WHERE WE'RE FROM:
Both Mike and Roxanne were raised in the Columbus, Ohio area. Mike moved to Westerville at age 5 from Winston-Salem, NC, Roxanne was born there. Mike moved to Gahanna for the 5th grade, but his family attended the same church in Westerville, where he would later meet Roxanne.
HOW WE MET AND FELL IN LOVE:
We met in our church youth group at Central College Presbyterian Church in Westerville, Ohio. We were great friends in high school, then Mike moved with his family to Limestone, TN and Roxanne became a Rotary Int'l exchange student to Costa Rica. Mike moved to Nashville, TN in Jan. 2001 to attend school at Middle Tennessee State University, where he studied Music Business in the Recording Industry Management program.
Some background information.. Mike was not-so-secretly infatuated with Roxanne all through high school, Roxanne showed somewhat less of an interest in Mike. Mike tried desperately to forget Roxanne, and finally did. Soon after, as fate would have it, Roxanne would use a calling card to call Mike from Costa Rica. Everyone knows that if a girl goes out of her way to do something for a boy, the boy will immediately fall into the palm of her hand - such is the case with us.
The friendship grew and grew and became more of a relationship. Roxanne came home in the spring of 2002 after getting a taste of dengue fever, where she moved in with her mom. A couple months of weekend trips between Nashville and Columbus later, Roxanne was moving to Nashville. Mike proposed a week later and after a six month engagement, we were married March 8, 2003 in Westerville, Ohio with our youth pastor, Doug Coons (who had moved to California) presiding.
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT:
In September of 2003, we bought our first house: a 1920's two bedroom, one bath fixer-upper in East Nashville. We fixed it up, made it our own and lived in it for two years. We sold it, paid most of our debt off and moved to Charlotte, NC, simply for a change. A change is exactly what we got. Nashville was a cool, bohemian city where people aren't afraid to waive at strangers, or even smile sometimes. Charlotte is a buttoned-up city where people are obsessed with material goods and really only seem to care about themselves. The up side, though, was that it's two hours to the AT and three to the beach!
Preparing to get on the AT, after three years of delays, we've now moved back to the Columbus, Ohio area to live with family and help start Roxanne's mom's Alpaca farm. We're pushing really hard to get on the trail in 2009, and this is certainly helping us to pay off debt - so we'll see!
We live here with our baby, Kaia, a four year old American Bulldog. Mike graduated with a Music Business Degree from Middle Tennessee State University in May 2005 and has yet to find a real job.. yet. He works as a property manager for nearly 40 area HOA's and Roxanne is a manager for Starbucks Coffee Co. and has aspirations for bigger and better things at Starbucks, with a dream of getting into ecological engineering.
FUTURE PLANS:
Don't quote us on anything, but we'd like to hike the Appalachian Trail in 2009. It's a six month commitment - from Georgia to Maine. Every day spent hiking, every night (almost) spent under the stars. We're incredibly excited about it and looking forward to the adventure and the lifestyle changes that trail life brings.
After the trail, it looks like we'll most likely move back to Columbus, Ohio and start a family. Roxanne may go to school, Mike might get into the music scene and start using that tear-stained degree. We'll probably revisit the Nashville Renovation Project and raise enough money to pick up and start somewhere else - maybe out West (Colorado, California, Washington, Oregon) if our extended family can bear it.
We live on change. Will it ever stop? Who knows, but we must have change to keep things interesting. We love to be kept on our toes, but we hate drama - so don't bring us any, please!
