Q: Where are you going to live after you're married?
Anne: I think we've agreed upon my house in West Bend. Hopefully Jeremy and Wesley (my cat) will get along. Right now, I think they mutually tolerate each other (most of the time).
Jeremy: Yes, I will move to West Bend as soon as I can sell my duplex... and kick my brother out.
Q: Where are you going on your honeymoon?
Anne: Hawaii.
Q: What do you each do for a living?
Anne: I am currently a pharmacist at Walgreens in West Bend.
Jeremy: I am a software project engineer at Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee.
Q: Tell me about your families.
Anne: My mom is a middle school teacher, and my dad worked as a quality control guy at Seneca Foods for many years. He is now a caretaker for disabled men. They recently moved to Sheboygan from their home in Kewaskum where we lived for over 30 years. I have two younger brothers who currently reside together at our old house in Kewaskum. David is a computer programmer, and my youngest brother Paul works for a tree care place. Paul is getting married in September 2011, so it's a big year for our family!
Jeremy: My mom is a nurse at a clinic, and my dad is a retired waterworks engineer. They still live at the Vechinski homestead in Port Edwards, WI. I have one brother and one sister. Matthew has a PhD in English and is currently looking for work (teaching jobs or just about anything that pays). He lives in my duplex in Milwaukee. Valerie works as a phlebotomist / lab technician and is also a volunteer firefighter and paramedic. She lives in McFarland (near Madison).
Q: What do you like to do in your spare time? What are you passionate about?
Anne: I don't know if I'd say I'm passionate about anything. I do love to travel and I'm always excited when an excuse comes up to explore someplace new. As for hobbies, when I'm not using billion-dollar government satellite technology to hunt for tupperware in the woods (aka geocaching), I like to tinker on the ol' piano, play tennis, read books, watch movies, or find some new hobby to try out. Lately, I've been trying to teach myself the guitar and violin. I've also been trying to make myself a better cook by challenging myself to make 100 recipes by the end of the year. They're not always successful, but I'm almost at my goal!
Jeremy: I like to travel to places off the beaten path, and during these journeys I often combine my interests of geocaching, motorcycling, hiking, and photography. I like to work with my hands and fix / improve things, such as my motorcycles (there is always some issue to work on), items Anne has broken (another endless source of projects), and my aging duplex. While I don't particularly enjoy these activities, I do try to stay in shape by running and weightlifting. In the summer months, I enjoy tending my vegetable garden and eating the crops that I grow. In the winter months, I spend more time indoors reading books about history and science.
Q: Has Anne taken a ride on the motorcycle yet? Will she ever?
Anne: No, not yet. And maybe someday.... just not in Milwaukee. It seems unsafe... crazy drivers, lots of traffic, stray bullets... you never know. And what if I fell off?! I've already fallen out of a moving car twice. I seem to have bad luck with that.
Jeremy: She gets asked this a lot by my family. :) Yes, I'm also a bit worried what might happen to her riding back there. More importantly, knowing that she has had motion sickness issues in cars, planes, boats, and other moving vehicles, I don't think the rapid acceleration, deceleration, and leaned over turns would be something she'd enjoy. If she really presses me to try it, I will (safely) give her a short ride, but I don't foresee her joining me on any 400 mile days in the saddle.
Q: What do you like most about each other?
Jeremy: I like that Anne is very creative, and I often find myself wondering how she comes up with all these (usually great) ideas. I also appreciate that she is willing to try new things and explore new places, and that she is able to have fun doing just about anything. She is extremely intelligent, though I'm not sure why she wasn't smart enough to steer clear of me.
