Second, happy birthday to my blog!

7 years ago today, I wrote my first post. At the time, I wrote:

Most blogs fail quickly, and this one is probably no exception. But I’ve flirted with trying it for a while, and you never know until you try….

Since then, I’ve written well over 1,000 posts on just about everything. Politics was the initial driver before I left that life and wrote about pretty much anything I wanted to. There were times I posted every day and times I only posted once a month.

But I always posted at least once a month until a few months ago, October 2012. That’s when I wrote the last post that’s been published here until now. I’d already written just one post a month for 6 straight months, a new low for me. Then the end of November came, normally a motivator for me to get into gear and write a post, and I just didn’t. For the first time in nearly 7 years, I let the month slip away without a post.

I’ve had fun around here, but it’s time to hang it up. I’m not necessarily leaving blogging altogether, but I am finished with Wide White. I’ve enjoyed the opportunities it’s given me, such as the first job I got after I left politics, which came through a referral in a comment on this blog. I’ve met some great people through it.

But I have those twins who just turned 3, their little brother who just turned 1, their mom who I love hanging out with, and numerous other commitments with work, church, civic involvement, and friends. Blogging has slowly dropped down the list of priorities as other things have squeezed their way into my life until it has simply fallen off the list altogether.

I have other blog ideas that I may pursue. I purchased a domain a few months ago that I haven’t done anything with yet. I wanted to wait until I could really dedicate some time and energy into resolving what I wanted it to be. I know this: I don’t want to blog aimlessly. I have a few blogs where I may contribute elsewhere. But I’ve long been dissatisfied with my lack of focus with Wide White. I never wanted it to be just a personal blog, but for a long time it’s lacked much focus elsewhere.

Thank you for reading along for these 7 years! It means a lot to me that so many people – friends, family, strangers – have read what I’ve written.

If you’d like to keep up with me going forward, you can find me on Twitter at @onejoey.

I’ll leave this site up for a while. I don’t know how long I’ll keep it up exactly. There’s a lot of information here and I’ll probably try to archive it somewhere. There are a lot of memories I don’t really want to say goodbye to yet.

But eventually, it’ll be time to renew this domain and I won’t.

Thanks for everything,
Joey

That said, I’ll briefly give you a few reasons for my decisions on three major topics facing Minnesotans.

The presidential election

I plan to vote for Mitt Romney. I’m probably more aligned with Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson’s views, but he doesn’t have a remote chance of winning. Besides, political positions aside, Romney would undoubtedly make a better executive leader than Johnson. I’ve been very disappointed with the divisive tone that Barack Obama struck from the minute he took office. It was particularly disheartening to see him shun his opposition while he had a majority in both the House and Senate, then turn around and pretend to want to work across the aisle with them over the last 2 years. I realize Republicans also played the role of the obstinate opposition, but I don’t think that immaturity in the legislative branch excuses poor leadership in the executive branch.

I suppose I could and probably should say more, but I’m not exactly energized about the presidential election and don’t have much more input than this. I don’t think I’ll get too excited no matter who comes out on top.

The Minnesota marriage amendment

I will vote no. This measure would amend the Minnesota state constitution to read, “Only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in Minnesota.” Importantly, this would not change state law, but conservative lawmakers want to solidify that law in our constitution to ensure judges can’t overturn that law. At least that’s the reason that they’ve given.

One strategist who helped push the amendment through the senate now says the only reason it was put on the ballot is to bring out conservative voters and give Republicans a better chance against popular Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. After all, similar measures have yet to fail in any state in which they’ve been put on the ballot.

But regardless of any misguided political reasons for the amendment, that’s not why I’m voting no. There are two primary issues I have with the amendment:

1. Constitutional amendment. The constitution should not be used to permanently encode a group’s religious definition of a secular institution. It’s important to remember that we aren’t talking about the definition of a religious marriage performed in your church; we’re talking about a civil institution that anyone can partake in, regardless of religion or lack thereof.
2. Religious motivation. The only reason I’ve seen presented to keep the definition of marriage between one man and one woman is this: religion. It’s why the primary beneficiary of the efforts to support this amendment is the Catholic church.

The issue here is ultimately the term “marriage.” A Star Tribune poll from 1 month ago shows that while 49% of Minnesotans support gay marriage, 68% support civil unions for homosexual couples. If marriage certificates were changed to be called civil union certificates, I highly doubt this would be such a big issue for Christians.

