Friday, October 9, 2009

DC Lovin' ...




Washington DC will always hold a special spot in my heart ... after all, it's where I met my husband-to-be in 1997. It just so happened that Kristopher and my roommate, Karen were in the same masters program at a local university while I was a masters student at a neighboring university. It was not uncommon for Kristopher and Karen to study together at our home, while I made dinner for the three of us. Karen noticed that Kristopher and I seemed to "click" and frequently encouraged us to go on outings together. Our first such outing was at King's Dominion! We had a blast and progressively following that "first date," the phone calls from Kristopher became less and less frequently for Karen. Eventually, we were inseparable.

Kristopher and I came to agree that we should just "be together." We shared so much in common ... our love of animals, hiking, bed and breakfasts, walks, movies, bike riding, education and most of all, each other. Kristopher decided to earn a second masters degree in public health. I wanted to earn a doctorate in counseling psychology. Together we identified masters of public health programs and counseling psychology doctoral programs that were either at the same schools or in the same states. Kristopher ended up at the University of Michigan in the School of Public Health seeking to earn a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.)and I at Michigan State University in the Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program . Despite our schools' rivalry, our relationship continued.

As Kristopher entered his second and final year of his masters program at the University of Michigan, he decided that he wanted to earn a Ph.D. in Epidemiology. We were so proud when we found out that he was accepted to Columbia University. Once I completed my 3rd and last year of coursework, I moved to the Big Apple to be with my guy! New York was amazing! After a year, it was time for me to move on to complete my internship (in DC) and Kris followed. He only had a few courses left by that time and started commuting between DC and New York so that we could be together. Once I finished up with my internship and graduated , I was accepted to the Law and Psychiatry Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School where I would learn to specialize in forensic psychology. Kristopher remained in DC but visited frequently.

Once I completed my postdoc, I accepted a position in Chicago as a forensic clinician. Kristopher moved to Chicago (finished with his coursework and working on his dissertation). Hard times fell on our relationship and Kristopher and I broke up. We never really stopped seeing each other, though … thankfully we found our way back to one another and here we are.

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