Jon & Vicki's History Together
Leading up to August 1, 1998 and beyond
Vicki and I first met at Central Missouri State University in the fall of 1990 through mutual friends in the dorms. Through my freshman year and her junior year we were good friends and had our fair share of fun in the Ellis Dorm Complex. During my sophomore and Vic's senior year, we shared an off campus house two blocks from campus on Broad Street. With my one roommate (Jamey Tasker) and her three (Jen, Mary and Melissa), our house quickly became the place for parties. It seemed as if every Wednesday night we had a house full of friends over before the inevitable trek to West Pine Street. Vic graduated in 1992, but returned on occasion to visit the grand town of Warrensburg and her future husband, though we didn't know it at the time.
We lost touch with each other for almost two years. 1995: Vic called me after a college friend of ours passed away. We started to call each other on a more regular basis and made trans-Missouri trips to visit. Knowing that she was the one, I started to look for a job in the Kansas City area. But on March 7th I was involved in a serious head-on car accident with one of my best friends on our way to visit Warrensburg. Through all my hardships that followed, Vic never left my side. Not being able to change jobs during my year of physical therapy, my plans to move ended, but not my plans to ask her to be my wife.
Late summer 1997, I asked Vic to marry me on a pier off Cocoa Beach, Florida. She said yes. The following eleven months our time was consumed with Vic's move to St. Louis, her job search and our planning of a wedding. With both sets of our parents hundreds and thousands of miles away, the planning was entirely our responsibility. August 1, 1998 came quickly and went even quicker. Our wedding was held at the Miraculous Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis. In front of two hundred of our family and friends, we exchanged vows. The temperature was in the low 80s and the sky was full of small, white clouds. Our reception was at the Airport Embassy Suites. There are no words to describe the feeling as we entered the ballroom to the cheers of two hundred people. It was and incredible day. Our honeymoon was taken at the Montigo Bay Sandals Resort in Montigo Bay, Jamaica. We had a three room cabana on the beach with our own stocked bar and pool. The all-inclusive resort was a dream-come-true; all you can eat and all you can drink. But in-between the meals and drinks we skied, snorkeled, scuba, shopped, swam and sunned. The week was unreal.
Upon our return, we moved into our first home in Collinsville, Illinois...home of the largest catchup bottle. I worked at A.G. Edwards in the department of Internet Services as a Website Designer. And I also part time at the same YMCA as a lifeguard and swimming instructor. Vicki worked at Memorial Hospital in Bellville, Illinois. Through the ups and downs of home-ownership we managed to upgrade our home to our standards.
December 2002 Maxx Parker was born into this world via the magic of science being our second try at invetro-fertlization. Tiny little thing he was. July 2004 Tobi Ann was born as a little "suprise gift" from God since multiple doctors had told us that unless we did IVF again, Maxx would be an only child. Brother and sister are just about the happiest kids a mom and dad could want.
Today we live in Troy, Illinois. Between work and family, we try not to loose touch with everyone. But if we do, yell at us.