HOW WE MET
Anna and Andy started graduate school together at Michigan State University in 2012. They met at Plant Sciences recruitment weekend, where Anna was enthralled by Andy’s dreamy blue eyes, and Andy didn’t notice. When she told him she was going to school for ecology, he told her she “didn’t look like the tromp-around-in-the-woods type,” which she immensely enjoyed as she had tried very hard on her outfit that day. (Andy adds: It was a very nice outfit.)
Shortly thereafter, on the flight back home to Chicago (with Andy catching a connection to D.C.), Andy lied to the man seated next to Anna on the plane, saying they were old friends, and would he please switch seats with him so they could catch up. (Andy swears it was a misunderstanding of the definition of the world “old” rather than a lie per sé.)
Parting ways in O’Hare, they promised to keep in touch. They did not.
Anna was curious about this Mr. Funk, who amazingly shared some heritage with the pioneers after which the forest preserve near her college was named (Funk’s Grove outside Bloomington, IL, where Anna did an ecology project for school). Later wondering if he was planning to attend Michigan State, Anna looked for Andy online. Unable to find his Facebook account or even an email address, she briefly considered creating a Twitter account solely to maintain contact, but decided that was a little extreme, and moved on with her life. (Andy, as fate would have it, was oblivious.)
The future A-Team members did both decide on Michigan State for grad school, and eventually would cross paths again, this time in Crunchy’s, a favorite bar (because karaoke) in East Lansing. (Andy doesn’t really “sing” much.)
At a time in Anna’s life that she now refers to as “peak happy hour,” Anna spotted Andy in a nearby booth one Friday night, asked her friend Chad if he remembered that dude from recruitment, and went over to talk to him. Not wanting to lose touch again, but certainly not intending anything more, Anna gave him her number. Andy, enjoying a beverage with two (female) labmates, was a little (a little?) surprised at this forwardness. The labmates were certain that Anna had nefarious intentions, which they kept no secret from Andy after Anna went back to join her friends. Andy did not use the number.
Andy and Anna both went on with their lives, and dated other people. When a mutual friend invited them both to a beer festival in Lansing's Old Town some months later, Anna’s boyfriend was there, too. Anna and her boyfriend made fast friends with Andy, and this time it stuck. No nefarious intentions, whatsoever, except perhaps that Andy had been looking some new blood to form a D&D group. (It’s not like we were LARPing or anything.)
The first time the three would hang out, at a barbecue at Andy’s, Andy would tell Anna the story of the labmates’ misdirection at Crunchy’s, and that he was sorry that he had misunderstood, seeing now that they could have been friends all along. He had just been avoiding Anna’s purported come-on. This made sense to Anna, who, happily in another relationship, didn’t even mind and perhaps even slightly appreciated the expressed romantic disinterest (girls, yuck). They made plans for D&D, and became very good, platonic, friends.
Something like a year later, Anna and her boyfriend split up amicably. So amicably, in fact, that neither would ever consider leaving the D&D group. (How often is a couple more relaxed together the week AFTER the breakup?) Dungeons and Dragons was, and of course still is, everyone’s favorite pastime.
Andy would make the first move, which was a great surprise to Anna, who had never even considered the possibility after Andy’s previously expressed disinterest, though she certainly had no aversion to the prospect. Apparently, Andy’s expressed disinterest had been to the nefarious deeds assumed to happen after beers and giving-of-numbers at Crunchy’s (duh), and had nothing to do with with Andy’s romantic inclinations toward Anna, of which he had developed many.
Anna remembers that her first thought after learning the news that, in Andy’s words, he was “the tiniest bit in love with” her, was: "Huh. I could marry you."
Shortly thereafter, on the flight back home to Chicago (with Andy catching a connection to D.C.), Andy lied to the man seated next to Anna on the plane, saying they were old friends, and would he please switch seats with him so they could catch up. (Andy swears it was a misunderstanding of the definition of the world “old” rather than a lie per sé.)
Parting ways in O’Hare, they promised to keep in touch. They did not.
Anna was curious about this Mr. Funk, who amazingly shared some heritage with the pioneers after which the forest preserve near her college was named (Funk’s Grove outside Bloomington, IL, where Anna did an ecology project for school). Later wondering if he was planning to attend Michigan State, Anna looked for Andy online. Unable to find his Facebook account or even an email address, she briefly considered creating a Twitter account solely to maintain contact, but decided that was a little extreme, and moved on with her life. (Andy, as fate would have it, was oblivious.)
The future A-Team members did both decide on Michigan State for grad school, and eventually would cross paths again, this time in Crunchy’s, a favorite bar (because karaoke) in East Lansing. (Andy doesn’t really “sing” much.)
At a time in Anna’s life that she now refers to as “peak happy hour,” Anna spotted Andy in a nearby booth one Friday night, asked her friend Chad if he remembered that dude from recruitment, and went over to talk to him. Not wanting to lose touch again, but certainly not intending anything more, Anna gave him her number. Andy, enjoying a beverage with two (female) labmates, was a little (a little?) surprised at this forwardness. The labmates were certain that Anna had nefarious intentions, which they kept no secret from Andy after Anna went back to join her friends. Andy did not use the number.
Andy and Anna both went on with their lives, and dated other people. When a mutual friend invited them both to a beer festival in Lansing's Old Town some months later, Anna’s boyfriend was there, too. Anna and her boyfriend made fast friends with Andy, and this time it stuck. No nefarious intentions, whatsoever, except perhaps that Andy had been looking some new blood to form a D&D group. (It’s not like we were LARPing or anything.)
The first time the three would hang out, at a barbecue at Andy’s, Andy would tell Anna the story of the labmates’ misdirection at Crunchy’s, and that he was sorry that he had misunderstood, seeing now that they could have been friends all along. He had just been avoiding Anna’s purported come-on. This made sense to Anna, who, happily in another relationship, didn’t even mind and perhaps even slightly appreciated the expressed romantic disinterest (girls, yuck). They made plans for D&D, and became very good, platonic, friends.
Something like a year later, Anna and her boyfriend split up amicably. So amicably, in fact, that neither would ever consider leaving the D&D group. (How often is a couple more relaxed together the week AFTER the breakup?) Dungeons and Dragons was, and of course still is, everyone’s favorite pastime.
Andy would make the first move, which was a great surprise to Anna, who had never even considered the possibility after Andy’s previously expressed disinterest, though she certainly had no aversion to the prospect. Apparently, Andy’s expressed disinterest had been to the nefarious deeds assumed to happen after beers and giving-of-numbers at Crunchy’s (duh), and had nothing to do with with Andy’s romantic inclinations toward Anna, of which he had developed many.
Anna remembers that her first thought after learning the news that, in Andy’s words, he was “the tiniest bit in love with” her, was: "Huh. I could marry you."
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