I don’t want to live in a theocracy. Our laws – and especially our constitution – should not be dictated based on one group’s interpretation of a religious text, even if it’s my own. It’s so easy to scoff at Middle Eastern countries for establishing their laws based on Islamic law, yet many of us don’t think twice about creating our own laws based solely on our Christian beliefs.

Our laws are intended to govern all people, regardless of their religion or creed. The creation and maintenance of these laws should be a secular matter. I don’t think we should introduce religious arguments for secular laws. I especially don’t think the constitution that governs those laws should come from such an overtly religious perspective.

When a wedding official at a Christian wedding invokes “the power vested in me by God and by the State of Minnesota,” he is enforcing these as two separate entities. They should remain separate.

There are many Christians voting no on this amendment because they either don’t think the constitution should be used for this purpose or they don’t think the state’s policy should be set based on the religious beliefs of one segment of the population. Count me as one of those Christians.

(I also find it incredibly hypocritical that the same people who want government out of their lives when it comes to their money, businesses, and social programs want government to be so involved in moral and religious issues like this. But that’s a subject for another time.

Also, a few days ago my wife noted the irony that she spent time at the home of friends who have a “Vote Yes” sign in their lawn and a day or two later was at the home of friends who have a “Vote No” sign in their lawn. We have many friends who are passionately voting both ways on this and I don’t consider anyone to be less of a person for disagreeing with me on this issue.)

Voter ID

I plan to vote no. Minnesota is looking to join a handful of states who now require all voters to present a government-issued ID at the polls in order to vote. On the surface, I like an ID requirement for voting. ID is required for so many other daily activities, it makes sense that we should verify we are who we say we are in a function in which integrity is more important than perhaps any other.

But there are some serious problems with Minnesota’s voter ID amendment that make me uneasy.

For reference, here’s the amendment before the voters:

(b) All voters voting in person must present valid government-issued photographic  identification before receiving a ballot. The state must issue photographic identification at no charge to an eligible voter who does not have a form of identification meeting the requirements of this section. A voter unable to present government-issued photographic identification must be permitted to submit a provisional ballot. A provisional ballot must only be counted if the voter certifies the provisional ballot in the manner provided by law.
(c) All voters, including those not voting in person, must be subject to substantially equivalent identity and eligibility verification prior to a ballot being cast or counted.

Here are my primary concerns in reverse order of importance:

1. Constitutional amendment. Permanently codifying the use of a tool that hasn’t been around that long as the gateway to exercising such a fundamental right just doesn’t set well with me.
2. Vague language. It’s one thing to require ID in person at the polls. But what about those casting absentee ballots? What about military service members overseas? Where will college students be required to vote?
3. Expense. This will be very expensive to implement. Not only will the state now be required to provide free photo IDs for anyone without one, but those who show up at the polls without an ID will need to cast a provisional ballot, which adds administrative expenses.
4. Voter fraud isn’t a major issue. We seem to be proposing a solution for an issue that doesn’t exist. A 2007 report from the New York Times showed that a 5-year Bush administration crackdown on voter fraud yielded just 120 charges and 86 convictions nationwide.
5. This still wouldn’t solve voter fraud. Fake IDs can be created. Election officials at the polls will be hard-pressed to determine who’s a felon or is otherwise ineligible to vote without an electronic system in place to immediately check for this information, which would come at an enormous cost.

You’ll notice I don’t list “Voter disenfranchisement” in the list here. I realize the elderly, poor, and minorities tend to have a lower rate of possessing a government-issued ID and this could theoretically affect elections, presumably in favor of conservatives. But I think there are already stipulations in the law that disenfranchise voters, particularly those who are transient. Any validation requirement will inevitably disenfranchise someone by definition. So, while voter disenfranchisement is certainly a possibility, it’s not why I hold my position.

I’m religious about keeping my wallet on me at all times, and ironically, I forgot it when I went to vote in the primary election in August. It’s easy for me to drive 5 blocks to retrieve it, but rural Minnesotans don’t have this luxury.

The complications presented by the voter ID amendment as it’s been written up are too great for me to think it’s a good idea to implement.

Our expenses for Kaylee ended up being next to nothing. The hospital stay was already covered with money we had set aside in a Health Savings Account that had to be used that year anyway. The funeral home waived all of their expenses (something we did not expect and which I later discovered was really due to a communication error on their part that they let slide for us). The parking lot owners adjacent to our church waived their normal usage fee for the memorial service. We had numerous expenses like this that were just taken care of.

