Well, I suppose I should start by telling ya’ll a little bit about us and why I’m writing this. So let’s start with “I” so you know who’s telling you all this! I am Bri, I’m 22 years old, I am an artist, a maker, a thinker, a dreamer.  This blog is really mostly about me and my observations and such about life as I encounter it. My darling husband, Rob (he really is darling I don’t mean that sarcastically) I’m sure will show up regularly. He is 28, he’s a philosopher, a little theatric, funny, charming, handsome and kind of a goofball. and I love him, oodles and oodles.

We met on Mackinac Island, MI, in 2009-ish. It was my 3rd summer working on the island, his 2nd. I work for the State Historic Park as a Historic Interpreter (not for languages) and he was driving tour carriages. Part of my job was to stand behind Fort Mackinac in costume (an 1880’s dress) and talk to the tour carriages that came through to entice people to get off and visit the fort. Rob was/is big into history and re-enacting so a girl in period dress makes his heart go pitter-patter. and I played the violin to boot! So I caught his eye in my dress (the corset did help….) and my violin “serenades” and a little bit of flirting later he promised he’d come and see me at the Biddle House (an 1830’s home I also work in) So later that week Rob came down on one of the days I was cooking, and sat out back and we talked about wanting to ditch civilization and go live in the woods in a cabin, and live off the land like the pioneers and the mountain men. He told me he’d build me a cabin even though he’s no good at building things. The rest you could say is history. We started dating a month or so later, and then 4 months after that, he took me to upstate New York where he proposed to me on horseback looking out over the rolling hills in the early morning sun. I said yes. Then about a year later we got married in an old (1850’s) library in Kalamazoo, MI. On Christmas Eve.

Since then we have been figuring out how exactly to be married and to work with each other and to compromise. Which has led to a lot of revelations for me, a lot of thought about growing up and my parent’s marriage which has always been, and will always be, a fine example for me.

I have been incredibly blessed to have had a most fantastic childhood, there wasn’t really ever a time that I couldn’t wait to move out and get away from Mom and Dad, I mean sure, I had (have?) an attitude problem, but that was all me.

I don’t remember my parents ever fighting, at least not around us, my Mom is an amazing mother and did a lot to encourage us to pursue what we wanted in our schooling. She home schooled us, (me 1st-8th grade) and always had fun projects for us. She is always there for us, always. I’ll talk more about her later. 🙂

and then there’s my Dad, whom I’ve been told I resemble in more ways than one. Which I am really quite proud of. My Dad is a great guy. I don’t look up to many people, I don’t think much of the majority of people, but my Dad is the exception a million times over. I distinctly remember my siblings and I going to meet him at the door when he got home from work. He would/does hang out and talk and listen to us, even though sometimes we drive him crazy. He helped us build science projects (my freshman year of high school, I switched to public school, and in my physics class we had to build a Rube Goldberg Machine, well he spent the next week at his workbench in the basement building this thing, I would drop by and keep him company, see how it was coming along. The night before it was due he showed me how to work it, the next morning he drove me to school and we showed it to my teacher, who loved it. My Dad…er I, got an A on that assignment!) and he usually was the voice of reason when we were being crazy or irrational.

The reason I say all this, is because these two lovely people are the ones who helped to make me who I am today, they taught me to think, to learn, to love, to be kind, to be independent, to be who I am.

They are Why I am how I am, and I am so incredibly thankful for that.  And so, in order for the rest of you to begin to understand me it is important that you begin to understand two of the most influential and important people in my life.

-B.


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