The Chief and I

I grew up in a rural county in Northern Indiana about a one hour drive from Ft. Wayne. My school district was divided into two sections. Grades K-6 went to separate elementary schools and were united in 7^th grade at the high school which was grades 7-12.

I met the Chief on the first day of 7^th grade. She lived at the opposite end of the county and went to the other elementary school. We were assigned lockers based on last name. Her last name and my last name started with the same letter. As a result we sat next to each other when we were in the same class and when we were assigned seating based on last name and her locker was positioned right next to mine.

Since we were in 7^th grade and the lowest “rank” in the school we were required to have a locker partner. My locker partner was named KB. KB had his growth spurt early and was very close to 6 feet tall. I was much closer to 5 feet tall, maybe 5’ 3” or 5’ 4” I really can’t remember. The chief was smaller yet, an inch or two shorter but probably 70 pounds.

Our lockers were situated so that if we opened our locker past 90 degrees we would block the locker next to us. One day, the first or second day of school, KB was standing next to me talking and lazily getting his books for his next class from our locker. Apparently the Chief was being blocked from opening her locker. The next thing we knew, KB had the locker door slammed shut, nearly on his hand. The Chief said “thank you” and opened up her locker, removed a book, and walked off. Both KB and I were somewhat stunned. That was my first encounter with the Chief. KB and I named her Little Miss Pushy and she kept that name for a while. I don’t know if she ever heard the name.

Each year our lockers would move, but because our last names were so close in the alphabet our lockers were always close to each other. This close proximity led us to become friends; not close friends but friends.

With our senior year came private lockers and the cool "Senior hall" as well as some advanced classes. We had Physics and AP calculus. The Chief and I were in both of these classes together. I did very well in these classes but the Chief did not do as well. Since we were friends I helped her with the classes. Calculus and vectors were her weak points. Since we were spending more time together we obviously became closer.


We had our Senior Pictures taken and it was a big deal to pass them out to all your friends. I gave some to the Chief and she gave me some of hers. Then I decided it would be a good idea to get the rest of her pictures and paste them all over the inside of my locker door. When she came back I opened my locker and showed it to her and her friends as a shrine to her... she thought it was funny. 

Eventually we started dating. Our first date was our Senior Prom, one hell of a first date. From then on we were pretty much stuck together. Stuck together was not a bad thing in this case. We continued to date through our final months of high school and through the summer.

That summer the Chief’s parents surprised me. Even though we went to the same high school we lived at opposite ends of the county. It was a good 25 minute drive for me to go and visit her. During some weekends and during the summer the Chief’s family would trailer camp at a local camp ground that was much closer to my family’s house. The cost for entry was $2 per day. This is not too much but for a kid it was a lot. A season pass was $25. Since I knew the Chief would be camping there a lot I decided to buy a season pass on my first visit. I get to the window and try to buy a season pass and they will not sell me one. They also would not let me pay for the day. I wonder what is going on and when I get to the Chief’s family’s campsite they give me a season pass, basically giving me permission to continue to date their daughter. I thought it was cool. Especially since I had obviously met them before but I had not spent a lot of time with them. 

One of the neat things we did during that summer is to go to an all day concert in Indianapolis. It was the first X-Fest which is still put on by a local radio station in Indianapolis. The Chief and I went together along with some other friends of ours. When we returned home we found out that her parents had purchased a new house and they were moving. The Chief was pissed off immediately because she was moving out of the home she grew up in. Plus, she was not even consulted in the whole business. I thought she was blowing it a little out of proportion, plus they were moving to a house on the same lake as the campground. I was all for the move since I would have to drive less when we were home for the summer and on breaks. 

It didn't really matter too much because we were both going away to college in the fall. The Chief went to Indiana University and I went to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. These two schools are not too far apart, only 54.6 miles from Rose to the parking lot next to her dormitory. During our 4 years in college I drove many times between Terre Haute and Bloomington to visit on the weekends.

The Chief did not have a car, but I did. So I did all the driving. I visited her most often because to come back to Terre Haute was an extra hour each way. We would also go home to visit our family every few weeks. Since our parents lived so close we would go home together too. It was on these trips that the Chief’s father would give me gas money for driving her home and back. I never asked for gas money because I had a job at school for the first year plus I saved up money from summer jobs to pay for stuff during the rest of the year. The Chief was a little upset that her father gave me money and he didn’t give her money. (He would have given her money if she needed it.) She always said her family liked me better than they did her. I seriously doubt it, she is much cuter than I am.

I asked the Chief to marry me towards the end of our first year of college. Some things you just know are right. She accepted and then we told our parents. We planned to get married after graduation so we had a pretty long engagement. Everyone was ok with it so long as we waited until after graduation to get married.

At some point during our dating we discovered that our birthdays were one day apart and in the same year. I am one day older than the Chief, actually less than 24 hours older. What is even stranger is that we were born in the same hospital, and our mothers were in the hospital at the same time. I tease her saying that she was following me, stalker. Maybe she liked the fact that I threw my blue sock hat into the crib she was in sleeping. Maybe not.

We were married after graduation at the end of June and we have been happily married ever since. Well, 99.68% of the time we are happily married. The rest of the time I usually do something stupid and piss her off.

I did not have a job at graduation from college. In fact I did not get a job until the first part of August. So for a little over a month we lived in my parent’s basement. That was fun. My parents both liked her and there weren't any real issues while we stayed at my parents' house.

I actually believe the Chief got my first job for me. I was interviewing with the company that I am currently employed with. I think it was the second interview and it was down to two people. We were finishing up and I mentioned that my wife dropped me off and went out to drive around town for an hour or so. The interview lasted longer than an hour and I noticed that my wife was back and in the parking lot waiting for me. I said that she was here and my interviewer asked if I would go and get her. I did and she came in. Now, I was wearing a suit and tie, standard interview apparel. The Chief however, was wearing shorts and a tank top since it was the middle of summer. She reluctantly comes in talks to everyone. They seemed to really like her and I think that is why they chose me instead of the other candidate.

So there is some more that I owe her for… because I really like my job and what I get to do.

She does cash in some of those favors or credits every now and again. I remember a time when I was travelling for business. I think I was in Mexico City. It was in 2006 so it wasn’t as bad as Mexico is in 2011. I was visiting a customer for 3 days helping them with a problem. I was calling and talking to the Chief in the evenings when I made it back to the hotel. 


One of the other things I got to do when visiting Mexico City on this trip is to go and visit the Aztec pyramids of the sun and the moon. 

When I got home I found this in the garage.

She also gets to travel with me when I am on business. I will stay an extra weekend or a few days and we can explore some neat places. Some of these include: Penang, Malaysia; Prague, Czech Republic; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Igazu Falls, Brazil; and a number of places in the US. Plus she gets to use my frequent flyer miles when we go on vacations like to Key West, Hawaii, South Padre Island, Orlando and others… I am banking up too many miles. I think we need to go somewhere again.

I also got a new bike out of this whole deal... that is one card I'm sure I can only play once... this year maybe something next year.


-