We had $700 and no real expenses to deal with. So we set the money aside, thinking we’d do something with it to carry on Kaylee’s legacy. We just didn’t feel right about using it for us.

A few weeks ago, a blog I follow told the story of a young woman who had just died suddenly along with her full-term baby. She left behind a husband and a 19-month-old son. The story didn’t contain much information and didn’t even include the names of the 29-year-old wife and mother or her family. But the story left me in tears as I considered the place her husband is in right now. I know the pain of losing a daughter; I can only imagine the magnitude of the pain of losing my wife.

The blog that posted this is a financial blog, and part of the purpose in posting the story was to note the importance of life insurance. This family didn’t have life insurance and the husband was left with a number of bills for the hospital, funeral, and burial. The widowed husband made a point of telling his brother to get life insurance so he wouldn’t be left in a similar predicament.

Jamie and I have life insurance policies, so we’re good to go there. We also have that “Kaylee money,” and the blog post about this family in need had a link to contribute to a Paypal account that was setup to assist them. It seemed obvious to us that some of that Kaylee money belonged with this family.

I don’t know where the rest of her money will go. I don’t know if I’ll even have the chance to let this family know about Kaylee and the generous people who made the gift to this family possible.

But I’m excited to see something good come from such deep pain.

But since I started this blog, I’ve always posted at least once a month.

Which is why it’s 11:45 PM on August 31st and I’m finally getting my August post in. I made a commitment and I’m going to keep it. Sure, it was to myself, but I’m still going to keep it.

Earlier this year, my company did a 10,000 steps program. It’s a 12-week health program where you walk 10,000 steps (roughly 5 miles) a day, which you track with a pedometer. You also have to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables 4 days each week, drink 48 ounces of water a day, and eat a healthy meal that was specified for each week.

I managed to get the maximum number of points because I’m competitive. I had already wanted to lose weight, but was pretty sure I wouldn’t take some of the pieces of this program seriously. But when my boss said she had aced the program last year, that was all the incentive I needed. Once I knew it could be done, I committed myself to doing it.

I ended up losing 20 pounds over the course of the 12 weeks and won $100 at work, so there was more than just competition at stake.

Blogging each month and walking each day are pretty different, but they have two commonalities: neither was required of me, yet each task was public. Everyone who reads this space knows when I don’t post. Everyone who was in that program and on my team would have known if I hadn’t gained as many points as I could have.

If you’re struggling with keeping a commitment – eating better, exercising more, spending more time with your family, finishing a book – there’s no better way to make sure you achieve your goal and keep your commitment than to make it public.

One of my goals right now is to simplify my life. I want to sell and get rid of things I don’t need, eliminate my debt, and work towards a simpler life at home, at work, digitally, etc. But I haven’t done a very good job of acting on that goal.

Very soon I’ll be opening up a new corner of the web dedicated to this goal of simple living. I figure there’s no better way to move forward than to publicly discuss it, and while I could use this space for it, it’s important enough to me that I want to create a new space in the interwebs dedicated to that goal.

I’ve purchased a domain name and am working on building the site. This is the first time I’ve even talked about it outside of a few very close friends, but I know going public with that goal will help give me the last push I need to finish the project and start moving forward.

I’ll share more about the project once it’s going. Until then, what do you think? Does going public with a goal or commitment help you keep it? Do you have other methods that help? I’d love to know what works for others!

could you purchase a tablet today that could adequately replace your laptop? (a possibility question, not a suggestion

Great question Daniel. The short answer is “yes” and the long answer is “no.” Let me explain.

I bought a 2.5 years ago that has a quad processor. At the time, very few laptops had a processor with that much power and I needed a quad processor to handle high-definition video editing for the new HD video camera I bought.

Can a tablet replace that laptop and do HD video editing? No.

But I don’t need to do serious editing more than once or twice a year. 95% of my time on the computer is spent on the internet. I have some Excel spreadsheets that I use for keeping up with a few things and on rare occasions I’ll use Microsoft Word. But most basic functions in Excel can easily be handled in Google Drive (formerly known as Google Docs).

So for my next computer, I plan to get a tablet. I want one I can hook a keyboard up to. I’m also reluctant to downsize to a smaller screen (I have a 17-inch laptop screen compared with tablets’ 10- and 7-inch screens) since we watch all TV and movies on our computer, but I imagine I’ll still have the laptop available for that.

