Origin Story
Every superhero has an origin story. Well, Chad and I aren't superheroes (although sometimes I think Chad comes close), and we aren't even a celebrity super couple. But if we were a super couple we would have a pretty awesome name ("Chamy"). So in honor of the recent 25th anniversary of our first date, here is our origin story. (Okay, as Chad pointed out an origin story has to be in the third person but I can't easily write in that perspective).
Chad and I met at the beginning of our sophomore year of college at UW-Eau Claire, when he was assigned to train me to cover the Student Senate for the student newspaper. Chad's official title was "Senior Reporter" so I thought he was a senior and was immediately impressed by this worldly older man. Even though Chad wasn't actually a senior classman, he did exude confidence.
At the first Student Senate meeting we went to, I was trying to act cool and impress Chad, so I followed his lead and didn't take any notes during the meeting. I nervously thought, "Well, I guess this is the way college reporters do it." Turns out Chad had mostly just lost interest in the Student Senate and didn't need to take notes because he basically knew all the characters and what they were going to say. (Chad later told me that he told his boss he would only train in a new reporter if she was "cute." Thank goodness for the soul crushing tedium of college politics and that Chad found my fringey denim jacket appealing.) I'm not quite sure how I managed to write an article sans notes, but I was on my way to career as a reporter and a future member of Chamy.
During those very early days of knowing Chad I experienced my first taste of quintessential Chad wisdom that I think has greatly influenced me and helped me weather many challenges big and small. I had just finished an article for the Spectator when the computer crashed and my article disappeared. I panicked. I despaired. I turned to Chad and wailed "What am I going to do?" He calmly replied, "Well, I guess write it over." So, I did. And then we to Perkins.
The connection was made, but how did we get to the next level? The details are clouded by the mists of time, but Chad definitely made an impression and I was attracted to and intrigued by him. We kept running into each other, at the newspaper office and the campus coffee house, the Cabin. Chad even invited me to a frat party once, and I thought, "Goodness gracious no, I can't go to a wild dangerous frat party!" (We both ended up getting embarrassingly drunk on our separate outings that night...I would have been MUCH safer at the frat party!)
One night after my friend Daphne and I ran into Chad at the Cabin, I fueled up on liquid courage back at my dorm and then called Chad. He said, "sure, come on over" and I dragged poor Daphne along.We hung out for a while watching tv and watching Chad eat a pizza (oh how I wanted some of that pizza! Yes perhaps it was a metaphor...) I never got up the nerve to ask Chad for some of the pizza, but as we left that night I told him, "You should ask me out." (Please remember it was 1989 and these were my proto-feminist days).
The next week we managed to spend time together everyday. I kept thinking "Is he going to ask me out?" Chad kept thinking, "She was drunk...does she really want me to ask her out?" One of our most unique activities was attending a "sit-in" together. What were we young idealist progressives protesting? The change in the legal drinking age from 19 to 21! We had our priorities! This had to be one of the lamest protests in history, as it involved about 10 of us sitting around the student union at 2:00 in the morning doing homework. We really stuck it to The Man! And while we may have failed at protesting, we succeeded in romance as I believe that was the night Chad actually asked me out.
A week later I donned my favorite turquoise sweater and black denim stretchy stirrup pants and we went on our first official date. We went with the classic date itinerary of dinner (at Sammy's Pizza) and a movie. I was in charge of picking out the movie, and for some reason I choose "Sea of Love." A thriller about a serial killer, it's definitely not my usual type of movie, especially not for the 19-year-old Amy. I'm not sure what I would think of "Sea of Love" today, but Chad and I were both a little shocked and a lot embarrassed by the movie starting with a "kinky" sex scene. We ended the evening hanging out in Chad's dorm room listening to Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" album (not sure if it was on cassette or CD).
I'm a little sad that I don't remember anything we talked about on our first date. Classes? Our families? Student Senate? Why we should legally get to drink? Whatever it was, we obviously found each other interesting as our first date was the beginning of many firsts, big and small, and memories clear and hazy. Our first Christmas, our first home, our first fight, our first death of a loved one. The first time we had sushi (I really wish I remembered that one). Our first trip together to Target. I don't plan on blogging about every one of these, but I'm also not making any promises.
Chad and I met at the beginning of our sophomore year of college at UW-Eau Claire, when he was assigned to train me to cover the Student Senate for the student newspaper. Chad's official title was "Senior Reporter" so I thought he was a senior and was immediately impressed by this worldly older man. Even though Chad wasn't actually a senior classman, he did exude confidence.
At the first Student Senate meeting we went to, I was trying to act cool and impress Chad, so I followed his lead and didn't take any notes during the meeting. I nervously thought, "Well, I guess this is the way college reporters do it." Turns out Chad had mostly just lost interest in the Student Senate and didn't need to take notes because he basically knew all the characters and what they were going to say. (Chad later told me that he told his boss he would only train in a new reporter if she was "cute." Thank goodness for the soul crushing tedium of college politics and that Chad found my fringey denim jacket appealing.) I'm not quite sure how I managed to write an article sans notes, but I was on my way to career as a reporter and a future member of Chamy.
During those very early days of knowing Chad I experienced my first taste of quintessential Chad wisdom that I think has greatly influenced me and helped me weather many challenges big and small. I had just finished an article for the Spectator when the computer crashed and my article disappeared. I panicked. I despaired. I turned to Chad and wailed "What am I going to do?" He calmly replied, "Well, I guess write it over." So, I did. And then we to Perkins.
The connection was made, but how did we get to the next level? The details are clouded by the mists of time, but Chad definitely made an impression and I was attracted to and intrigued by him. We kept running into each other, at the newspaper office and the campus coffee house, the Cabin. Chad even invited me to a frat party once, and I thought, "Goodness gracious no, I can't go to a wild dangerous frat party!" (We both ended up getting embarrassingly drunk on our separate outings that night...I would have been MUCH safer at the frat party!)
One night after my friend Daphne and I ran into Chad at the Cabin, I fueled up on liquid courage back at my dorm and then called Chad. He said, "sure, come on over" and I dragged poor Daphne along.We hung out for a while watching tv and watching Chad eat a pizza (oh how I wanted some of that pizza! Yes perhaps it was a metaphor...) I never got up the nerve to ask Chad for some of the pizza, but as we left that night I told him, "You should ask me out." (Please remember it was 1989 and these were my proto-feminist days).
The next week we managed to spend time together everyday. I kept thinking "Is he going to ask me out?" Chad kept thinking, "She was drunk...does she really want me to ask her out?" One of our most unique activities was attending a "sit-in" together. What were we young idealist progressives protesting? The change in the legal drinking age from 19 to 21! We had our priorities! This had to be one of the lamest protests in history, as it involved about 10 of us sitting around the student union at 2:00 in the morning doing homework. We really stuck it to The Man! And while we may have failed at protesting, we succeeded in romance as I believe that was the night Chad actually asked me out.
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| "Whoa, Ellen, slow down...we're scaring those kids in the audience with the big hair and glasses." |
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| Chad with "Bear," the first Christmas present I ever gave him. Happy 25th Birthday, Bear! |
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