Anne and Mike
Michael and Anne first met when Anne fell out of the sky from heaven. The second time they met was at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, New Mexico during their Teach For America orientation. The two enjoyed spending time with one another—which usually revolved around professional development for teachers. They did, however, hang out at least several times in nonprofessional settings during the three years Mike taught high school English on the Zuni Reservation.
His friend Brandon often asked him about dating Anne, and Mike always explained why that was a bad idea. The reasons tended to revolve around Mike being too busy teaching and the fact that it was a bad idea to date a Teach For America teacher, as they had a reputation for being crazy—but not in a good way. Nonetheless, Mike and Anne still enjoyed one another’s company.
After teaching in Zuni, Mike retired from the classroom to ride bikes, write, and continue directing outdoor education backpacking programs at Philmont Scout Ranch. Anne continued teaching second grade at Rocky View Elementary in Gallup. In 2010—after four years of teaching in Gallup—Anne moved to Colorado Springs to join their mutual friend Erin at Atlas Preparatory School. During the summer and fall of Anne’s inaugural year at Atlas, Mike often passed through Colorado Springs to see Erin, which also allowed Mike to realize Anne wasn’t so crazy after all. Anne and Mike began spending time together hiking, biking, camping, and skiing and snowboarding. This caused Mike to like Anne—and hope that Anne also liked him.
When Mike asked Anne to be his girlfriend, she said, “No.” As a child, he had heard somewhere that persistence pays off. So he asked again a few weeks later. She still said, “No.” A week later, as Mike was preparing to travel to Jackson, Wyoming for another winter in the Tetons, Anne called him. She said, “I want to be your girlfriend.” Mike said, “Neat.” She said, “I want to date the most amazing man on the planet.” Mike knew she had the wrong number, but still said it would be great if they could be boyfriend and girlfriend.
Thus began a two-year long distance relationship. Mike spent parts of the spring and fall in Colorado Springs with Anne when he was not working at Philmont or in Wyoming. As much as they could, they traveled to visit each other or meet in Laramie. They spent much of their time together outside. Whether biking, hiking, camping, skiing, or snowboarding, they came to better know and love one another.
Realizing that their relationship was complicated by monthly pilgrimages along Interstate 80, they began looking for a place that they could call home together—a place where they could cook meals, explore the outdoors, and where Anne could enjoy Mike’s snoring. As part of this process, Anne applied to the Teton County School District, which hired her to help teachers become better teachers.
During this past spring, Mike decided that he wanted to upgrade Anne from being his roommate to being his wife. He knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and thought “wife” had a better ring to it than “roommate.” He also remembered hearing people talk about the tax benefits of marriage.
On a trip to Yellowstone in March, Mike asked Anne to marry him. After a ski tour through forests and along a creek, they stopped at Lone Star Geyser. They waited for the geyser to erupt . . . and then they waited some more. Mike and Anne spent three hours commenting on how the geyser would erupt any minute. And then it finally did. For over half an hour, Lone Star issued a plume of water, which then transitioned to a steady cloud of steam. They decided that Lone Star was well worth the wait.
Realizing that it would soon be dark and that they still had to ski several miles to reach the lodge at which they were staying, Anne emphasized that they should get going. Mike, however, had a different plan. He excused himself for a bathroom break, during which he retrieved an engagement ring from his jacket pocket. He walked back to Anne, who was standing on a bridge that spanned a creek alongside the geyser. Mike got down on one knee and asked Anne if she would marry him. Unlike his initial efforts to recruit Anne to be his girlfriend, this time Anne needed no further convincing. She said, “Yes.”