Laptops aren’t going anywhere and they’ve gotten slimmer (I think 7-pound laptops like the one I have are a thing of the past, though I suppose today’s higher-end laptops are still relatively bulky). But I’d like to avoid buying another one anytime soon.

Have a question? Ask me anything!

I took the kids to one of the parks with a pond the other night and surprised them with a loaf of bread to feed the ducks. After leaving the ducks happy, they headed to the playground. Between the mosquitoes and the number of kids at the playground, I corralled my kids back into the stroller and headed to a quieter park tucked away in a neighborhood.

Sure enough, we were the only ones at the next park and the kids had free reign. While pushing them in the swings we got to singing a song. Sometime during the song I noticed an older man walking down the road. Each step he took was deliberate and he needed a cane for assistance.

As we finished the song, I noticed that the man had started walking towards us. He remarked on what a nice evening it was and how nice it was to see the kids using it since the park doesn’t get used enough. We introduced ourselves and made small talk.

His name was Milt and he lived in the home next door to the park. He’s the original owner of the home, built in 1969 and one of the last in that neighborhood when it was being developed. He spent his career as a piano salesman for Schmitt Music and raised his kids in Burnsville after moving there from St. Louis Park. He asked where I was from and I told him.

A few minutes into our conversation he remarked again how nice it was to see kids using the equipment and that it didn’t get used enough. A few minutes later he repeated that thought a third time. He also asked three times during our conversation where I was from.

I was glad to meet Milt. It’s always fun to meet a neighbor and learn a bit about what brought them to the city, why they’ve stayed, and what they do with their lives.

But I was a little sad too as I watched Milt walk away.

It’s tough to see what age can do to the brain and what can (and likely will) happen to us both physically and relationally. Milt’s kids are gone and he was walking alone, suffering from what appeared to be dementia.

I decided to take away something positive from the interaction: Milt is still making a point of getting out there, taking a walk, and meeting his neighbors. That’s a lot more than can be said for most of my peers.

1. Win the State Geography Bee (placed 2nd)
2. Graduate high school in 3 years (did it in 2.5)
3. Finish college and pay for it without financial assistance from my parents
4. Find someone who could tolerate me enough to marry me
5. Visit all 50 states
6. Be a dad
7. Get a job in management (that job didn’t last a year)

There’s one common thread with all of these goals: they took years to accomplish from conception to completion. One (the geography bee) never did happen, but I was happy enough with the results.

I’ve had other smaller goals along the way. Hitting over .600 in softball is a goal for this year (I’m at .563 on one league right now). For a while I had a goal of writing a blog post a day, and for a few months I succeeded.

But whether short-term or long-term, all of these goals are behind me. There was a concrete end to the goal and a time to move on.

I got married; my goal now is to stay married.

I’m a dad; now I want to be an awesome dad.

I visited all 50 states; now I want to visit every country.

Just kidding.

(Actually, I might not be.)

I’m not sure what’s next though. The blog has suffered as I’ve drifted from posting consistently, but I love helping people by generating content on the web. I also have yet to find a job that’s satisfying. I like my current company and the people I work with, but I’m only 2 months into the job. What happens in a few years when personnel change, the job changes, and I get restless again?

Big-picture goals (like “be a good husband and dad”) ground us. They don’t usually energize me, though, quite like the more concrete, results-driven goals do. Maybe it goes with that “live for the day” mentality, but I want better small-picture goals. I want an idea and I want to run with it. And lately, I’ve been stumped.

So, here’s to new goals. And if you have any ideas, hit me up!

Jamie and I were at a church retreat this weekend, which was pretty awesome because not only were we with a bunch of great friends, but we were also without all 3 of our kids for the first time since Cameron was born! My parents are awesome!

While at the retreat, we played cards twice.

I grew up playing a card game called Rook. My family was intensely serious about the game. We counted cards as we went, discussed how the hands played out after each round was over, and upset one another more times than any of us care to admit with our reactions to moves we considered to be boneheaded.

Jamie doesn’t share this appreciation for cards. She’s learned how to play a few games, but we don’t play them often enough for the games to stick and each time we play, she has to learn again.