Anne: When Jeremy and I first began corresponding, I was really impressed with his stellar writing ability. What can I say? I'm a sucker for good grammar and suberb spelling (and alliteration, apparently). I could tell he was creative, thoughtful, and extremely intelligent. After we met, besides being attracted to his smarts, I was most drawn to his character. He's just a really good guy. I think Jeremy is the most generous and selfless person I know. He's always willing to put his own work aside to aid friends or family (and probably random strangers), and he never asks for accolades or favors in return. I'm constantly in awe of his electronic knowledge and mechanical skills. He has fixed my microwave, tv, computer, car antenna, lawnmower, and numerous other things that seem to break around me (I swear I'm not breaking things on purpose!). Best of all, he's willing to eat my culinary creations (which I consider pretty brave), and then offers to do the dishes afterward--seriously! He's a keeper. I admire everything about him, and I can't wait to start our life together.
Q: Why did you pick Holy Trinity Church for your wedding?
Anne: I grew up in Kewaskum and attended Holy Trinity School for 8 years, so there are a lot of fond memories there.
Fun Fact: My parents also had their reception at Fillmore Turner Hall back in 1975. I didn't find out about that coincidence until after we had booked it.
Q: What are you most looking forward to at the wedding?
Jeremy: The kiss at the end of the ceremony. :* And seeing everyone I know enjoying themselves at the reception.
Anne: Well, yes, finally saying the "I dos" and becoming man and wife and sealing it with a kiss with all our friends and family present will be special... But would it be terrible if I said... cake? haha. Actually, I'm excited that we'll have a live band at the reception, and even though I'm an exceptionally bad dancer, I think it will be fun to boogie and get my groove on all night long. I hope everyone brings their dancing shoes.
Q: What has been your favorite location as a couple?
Jeremy: Not sure about this one. We've probably spent the most time together in the West Bend area. Obviously Pike Lake has special meaning for us, as it was the site of our first date and the proposal.
Anne: I'm terrible at "favorite" questions because I tend to love everything equally. I think competing together in the Nashville Country Music Half-Marathon was pretty special, and I really enjoyed extending that trip into the Great Smoky Mountains.
Q: What was your first song?
Anne: I think it was "Danger Zone." While dating, we were geocaching in the Kettle Moraine, and Jeremy found a cassette tape of 80's Movie Music in one of the caches. We played it in his car's tape deck and it was fun to watch him unabashedly jam and sing along with the song, however badly.
Jeremy: I remember going to a wedding with Anne and singing the song Ticks by Brad Paisley when the DJ put it on. I think she was impressed that I knew all the words. I think the music was turned up so loud that no one could actually hear me sing, which is a good thing.
Q: What was Anne/Jeremy like growing up? Do you have a funny or memorable story to share?
Anne's Mom: Anne was the perfect child. What more can I say?
Okay, Maybe Anne wasn’t perfect – especially when her artistic side came out. She loved crayons and the fact that they worked not only on paper, but also on walls, dolls, toy boxes, and other objects. One day when Anne was about 3, I discovered one wall of the dining room completely covered in crayon scribbles and capital A’s. When confronted with the evidence, Anne could see that Mama was not happy with the results of her artwork. I asked how all that crayon got on the wall, and she said “I think David must have done it.” David had just turned one. But that’s not the end of the story. Several years later, 8-year-old Anne was sitting beside me in the pew at church, ready for her first reconciliation. Before going in, she leaned over and asked if she should confess about the time she blamed David for drawing on the wall.
Anne was a little girl who wanted to do well and she aimed to please. She was very proud when she brought home her first reader in first grade (even though she already knew how to read everything in it). She showed me and then we went to her Brownie meeting. When she got home, she was very upset to discover that, while she was gone, her brother David had read the whole book. There were lots of tears because: Mrs. Schacht said that we could look at the first story, but we should not even turn past page 8. Mrs. Schacht wasn’t going to be happy when she found out that more pages had been turned and read. Mom, how could you let him do that?
All the fourth graders learned to play the recorder in music class. Before they ever got the recorders, however, the teacher told them that when they started to learn some music, they would need to practice for 20 minutes a day. Finally, the recorders arrived. The students were so excited that the teacher agreed to teach them one note: (D, I think.) So that night, Anne came home and practiced “D” for 20 minutes. And the next night, and the next, etc. She insisted that she needed to practice that note for TWENTY MINUTES EVERY DAY. We were so relieved when she learned a few new notes the following week.
