Our story started with the letter P. My husband & I met our sophomore year at Appleton East High School in Mrs. Skeleton’’s classroom. Patrick/Pastorelli…we sat right next to each other in homeroom. Mike was a “north-sider” & I was a “south-sider” meaning our lives were divided until our homeroom meeting by the Fox River. Mike was very outgoing & I was very quiet. The first words he said to me (in braces & a western style snap-down shirt with that iconic Scott Baio haircut were….”you sure are quiet.” We over time we started talking more & more, meeting up in the East library and just getting to know each other. Mike was on the swim team at East & I attended his swim meets. (Boys in Speedos!) I recruited my friends and we would stalk Mike on Friday nights at Baxter’s after basketball games. 

Honestly, we grew to be best friends. Mike had quite a few girlfriends during HS, every one of them lived & went to school on the north side. I wondered if they were real or made up to make me jealous! By graduation, I started fretting over how I would function without Mike. We graduated and to my surprise, we kept in contact. We still had not dated, but this was about to change. Mike asked me out & we double dated with my best friend Barb & Mike’s brother Joe. We spent the next few years going to Fox Valley Technical college where I graduated with a dental assistant degree & Mike a marketing degree. We spent many a Friday/Saturday nights dancing at The Regency & Mr. Robert’s. In the fall of 85’ Mike took me on a walk down to Peabody Park & asked me to marry him! We were married on September 6th 1986 at St. Therese Church. Mike got into the car business (financial end) and I became a full time dental assistant. Amazingly, we are still in a variation of the same careers to this day! We had 2 children who are grown, our oldest Nick is married & our younger Alissa is engaged. They are wonderful, hardworking people. I’m very proud of them! In 2019 we became parents again. Mike & I took into our home a mom and her 2 young daughters who had been living in a shelter for over a year with no hope in site. The mom was a friend of our daughter & we were introduced to the girls then 2 & 4 year old. We immediately fell in love & invited them to live with us until the mom could get back on her feet. After 2 years we all agreed in the best interest of the young girls that they stay with us to free mom & let her become the person she needed to be without the worry of children. We were granted guardianship in the fall of 2023. We are now learning to fit in with the young parents at karate, tennis lessons, piano lessons, girls choir, Sunday school & Wednesday night religion and swim lessons. It’s not easy at 60 and the girls now 7 1/2 & 9 have “old” parents, but they don’t seem to mind & we enjoy every minute of these amazing little ladies. (Although we haven’t hit puberty yet) Mike & I have grown up together and have become the people we are because of our belief in God, incredible parents, amazing family & friends and the grounding that the Appleton School system instilled in us. We are blessed beyond belief & after 38 years of marriage, Mike is still that guy from the library that I spent many hours chewing the fat with & I love him more and more every day! Here’s to many, many more Valentines Days together with my best friend & soulmate. God Bless.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! ❤️