I also happen to be a rather impatient person. Card games are pretty black and white. Once the rules are established, the logic of how to play within the rules should be understood. Card games differ on specifics regarding trump suits, number of cards, and even card values, but the general principles of cards apply pretty broadly to most card games. It doesn’t take long for me to pick up on a new game. For Jamie, each card game might as well be a new geometry equation. Sure, she learned it at one point, but it’s going to take some time and repetition to kick the rust off.

You can probably see where this is going. Generally speaking, we don’t play cards. Jamie would do fine if I didn’t get frustrated, but I do, and I communicate that to her. And it doesn’t work to just tell her that I’m frustrated at the game, as if it’s not personal. Even if I’m frustrated at the game, she takes it personally and I have to be aware of that.

We made it through the first night of card-playing by making it through the round robin portion of the tournament as a wildcard team (16 out of 48 teams advanced). We lost in the first round, but we had fun. After a few rocky moments in the first few games, I managed to keep my composure and avoid getting upset in the last game, even when a mistake from Jamie cost us the game. Progress!

Well, almost.

The next day we were in a breakout session that happened to revolve around playing cards, which we didn’t know going into it. The game didn’t require partners like the game the night before had, but we were playing at the same table for 2 of the 3 games. Each table had a set of rules that everyone had to read at the beginning of the session, then each table had 7 minutes to play a game. At the end of each game, the 1st place player moved up a table and the last place player moved down a table. This seemed easy enough, and in principle it was.

But then it got hard. As players moved around, they realized that each table had been given slightly different rules from the others. Issues such as which suit was trump needed to be cleared up without any words being spoken.

Jamie moved to another table after the first round, then moved back to our table for the third round. I had no idea there were different rules at each table since I was seated at the same table the entire time. She returned to our table demanding that I pass her the deck of cards. I was confused and wasn’t ready to give them up. Eventually I did, we clarified trump, and I assumed that the table she’d played her second round with was just crazy.

Of course, as I later learned, Jamie had a perfectly good reason for wanting to know the trump suit. I should have trusted her, but instead I was just a stubborn ass.

Jamie and I are honest (some may say brutally honest) with one another. We wear our emotions and feelings on our sleeves when we’re together. I think this is generally a good thing. When things are going well, it’s awesome. But when I’m frustrated, it’s a problem. I could just avoid playing cards altogether since I know the attitude I can bring to it, but I don’t know if that would be helpful. There are other times I don’t treat my wife as I should and a game of cards is just one instance of many.

I think couples need to understand the situations in which they don’t do well, acknowledge them openly, and work to improve them. I needed to deal with being an ass earlier that night to get to the point of being able to watch Jamie make a mistake without frustration. I also needed to repeat my foolishness the next morning to be reminded that I still have a long way to go.

What is it that you know will test your marriage? Is there an event or a game or a topic of conversation that you know will cause problems with your spouse or significant other? Do you keep coming back to that topic or game in an effort to improve or do you just avoid it altogether?

A year and a half ago I wrote a post on a movie called Blue Like Jazz that was in the works. Funding was being secured to make the book by the same name a reality on the big screen.

Today, that movie hits theaters. I got to see it a few weeks ago when the lead actor, producer, and writers came to town to screen the movie for some of its early supporters. I will be seeing it again this weekend.

Because the film deals with the subject of Christianity and is written and filmed by Christians, there’s some disagreement over how it should be labeled. Should a movie that honestly portrays some of the life that happens on the godless Portland campus of Reed College be classified as “Christian?” That’s hard to say, as I would recommend it to someone who’s not a Christian as soon as I would to a Christian. Yet the main character’s spiritual struggle is at the center of the story being told, and those who want nothing to do with any consideration of Christianity, religion, or spirituality will likely find themselves lost in the film.

Blue Like Jazz is different from most Christian films over the last few years in that it isn’t “preachy.” When there’s a student debate over the existence of God, the Christian argument doesn’t “win” with the atheist suddenly being brought to his knees and converting to Christianity. Both sides state their cases and it’s left unresolved. The main character never does resolve these intellectual and theological debates, as he remains in confusion and rebellion for much of the film. This is very atypical of most Christian films and leaves critics confused. Many reviews I’ve read seem to think that the main character’s crisis of faith didn’t take center stage to the extent that it should have.

