Like any good story, this one has a beginning. But it doesn't start with Nick-- it starts with our parents (for obvious reasons, I think).
It should be noted early on that all of these blogs are told from my perspective. These life events are not mine, and although I have a duty to remain factual, it's also my job to narrate from an original perspective, one that is relatively raw, unfiltered and authentic. Without that authentic voice, I couldn't put my name on this work.
With that, let's get to the good stuff.
Dad and Mom, Mark and Nancy, met through mutual friends in the summer of 1986. Both of them grew up in the urban Midwest (Mom was a Milwaukee girl through and through, Dad was born and raised on the south side of Chicago). It was on a boat one summer that their paths finally crossed.
There are three additional characters that we'll need to introduce into this story: Mark, Eric and Eric's brother, Pier.
Dad's friend, Mark (double Mark-- coincidence?) had a family house on Geneva Lake. Mark, known for his parties and taste for trouble, had a summer bash every year, and invited his buddies up for this party (enter Dad, Eric and Pier). At the time, Eric was very casually dating Nancy, and brought her along for the weekend.
They took the boat out on the lake, and everyone got to talking. Dad was excitedly discussing the Stanley Cup Playoffs with his friends, and the unlikely series victory by the Calgary Flames over the Edmonton Oilers. And all of a sudden, they heard a female voice pipe up from behind them, and it said:
"The only reason why Calgary beat Edmonton was because Vernon played out of his mind."
Dad whipped his head around to see what kind of woman had the audacity to talk sports so intelligently. There was Nancy-- dark haired, dark eyes, Marlo Thomas-esque features.
And the rest is history.
Mark and Nancy: September, 1989
Mom and Dad started dating in 1986, after Eric encouraged Dad to ask Mom out on a date, and were married three short years later on a sunny September afternoon.
Life seemed perfect. They both worked in downtown Chicago-- Dad the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and Mom at ADP. The two lived in an apartment in River Grove, a northern suburb of the city, and I remember Mom telling me that their biggest worry at the time was where they were going to go out to dinner that night.
This is how I plan on living my life at age 27.
There is one important tidbit of information that should be noted at this point in our Mark & Nancy story: Mom never wanted kids. In fact, when she was young, Mom said she didn't even want to get married. So, it was a big deal when she did tie the knot, and settled down. But Mom held steady: no kids.
Her friends were hopping on the baby train, however, and when Mom's friends asked her to hold their babies, Mom could only say "no, thank you" so many times. One day, at one such friend's house, Mom was asked to hold a newborn. Something must've come over her, because she complied. And as she cradled that baby, Mom thought to herself, "One perfect baby wouldn't be so bad".
One perfect baby.