Chuoh & Benjamin

Chuoh and I met for the first time in junior high school.  We both played the cello in orchestra.  She was too young for me to date at the time, but I always kept my eye on her and we stayed friends throughout high school.  After I graduated and went to college in Missouri I always came back home to visit my family for the holidays.  Although Chuoh was at the University of Michigan and then away at law school, we often crossed paths on our visits home; most of the time at the library where I found her studying for finals. 

 

On November 25, 2009, we were both out with friends and ran into each other again. We decided to exchange numbers and hang out later that evening.  We sat and talked for hours about random things: music, sports, what we studied in school, our jobs, and our families.  Chuoh also shared some exciting news with me that night.  She told me that she was living alone in Chicago, which was not too far from Saint Louis.  After the Thanksgiving weekend Chuoh returned to Chicago and I back to Saint Louis, but we talked to each other on the phone just about every chance we got. But our lengthy conversations on the phone just weren’t enough. I decided to spend the New Year’s Eve weekend in Chicago with Chuoh and her friends (they were having an ugly sweater party) and we had a great time.

 

The next weekend we began traveling back and forth between our cities, alternating weekends and racking up a lot of Amtrak points. It wasn’t long before we came to the conclusion that the back-and-forth was not only expensive but that we wanted to spend more time together than just a day and a half each week.  So Chuoh left the decision with me – I could move to Chicago or she could move to Saint Louis. 

 

Chicago to this day is the best city I have ever visited.  It was a lot faster than what I was used to in Battle Creek and Saint Louis, but still not as chaotic as New York.  The scenery was much better. The architecture, Lake Michigan, the shopping, friendly people, great food and endless list of the list of things to do were (in my opinion) second to none. Not to mention that Chuoh was happy in Chicago. So the decision was pretty easy but I told Chuoh that I would only move after I found a job.  It took a little while and I could tell she was getting frustrated. But eventually things worked out and I was packing up my apartment to move to Chicago.

 

Chuoh and I have faced some tough challenges together, both in our relationship and as individuals. But no matter how difficult times have gotten we are always able to communicate how much we love one another and how much we want our relationship to grow stronger.  And through it all we’ve been able to share some amazing experiences together: skydiving, ziplining,  parasailing, horseback riding in the snow, concerts, family vacations, attending our friends’ weddings and visiting their newborn babies, traveling, cooking together, Michigan games, courtside NBA games, Chicago restaurant-hopping, and best of all…long weekends sitting on the couch in our sweats drinking wine, enjoying one another’s company and watching something horrible on television while talking about how much we love one another.

 

-Ben