Don Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz and one of the writers of the film, meanders through his book and inserts humor throughout as he addresses serious issues in his generally observational manner. The movie follows suit, which makes for a very different film than what we’re accustomed to seeing on the big screen, even for an indie film. The film took a while to pick up speed and I remained confused and unsure of the direction of the movie until the end, even though I’ve read the book. In this sense, I understand where its critics are coming from. But then, a movie that was largely funded by a Kickstarter campaign will be a little quirky. Not that there’s anything wrong with a tidy ending, but if you’re looking for Kirk Cameron to renew his vows with his gorgeous wife or a football coach to win a state title after dedicating himself to praising God after each game, you’re watching the wrong movie.

It’s the last 30-45 minutes of the film that made the whole thing work for me. The main character was relieved of some of his confusion and wandering and he began to find a way forward. It’s not like his life was sitting pretty with a neatly tied bow on it. But at the end of the film I felt as though life on the road ahead had more direction and purpose for Don than it had before.

I’m not seeing this movie again because I think everyone has to see it twice. I’m not encouraging others to see it because it’s the best film ever made. Additionally, if you’re looking for a sanitized film that will never make you uncomfortable, this isn’t the film to watch. Those who aren’t Christians may be uncomfortable with some of the spiritual dialog. Those who are Christians and prefer their world to be G-rated won’t be happy with the depictions of debauchery on a liberal college campus in Portland, OR. The guy sitting next to me during the movie lived in Portland for a while and just when I thought something on the screen was a little too far-fetched to be realistic (10-foot-tall bikes?! A guy walking around in a pope costume?!), he leaned over and said, “That really happened!” He did this enough times during the movie that I can’t help but think that what was depicted was true to life and wasn’t included for any shock value. Still, those who would rather not be exposed to this reality won’t like it.

But I’m supporting the film because I appreciate a movie that doesn’t try to make life look much cleaner than it is. It doesn’t attempt a perfect story with a perfect ending. Life usually doesn’t work that way and this film feels closer to real life than most films I’ve seen from the Christian film industry. I’d love to see more films from the Christian perspective that are willing to present life without sanitizing it, without taking PG-13 down to G for fear of offending someone. If your story is PG-13, tell it that way. I don’t want to see just half of the story because you’re afraid I’ll be offended by the other half. I realize that some people prefer the film that has the coach winning every football game after he starts praising God, but that just doesn’t fit with my experience of who God is and how he works.

Fans of Don Miller’s books will likely love this film. How the rest of the public receives it remains to be seen. Movie critics are mixed on it, and I find most of their reactions to be pretty fair. The Seattle Times reflects much of the movie’s general criticism by saying, “This is a movie with heart but too many distractions.” To me, lines like, “Get in the closet, Baptist boy,” just felt a bit over-written. But I can overlook the film’s flaws for the good that is there.

Check out the trailer below, and click here to see which theater close to you is playing the movie this weekend (there are 4 in the Twin Cities).

I joined Faith Community Church in Hudson, WI, that day. The business meeting after the morning church service was pretty nondescript. I was one of a few people who were being voted on as members and I guess I wasn’t a completely terrible person because they voted me in.

After the business meeting one of the pastors introduced himself to me. His wife then introduced me to a girl. Being a church out in an exburb, there weren’t a lot of single people between 18 and 25, so I guess we should have been more interested in one another than we were. We introduced ourselves briefly to the other but that was about it. Neither one of us was particularly attracted to or interested in the other. Not that we found the other unattractive or uninteresting, but I was working a 24/7 job and she was in her last 2 months of school before graduating and leaving for a summer job in Colorado. We had plenty of other things going on and dating wasn’t our top priority.

It didn’t help that neither of us learned anything about the other that stood out. I learned that she was a Bible major at a Christian university. I wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with it, but I had a hunch it wouldn’t involve me. She walked away knowing that I was one of 11 kids, had been home schooled until college, and was working in politics. Word of advice: if this profile fits you, it’s not the best conversation-starter with most girls, especially if she’s one of 3 kids, went to public school, and is politically ambivalent. You’ll get dumped into a rather negative social stereotype (which is generally fair) that may be tough to climb out of unless you have awesome climbing skills.

Thankfully for us, the pastor’s wife put in a phone call to the girl asking what she thought of me. She didn’t think much of me but reluctantly tracked me down on this new website called Facebook. I didn’t know who Jamie Sandquist was or why she’d be adding me as a friend. It took a bit of digging through her profile before I remembered she was that girl from church. We had some common interests and I accepted the friend request.

The rest of the story has taken 6 years to tell and is still being told. But that’s what happened 6 years ago today.