Post College

After graduating from Roanoke in 1991, I continued living in my home town of Vienna, VA. And I continued playing soccer. The soccer in NOVA (Northern Virginia) is quite competitive even for adult amateurs. At first I hooked up with some guys that used to play high school soccer with my older brothers. That was quite fun. I was in great shape so I was able to hang pretty well with them.

During college, I did not just study, bike, skateboard, and otherwise exercise. Another thing I did was meet Melissa. Melissa is from a suburb of Philadelphia. We hit it off and became close during school. After school, we continued to "date." I put quotes around the word date here because I have to explain that our dates were not really what most would call a traditional date. Most of the time, Melissa would drive down on Friday night and spend the night in the guest room at my parents house. Then on Saturday, I would go play soccer and she would watch. What a gal! Right?After the soccer game we would go to Great Falls National Park and go for long walks. We got to know each other even better on these walks. It was a healthy way to spend time together and it was cheap too.

Then one day, Melissa moved from her Philly suburb to Fairfax, VA and took a job working for AAAS. Melissa rented a room in a townhouse in Fairfax. Each day she would drive from her house in Fairfax to a neighborhood near the Dunloring Metro where she would take the train downtown to her job. In fact, the metro stop was right next to my elementary school. Then after work she would come over to my parent's house and we would all have dinner together. Melissa was quickly becoming part of the family.

While Melissa was working at AAAS, I was working at B. Dalton Bookseller in Arlington, VA. Working at the book store was fun. The people were all very nice and I was good at smiling at the customers and putting books away. It was by no means a glamorous job but I enjoyed it.

One real nice thing about the job was my commute. I commuted by bicycle on the wonderful W&OD bike trail. It was very convenient. My parents lived right on the trail and my job location was a few blocks from the trail. So each morning I would suit up and get a great workout on the way to work. It was about 9 miles door to door and I crunched out the ride both to and from work. I pretty much pushed myself and tried to better my time each day. Sometimes after work, I would ride into downtown DC so I could get some extra mileage in. I got in pretty good shape this way. Biking every day and soccer on weekends. This combination continued to work for me throughout my adult work although as you will learn, in a different town, and with a different type of biking.

So the routine continued - biking during the week, soccer on Sundays, dinner with Melissa and my family during the week. Melissa and I continued to grow closer. On a Thanksgiving trip up to visit with Melissa's family, we went shopping on Black Friday. We looked a rings in various stores at the mall. I needed to learn what type of ring style Melissa favored and I wanted to learn her size. It was not long after that trip that I made a trip to a local jeweler to buy her a diamond ring. I did not make that much money working at the bookstore but I had some help from my younger brother John. John was nice enough to write a check for the ring. We set up a payment plan so I could pay him back. This generous loan allowed me to get Melissa a very fan nice ring.

The ring was burning a whole in my pocket. I probably should have planned a romantic evening out or a walk to a stunning vista but I didn't. One night while hanging out in my room, I told her that I had something for her. I produced the ring and asked her to marry me. I was hoping for a good reaction and that is what I got but I was surprised by the happy tears that came streaming down Melissa's face. I got the biggest smile on my face and in my heart. Melissa and I were going to spend the rest of our lives together as a married couple. Hurray!

Thanks again for reading. These installments sometimes go long so I appreciate you hanging in there with me. Next time-bike rides, bike ride, bike rides coming at you.