Once a week Anne’s kindergarten class had show-and-tell. If a student brought something in, he/she could share its story with the class. If not, that was fine, too. But Anne felt compelled to bring in something every week. Often, I helped her select an object. But I had a new baby and a four-year-old, so sometimes I just didn’t have the time or imagination. Anne had both; and she was not going to let a show-and-tell day go by without something to show. So she colored a toilet paper roll and showed it; she brought in a clothespin that she had converted into a farmer by attaching cloth, and she brought in a diaper pin, demonstrating that you should never open it because it was very sharp and dangerous. She even made plans to take her new brother Paul to school (in her backpack, on the bus) so she could show him. I ended up calling the teacher to see if it was okay for me to bring him in so she could show him to the class.
Anne: That story has changed over the years. I seem to remember it used to be told that I actually got to the bus stop with Paul in my backpack and my mom had to come running down the street to retrieve him. Legendary.
I'm surprised she didn't tell the story about how I used to stash boxes of Mac n Cheese in my dresser so that we'd never be out of it.
...Or how I tried to start a neighborhood newspaper... The Pleasantwood Press (or something like that). I lovingly created each one by hand with original artwork and lots of fun things like homemade word searches and mazes, and then I distributed them into the mailboxes of all the neighbors on our block. My journalistic career was cut short when one of the neighbors threatened to call the police regarding my "violation of his mailbox." Pffft. Obviously, he didn't recognize the value of my couture publication which he received for FREE!
Jeremy's Mom: The kids had a playroom down the basement where they could do any activity they wanted and wouldn't have to pick up until the end of the day. The boys were down playing and I was upstairs cleaning or something when all of a sudden Matt came up behind me making all kinds of noise. I turned around to see what was going on and there he was with this fierce look and marker all over his face. Jer wasn't far behind him because of course he wanted to see my reaction. Apparently the noise he was making was that of an Indian and
Jer was the artist with the markers. He did not get the reaction he thought he was going to get and I couldn't pass up the moment without taking a picture as a reminder of it for when they got older. So after a scolding and a face scrub, the markers were taken away for awhile.
Anyone who knows Jer is aware that he likes his hair short or the word at our house is "buzzed." It wasn't always that way and his first experience of getting a "buzz" is not what you would expect. Early one summer his Dad decided he could save haircut money and keep the boys cool when it was hot by giving them a buzz like his Dad did when he was young. So he told them what he was going to do and since they had always gone to the barber, nothing was said in protest because they really didn't know what a buzz was. Dad set everything up in the basement and it was decided that Jer should go first. He sat still and was quiet and in no time he had his buzz. He didn't say a word, got off the stool and headed up stairs. By the time he got to the kitchen, he took off in a run for his bedroom and shut the door. Since I only got a grimace of him as he fly by, I went to see what was wrong. He was lying on his bed with a pillow over his head. Needless to say he wasn't talking or letting me see his haircut. I left him alone and told Matt to do the same because of course, Matt wanted to show him his "cool haircut." Jeremy did try a few different styles after that but eventually returned to
having his Dad, the barber, give him a "buzz" all the time.
Jeremy has a very competitive nature which borders on an obsessive compulsive which believe it or not started in kindergarden. They had activity stations that they did for a certain length of time each day. When they finished a station they would get a sticker on a chart by their name and then they could move onto the next station and so on. Of course, everyone wanted to be the one with the most stickers. He did have a slight advantage over some of the other kids because he already knew how to read which made some of the stations easier for him. Some days he would come home upset because he wasn't in first place that day. I would tell him that him couldn't always be first which didn't make him any happier. He did end up
finishing all the stations first which was only the beginning of his competitive nature.
Jeremy: I remember almost nothing about what happened to me prior to college. So I'll go along with whatever my mom says.
