first trip to Ireland, in the background is the Poulnabrone Dolmen in County Clare.
We don’t usually make a big fuss out of our anniversay, we would rather save our money throughout the year and go on a trip as our gift to each other. This year we did buy gifts. I decided to have rings made to commemorate our special day. I picked a design that is found on the entrance stone to Newgrange in the Boyne Valley in Ireland. Michael and I have been there and it is a place filled with mystery, wonder and history, so it reminded me of us. I brought a picture to a local Jeweler, language was a barrier, but for an Ecuadorain working from a picture, and not knowing what the symbol even meant, he did a great job!!
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| Newgrange in the Boyne Valley, it pre-dates Stonehenge. |
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| This is the “Entrance Stone” to Newgrange, these carvings are called the “Triple Spirals”. |
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| This is the photograph that the Jeweler worked from |
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| These are the rings to celebrate our 17th Wedding anniversary. |
Michael knows how much I like to play with making jewelry so he scoured the Cuenca antique shops and found three beautiful pieces he thought I could use to make something, when he gave them to me I was overwhelmed, but after really looking at them I thought they are too special, we decided we will have them framed, they will be a rememberance of our first anniversary spent in Ecuador.
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| My anniversary gifts from Michael, pieces of Ecuadorian history. |
It is 17 years later, we have had a few down times, but far more ups, lots of laughter, love and joy. We wouldn’t change a day of it.
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| Michael and Anne, 35 years after our first date. |
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