Our Story from the very beginning

Today Chris and I decided that we needed to evaluate our mass media communication strategy – the marketing manager in me is calling out – because we seem to have garnered a bit of interest in the “goings-on” between us.  I told Chris it’s because he’s just so darn popular.

And so in the interest of giving everyone the scoop, we’re writing it all down…from the beginning. It’ll be here for your reading pleasure, whether you want to indulge or not.  And more importantly it's here for us. There are also some selfish reasons for doing this as well…I want a record of this and let’s just say that my record with journaling is abysmal. Being the thoughtful and intelligent man that he is, Chris suggested this as a way to reduce the volume of emails/texts/status updates all the while helping me to capture our new relationship *big cheesy grin*.

We’re expecting this to be a fully interactive experience, so join in the conversation if you want.  We’ll probably be inviting some of you to give your version of events as well, just to spice things up a bit.  Chris and I will also be telling the adventure from our own perspective – when I mentioned this to Chris his response was, “Great, I love talking about myself in third person.”

Pull up a comfortable chair, grab your favorite drink (this will largely depend upon which one of us sent you here), and enjoy.  But before we get too far we’d like to preface this entire adventure with one caveat, we provide no guarantee as to where or how this tale will end.  Chris and I have just started this journey, and right now there’s no pressure.  We are simply reveling in every minute of the journey.

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Introduction of Us

Megan Schaub
Age:  older than Chris ;)
Location:  Mesa, Arizona
Occupation:  Marketing coordinator for an education services company
Education:  BA in Anthropology/Archaeology, BYU & MA in Anthropology/Archaeology, BYU
Interests:  photography, scrapbooking, traveling, cooking, spending time with family & friends, reading, camping, ATV riding, web design, graphic design

Christopher G. Marohn (christofer is an alternate spelling that needs to be explained at a later time)
Age: Same years apart from Megan, as my grandfather was from my grandmother
Location: Seaside, CA (Monterey Peninsula)
Occupation: Independent Contractor/Self Employed; Working as an independent Legal associate; Freelance Paralegal or whatever you need i can do it.
Education: Bachelors of Arts California State University, Chico: Political Science focusing in Legal Studies with a concentration in Paralegal Operations; California Certified Paralegal, California Status University, Chico Monterey College Of Law Candidate for Juris Doctrine (JD) Dec 2011
Interests: Chess, politics, reading, speech and debate, speech writing, writing in general, poetry, watching movies, playing with my nieces/nephews, road trips, LAUGHING, and making sure all my friends and family are well taken care of..if you need anything..i got you.. :)

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Megan had a great introduction to the blog so i am going to rest my case on that. On yeah, by the way I am a classically trained lawyer (almost done woot woot) who interjects all sorts of legal jargon into my speech and daily life. Just watch "a few good men" with me and you will learn this very clearly.

so Megan said it best, and i will go into my side of our story....

Where it all started - My side: Chris

Let me start with the end. In law school they teach you that you need to find out how the court decided and then go back through an opinion and find out why they decided that way. So I will take the allure out of it (as if there is any left, everyone reading this knows that Megan and I are dating. This is just an account of how our life is going.).

The end is this. Megan makes me happy. For me it is that simple. For years I have been the person who has carried the weight for all the people in my care, friends often make references to Shakespeare’s King Lear in telling me that “heavy is the head the wears the crown.” I am always taking care of other people from dating to living. I am the one who carries the weight.  But with Megan... Megan puts my soul at rest. She is not a burden to bear, but a love to share. I can't sit here and type about her without smiling and having some tears in my eyes because I feel so at home with her. The Spirit consumes me when I think about her. From the first hug, to the goodbye kiss, I have been consumed with Megan and the few days she was here have had the best days of my life.  So it is simple. Megan makes me happy, and that is all I can ask for.

Now that you know the end........ the beginning starts long before I knew Megan existed. It started at a wedding last October, before I converted to the Church, and before I knew that she was waiting for me. Well, I have to go into a side story here because you need to understand my love of weddings (which totally plays into Megan and I's future plans...not that way...yet.)

I love weddings, always have always will. I am a 7 time best man. I have performed  several civil ceremonies, as I am certified with the state of California to marry people. I have been groomsman, usher, MC and guest to several dozen weddings in my short time on earth. But most importantly at this wedding in October I was the presiding authority of the ceremony. I was performing the ceremony for the short lived marriage of Kristen, Jared & Clinton Weichers's younger sister (Jared is Megan's brother-in-law). At the wedding I met Jared and his wife Kiki.

