Sean

     
          Sean and his mom

    		Sean was born at the Kingman Community Hospital on July 16 back in the latter half of the last century. He spent his early years in Kingman, KS running around the restaurant his grandparents owned. During the summer he turned 14, his family moved to his mother's hometown of Clearwater, KS.  

     After graduation, Sean moved to Iowa to attend Cornell College. After many trials and tribulations, he ended up in Chicago to finish his degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago. While his major was Political Science, he ended up working in a bookstore, higher education, and finally has settled in as a Technical Support Analyst at Loyola University Chicago.
    		 
           Sean's father

    Melissa

     
          Melissa and her mom

     Melissa was born in St. Louis at St. Johns Hospital on May 29 nearly a decade after Sean. She spent her early years in a small town outside of St. Louis playing in the local woods with her three siblings. Her family relocated to Columbus, OH when she was 11.

    		 


    She stayed in Columbus after graduating high school, and attended The Ohio State University where she majored in Women's Studies and Psychology.  Upon receiving her degree, she took off for Chicago to look for a job in higher education. She now works for the Law School at The University of Chicago. But lets go back to her arrival in Chicago.


                                                                                                                                        Melissa's father

    Melissa and Sean

    On a hot day in the spring of 2001, Melissa and Sean met during an interview in Sean's office at Northwestern University. Melissa was interviewing for the position of being Sean's assistant. Little did Sean know he was interviewing his future wife! Of course, Melissa had figured this out in the first ten minutes.

    After countless crazy road trips and several years of friendship, Sean finally realized what Melissa already knew, and they began dating officially. After several months, Melissa eventually moved into Sean's one bedroom apartment in Rogers Park. Their relationship flourished over the next two years, during which they learned to deal with each others quirks and idiosyncrasies while living in a small space containing two obnoxious cats.

    One evening late in November, Sean returned home late and announced that they needed a weekend away from Chicago. He had originally planned the trip for later in the year, but the jeweler had called that day to let him know the engagement ring was in early. After much gnashing of teeth, Melissa conceded, and they were off to central Illinois!

    Friday evening found them racing the sunset to go on a hike down in the dells of Mathiessen State Park. To Sean’s dismay, a large troop of Boy Scouts were ensconced in the dell. Luckily, the troop left before sunset leaving the park to just Melissa and Sean. Climbing down into the slowly darkening dell, Melissa snapped a few last photos, while Sean got up the nerve to propose. While neither remembers exactly what was said, they were both sure it resulted in a "yes!"