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Published: July 29th 2010
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Celebrate
Celebrating Liz's birthday in Chandler, Arizona Ok all. Mark and I took a break, yes, a long break from blogging. We're still not sure when we will stop, but we don't intend for it to be now (or a few months ago).
In the middle of April we arrived back in Missouri. We intended on blogging, but left an important camera cord at a friends house along the way. The intention was to blog and post pictures when we had them uploaded with the important wire, but it didn't happen that way. As life goes...
We've been doing some exciting things in the last few months, have some neat pictures to share and have some great plans for the upcoming months. Bear with us, family, friends and creepy fans. Stay tuned for pictures from our trip through California, Arizona, five National parks, and a great stay with S. Fogarty (sorry we haven't called- S!). Also you can look forward to some other great pictures of Missouri and Nicaragua.
For a different assignment in our life, Mark wrote his version of how we met. I think he did a great job and thought I'd share it below. Soon new posts will materialize, but please accept this to tide you over...
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"Mark, you are responsible for this." Those are the words Liz left here for me. It's unclear whether she meant I am responsible for completing the "Our Story" or the greater THIS, the fact that we even have a story. If it's the latter then I don't think she's given enough credit to bier, futbol, or "Tire in the Face" by Dane Cook but who am I to argue.
Many people know that we met in Stuttgart, Germany in 2006 while our companies were engaged to investigate the improprieties of a local auto manufacturer. Liz was a legal assistant for a prestigious law firm and I was a senior associate for a big four accounting firm. The part of the story that is less known is that we never worked in the same building or even on the same aspect of the project. It is possible that the only reason we met was because I asked a colleague if he knew to whom the blonde ponytail bobbing through the lobby of our hotel belonged. Despite not having been there to witness the actual ponytail, he was still able to come up with a name and pass along my interest.
Our first couple meetings came in passing in the lobby bar after work. I specifically recall the first time she introduced herself which resulted in my feeble attempt to spell her unique last name, "E-I-S-N...." However, before I could finish she had lost interest and was on her way back to the other side of the bar. A couple days later a group got together to play soccer after work and we ended up on the same team. I was impressed with her ability as a defender and went out of my way to exchange hive fives with her each time our team scored. Following the game the group walked back to the hotel, shuffled into the elevator, and discussed plans to meet in the bar for dinner. Liz and I exited on the same floor, along with a couple of our colleagues. Gradually people peeled off as we moved further down the hall until finally we had reach the last two rooms. As it turned out we were in neighboring rooms. Awkwardly I asked if she planned to go to the lobby. "Probably not" was her reply, to which I said, "me either." We both lied.
A couple of weisbiers and a conversation regarding the comic genius of Dane Cook's "Tire to the Face" clip allowed us to find some common ground. I learned that Liz had played college soccer and she found out I was in love with the Red Sox. Over the next couple weeks we ended up at the same restaurants, bars and World Cup watch parties more and more frequently. One night as we were walking back to the hotel I even stepped in to pretend I was her fiancé to help turn away a couple of harassing Germans. Talk about foreshadowing! Within the next few days Liz would find out that she was unexpectedly headed back to DC, permanently. I would be in Germany for a couple more weeks and then would be traveling to Beijing for a short period of time. We continued to stay in touch via e-mail but really had no idea what we were in for...
The next four years involved quite a bit of travel between Boston and Washington, DC. It started out slowly until eventually we tried to see each other twice a month. Liz met my family and I met her group of friends, affectionately called "the family", in DC. A little less than a year into dating I traveled with Liz to the Lake of the Ozarks and Kansas City to meet her parents and brother, respectively. Eventually I was assigned to another engagement in Germany, which literally put an ocean between us and figuratively might as well have. We survived as well as we could given our circumstances. I made a couple surprise visits to see Liz in DC including while she was in the middle of an Irish pub-crawl on her birthday. Shortly after my nine-month stint abroad I made plans to transfer offices and move to DC. However, what had already been a logistically complicated relationship refused to get any easier. The economy was tanking, my firm was laying people off and I could not get a transfer. I was told to hang in there and I did for about 8 months until I joined a crowd of colleagues who had already been let go. We called it a blessing in disguise as I was able to fully commit to living in DC but four months later Liz was laid off too. At that point we weighed our options and decided to move to Kansas City to be closer to Liz's family. We even decided to get a little crazy and spend the winter in Jackson, WY. I know we will always have fond memories of Jackson since it was there, in the midst of walking our neighbor's dogs, that I proposed to Liz.
We took a circuitous route back to Kansas City from Jackson as we ventured out to the west coast to visit with family and friends. Immediately upon returning I took the GMAT and finished my application to UMKC for their MBA program. A couple weeks later I was accepted and, as of this moment, that is what is on my agenda starting this fall. In the meantime we were splitting time between living at the lake with Liz's mother and with Ed and Nancy Long 40 minutes south of the city while searching for jobs in the KC metro area. After a few stressful weeks Liz interviewed for a position and was hired by an association in Overland Park, KS. She started her job in late June and in July we signed a lease on an apartment which we move into in early August. The appearance of a plan is finally in place...It seems like life might be slowing down for us, but history has taught us that the unexpected is inevitable, so who knows what is next.
There are a number of people whose generosity we are particularly thankful for including but not limited to: our parents, our brothers, Ed and Nancy Long, Tim and Sarah Schwarz, Suzi Fogarty, Meghan and Ben Cox, Paul and Claire Joseph, Michelle Beaudin, Meg Steptoe, Cassi Landrus, Peter and Alex Jordan, Rick and Sue Lytton, Jenna and Josh Harlow, Sara Weir-King and Ben King, and Sarah and John Powers.
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wendy
non-member comment
wow
Interesting and enlightening blog about your four year relationship. I'm so very happy for you both. I know that every day will continue to be a grand adventure as you travel through life together. :) mom,wendy