So that is the real start, because those two crazy love birds thought that Megan should meet me.  At this point I am not a member. I am pretty sure I single handedly drank the bar dry at least once and carried Clinton (Jared's brother, one of my best friends and guide to the gospel) like a child, talking about how cute he is.  So when Megan expressed her resveration with Jared setting her up, her fears might be well founded. But that isn't even the start of Megan and I story, that was the seed that was planted. But it was in that moment that Jared and Kiki saw in me what I haven't even seen in myself yet.

Fast forward 9 months and I am converting to the Church... now this is where I will ask Clint/Amanda to step in and tell the Jared story or even Jared and Kiki to step up, because I was too busy converting to even think about a future wife. 

Now let us fast forward to a Facebook message from Jared, which is the logical starting point because this is where I first read the name that would be such a blessing in my life. He sent an email about Megan, asking if I would want to talk to her and get to know her.  (I would like to point out that I am not a letter of the law definition sort of guy unless it is for the court room. I am more of the paraphrase and summarize sort of guy, which is great cause Megan posted the emails verbatim on her "our story" page. I am going to to summarize.) I told him sure and gave my contact info.  Now I was expecting anything honestly because I am finishing up law school, with my recent conversion and trying to live the right way I have a ton on my plate..oh and remember I am helping out with weddings, prepping for the bar, helping my best friend move into a new house, spending time with my family and so on /so forth...  needless to say if Megan hadn't Facebooked me I would still be busy, but just stressed and not smiling as I do.  I give her full credit on getting us started, but we both keep it going. 

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Where it all started - My side: Megan

I’m going to have to give credit where credit is due, it all started with Jared Weichers, at least for me anyways. My brother-in-law and sister have been actively seeking a solution to my singleness. In fact, they’ve made several valid attempts in the past at rectifying the situation, some of them more successful than others.  The last attempt, a year ago, was an abysmal failure that went on for far too long, but I won’t go into detail. Nevertheless, Jared & Kiki never gave up hope.
In September (September 3, 2011, to be exact) Jared sent me a message via Facebook:

megan, below is the contact info of a really cool guy. Any questions ask kiki.
Love ya,
jared

Christofer G. Marohn
Yeah I'm always game. Give her my Facebook or contact info. xxx-xxx-xxxx
xxxxemailxxxx.com

Conversation History
Jared Weichers 10:26pm Sep 2
Hey chris,
I want to introduce you to my sister in law. Are you game? Her name is Megan Schaub . She is a wonderful person and i think you would be good friends.
Jared

Now after the last “hook up” that Jared sent my way, I learned my lesson…check with Kiki first! Something I failed to do last time, much to my consternation.  A few days after getting Jared’s message I asked Kiki if she knew Chris, her response “Oh, you’ll like Chris! He’s super smart and fun.”  That was enough of an endorsement for me.

On September 14th I finally reached out to Chris:

So, I should probably introduce myself...I'm Jared Weicher's sister-in-law - megan. You're welcome to snoop around my FB profile to learn more about me. Jared and Kiki have told me next to nothing about you. In fact all Jared has said was, "You'll like him. He's smart." I don't know if that says more about you or me.

Again, I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular but was at least banking on getting a new friend out of this.

I was pleasantly surprised when that very night Chris responded to my message.  I’m only going to share the most important parts with you…Chris can share the rest if he wants.

hahaha... i am a 4th year law student, democrat, law clerk for the public defenders (criminal defense), recent convert to the church, who has the weight of the world on his shoulders..

Did you notice what stuck out to me first and foremost? I am not exaggerating when I say that I stopped and stared at that word for like 3-4 minutes. A DEMOCRAT?!?!? What in the world do I do with a Democrat?

For those of you who may not be aware, I am a died-in-the-wool-converservative-card-carrying-member-of-the-Republican-Party.  I had to process the implications of this.  After a few minutes of pondering, I came to one conclusion…the Lord is not going to ask your political party affiliation at the gates of heaven.  There are things eternal and all else is negotiable, so I moved on and boy am I glad I did.

It did, however take me almost a week to come up with a good response back.


[That's all for now.  I've got to get to work. Come back tomorrow for another chapter in the Marohn Madness Saga]