During my second semester of college, I decided to drop out. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life besides party and spend time with my boyfriend, Todd. When I talked to my dad about it, he advised me to stay in school, but said it was my decision. His one stipulation was that I would have to work, no free-loaders in the Isen house. So I dropped out, moved home and got a job working for a temp agency in Racine. For a couple months I worked third shift factory jobs. Eventually, I got a job at the factory where my dad worked and I soon realized that factory work was not going to work for me. The women there knew who my dad was and they would make rude comments about him and his big wrench (he was a supervisor for the mechanics and he had some big tools). Anyways, it became obvious to me, that I needed to find a new line of work.
I decided to go work at Domino's delivering pizza. It was a great! I loved to drive, loved pizza (still my favorite food), and most of the pay came in the form of cash. It left lots of time to spend with friends and Todd. I quickly made friends with the manager, Kim. She was dating the owner, had a baby daughter and she had an attitude that she was going to rule the world one day. She was my idol! Eventually, Kim and Brad molded me into a manager and I was sent to a store in Kenosha to manage it. This did wonders for my relationship with Todd. We started to grow apart and before long we ended our 2 year romance.
One sunny spring day, I was working in my store in Keno and a Porche 911 parked in the lot. A tall, dark handsome young guy got out and walked through the door of my store. How corny, huh, but did you see the picture, he was all that! Anyways, it was Mike, and he asked for an application. He was home from USC for the summer and wanted to work nights after his job at his family's produce warehouse. I joked with him that I hoped he wasn't going to deliver in the Porche. At the time, Mike was dating his high school sweetheart, Joy. Joy lived about 30 minutes away and he would go see her after working 12-14 hours a day at his two jobs. Most of the time he would fall asleep when he was with her.
Meanwhile, he was spending time at work with me and we were getting to know each other. He was such a gentleman. Lots of times he would get me dinner so I didn't always have to eat pizza and he always made sure I was safe late at night. Even though he was nice, I didn't think of him as a possible boyfriend. He was with Joy and I was busy trying to meet guys who sounded hot when they ordered their pizza. I met a lot of fun guys that way.....a couple of my favorites are a coastie, Dan and a minor league baseball player that was staying in a hotel while his team played the Kenosha Twins. I was 19, had money, it was summer and life was awesome!
One day, Mike brought in a bracelet he bought for Joy for her birthday. I actually said out loud, "Nice, if you ever break up with her, I will date you." I know Joy loved the bracelet, but the rest of the summer wasn't so great for her and Mike and their relationship. He kept ditching her to work for me and when he finally did see her, he was so tired he would fall asleep right in the middle of talking to her. He really tried with her, but he knew they weren't meant to be so a week or so before he was scheduled to leave to go back to L.A. for school, he broke up with her. He showed up at the store to tell me about it.
After I closed up, we went to go talk for awhile. We were just friends and he was sad and needed someone to talk to about the break up. Nothing happened that night except talk! Eventually, he went home and so did I. I invited him to come watch me play softball the next night if he was interested. Kim and Brad went out of town for the night and I was left to watch their 2 year old daughter, Kourtney. Mike showed up at the softball game and he watched Kourt while I played. We went back to Kim and Brad's and put Kourt to sleep. Next thing we knew, we were kissing and one thing led to the next. It was fun and easy but I know it scared the heck out of Mike. He was not interested in a one night stand. One problem, he was going to be leaving for California in a day or so. Was I interested in a long distance relationship? He left and we promised to take a day to think about it.
The next night we went out to eat after I got done working. We ended up talking until about 3 a.m. We got kicked out of the restaurant and the restaurant's parking lot. Neither one of us wanted to say goodbye, so we decided to give the long distance thing a try. To my surprise it worked.
We would talk on the phone a couple times a week. Mike was busy with school and working as a student athletic trainer for the football team. We started planning to spend the weekend together in October when USC played Notre Dame in South Bend. We met in South Bend for the football game. What a terrific feeling to be at one of the most amazing football games ever played. USC - Notre Dame Mike was on the field with the team so I sat in the stands with the rest of the Trojan fans. After the game, we drove to Chicago for a couple days together. We had a fantastic weekend together, but once again, we were sent back to our long distance relationship. The rest of his Junior year we just talked on the phone and didn't see much of each other until he got home for another summer.
By then, I had moved out of my dad's house and was living with a girl from work in an apartment near Parkside. That summer, he planned on working at the warehouse and managing one of Brad's stores in Kenosha. We didn't want to fall apart the same way he and Joy had so he moved into my apartment. This was not a real popular decision among his family. After all, he and I were just a rebound relationship that would never last. By the end of the summer, it was clear that we were meant to be together and Mike started talking about not wanting to return to L.A. to finish college. His parents absolutely would not allow it. He decided he would return to get his degree, but he maxed out his schedule so he would be able to graduate in December.
One August day, Brad sent Mike and I to Aurora on an errand for Domino's. We had a great time driving together there and back. Later that night, I had a softball game and we went to the bar I played for after. It is located right on the river next to the dam. On our way out to the car, he said let's go look at the dam. I was not interested, but he convinced me. We stood there looking at the water going over the dam and he started shaking and getting nervous. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a box. He proposed with a cracked voice and I tearfully accepted. We were engaged! We went on to celebrate with a late night breakfast at Denny's. Mike always laughs that we went to Denny's for our engagement. I don't care, I remember feeling so happy we could have gone to McDonald's.
Mike went back to L.A. and finished his senior year as planned. I visited during Thanksgiving weekend for another USC/ND game. He cooked our Thanksgiving dinner.....Ham, mashed potatoes and a salad. It was great. We spent a day with my brother in Anaheim and I met his roommate Olen. I couldn't wait for him to get done with school so we could start our life together.
Before he went back for senior year, Mike talked to his Grandma about what he was going to do after graduation. His dream had always been to work at LoCicero and take over the family business. Rosalie told Mike there was no future for him there. She refused to give him a job, saying she planned on closing the business soon. Mike was devastated. It was his lifelong dream to take over that business. Reluctantly, he started looking for career opportunities elsewhere. His uncle was opening a restaurant in Palm Desert, CA right around the same time Mike was going to get his degree. Mike and I started planning on moving to California together. The job with Uncle Ron didn't work out, but we decided he should continue to look for work in the desert. He got a job at Baker's Square as a manager and we moved to Palm Springs right after Christmas 1990.
We planned on getting married in August of 1991. Rosalie came to visit us in March. She and I spent a lot of time together and she kept asking us why we needed a big wedding when we were already living like we were married. She convinced us to elope and we ended up going to Las Vegas in April and got married. That summer, Rosalie helped me surprise my dad for his birthday by letting me stay with her for a night so I could show up unannounced right on his birthday. A couple months later she had an aneurysm and she died right before our wedding party was scheduled. We cancelled the party and attended her funeral instead. In the short time I knew her, she had a dramatic impact on me. I miss Grandma Rosie tremendously.
Mike and I continued our life in California for about 6 years. Our twin boys were born there and our time in Palm Springs was essential for us to solidify our relationship. We have been through hell and back since moving back to Wisconsin, but I think that the way we got together, fell in love and overcame so much distance is the reason we persevere.......in spite of being on the rebound.
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