Dan and I go way back to our days at Edgewood College in Madison, WI. There we played in a band together, were roommates for a year or so, and established a friendship that transcended time, trials, and tribulations. Dan and I had roughly a ten year hiatus, until one day I called him in the August of 2013 with hopes in finally connecting in person. One of the first things he asked me was "What are you doing this weekend? Want to go to a bluegrass festival?" "Sure!" I said. Little did I know it was a weekend that would introduce me to a whole new family, and an annual tradition to this day. The bluegrass festival Dan was referring to is called Larryfest (founded by Doug, Dan, and Larry Sebranek on their family farmland in1997 outside of La Farge, tickets still available for 2018, it’s really the best ever https://www.kvama.org). Not did I only get to reconnect with Dan, yet I also met so many people who since that beautiful weekend in August of 2015 have become a significant part of my life. Though it was at the 18th Larryfest, on a hot and stormy August day. I met Dan in a field that becomes a parking lot for the festival. It was just before a heavy summer downpour that Dan introduced me to Karen. It was all kinds of good, weird, and magical. And so the story of Karen and I together begins...
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Nearby Larryfest is one of the country's most winding rivers called the Kickapoo. We’d love to introduce it to you by perhaps doing a paddle the day after the wedding. Anyway, it was a hot sultry day, and in years past while at Larryfest, we would get away to the river to cool down and have a relaxing float. Karen and my parents Fred and Jan were all attending Larryfest for the first time. It just so happened Karen and I ended up in the same canoe on this day. A little spark was ignited between Karen and I on the Kickapoo that day. Amongst our family and friends. There really was no other place on Earth.
This was paradise.
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That first weekend we had met at Larryfest, neither of us were looking for a relationship at the time. Though it was clear that there was something beyond attraction and pleasentries of aquaintance that we both were intrigued to continue pursuing an interest in eachother. Certainly it was friendship in the beginning. Though being able to introduce her to my parents who also were at Larryfest that year, and subsequently me meeting her dad Jake within the first two days didn’t hurt to expedite things a little bit.
When Karen and I met, it was almost as if we were serendipitously at a crossroads in each of our careers. Karen having dedicated 18 years of service in the Merchant Marines (For more info on Merchant Marines ). On the last ship she worked on, as others before, she was a Chief Steward of food and sanitation. A career that allowed her to see the country, the world, and endless horizons with countless sunrises and sunsets. Karen had to leave on what would be her final voyage as a Merchant Mariner in November of 2015. Just three months after we met. Before her departure it was established that we would keep contact and pursue our new fondness of each other. It turned out to be a very difficult correspondence for both of us. Yet we endured. After that voyage Karen decided to not continue as a Merchant Mariner and soon was hired to be a organic farm certification inspector in Viroqua. A job that took her back to her roots as a child growing up on a farm and allowing her to become instrumental with her passion for the cultivation of uncontaminated and sustainably raised food.
Simultaneously, since 2015 I had been going on an 18 year career as a stagehand at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis (Find more info about the Guthrie). I was at a point where I was ready for the next steps in my journey when Karen and I met, and it became clear to me that 8 to 9 shows 6 days a week for almost 18 years I was ready to move forward. Being that Karen had a home in Viroqua, and I one in Minneapolis. We made the distance work for another year. Seeing each other when we could across the miles. Developing our love for one another and our relationship throughout. So much so, that in October of 2016 during a first time visit for both of us to Wisconsin’s incredible and beautiful North Shore of Lake Superior I got down on my knee to propose. More on that in the next chapter. P.S. She said yes!!
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It was a beautiful October weekend in 2016. The Fall color in the leaves at it’s most brilliant than we’ve ever seen it. The weather was kind of cool, cloudy, and windy at times yet occasional bursts of warmth and sunshine came through. Karen and I were able to take time off to get to visit places on Wisconsin’s North Shore we had always heard were beautiful, yet had never been.
It was a few days after Karen’s birthday and I wanted to do something special for us to celebrate. I wasn’t totally sure at that point if this trip would provide the opportunity for me to ask her those four famous words, although I had a ring I had made out of crafting wire prepared. Karen had said previously that I could put a string around her finger and she would say yes. So that was good assuring encouragement. I had decided to leave it up to God to see whether that weekend would present that opportunity. Mostly though, we were just excited to get to go on adventure together, to visit Karen’s brother’s family in the area, and experience a location new to us both.
Ashland, and Bayfield/Madeline Island especially, proved to be even more incredible than we had imagined. It certainly was a place for romance. Waking up to the sunrise outside of our hotel room balcony window on the shore of Lake Superior in Bayfield on Sunday, October 16th. After a good Wisconsin cheesey morning breakfast at an Inn JFK Jr. and other celebs such as John Prine had eaten at. We had our bikes strapped to the car and we got on the famous Madeline Island Ferry from Bayfield to Madeline Island. Checked into our hotel for the evening when we arrived, and after a farm to table lunch and a couple cups of coffee, rode off to explore the island. Eventually we came upon Madeline Island’s Big Bay State Park.
We biked in and found a trail to go for a hike which took us along the beautiful lookouts along the shores of the island. Towards the end of the tourist season, we were practically the only ones on the island. Yet it was a windy day and kind of chilly with peaks of sunshine and a warmth that came with it. Being the last day of our weekend adventure I asked God once more for his guidance. We came to a point on the trail we were hiking where there was a clearing, and an open field with a stairway and a boardwalk that lead down to a long stretch of beach in an area called of all places the Big Bay Sand Spit and Bog. At the moment we reached the clearing, the clouds opened up, the Sun shined down, the wind subsided, and my prayers were answered.
Karen and I walked our bikes down the boardwalk to the beach. We walked to the edge where the sand met the tide. The waves were crashing upon entry. A milder wind blowing with the Sun upon our shoulders. We stood holding each other as we listened to the rolling and crashing of the waves onto the shore, and at that moment I knew. I knew that not only was this the opportunity I had been waiting for to propose. This was the culmination of moments from when Karen and I had met a year prior, to us standing on the shore of Lake Superior at that moment, and thanks to some handy work of God all along the way, I just knew. We knew. We wanted to make our commitment of love for each other for life. Well, guess what? Karen said, "YES!!!” Or something like that. I kind of blacked out for a minute after I proposed haha, yet when I asked to confirm her reply...she confirmed she said "YES!!!” That weekend away together and that day was an enormous blessing to our lives. We were now engaged to be married, and we are grateful to get to be each other’s best friend and companions in love for always.
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Karen made it firm early on in our relationship that she would not be leaving Viroqua, and I was good with that. In fact, in case you haven’t heard, she got ELECTED as MAYOR OF VIROQUA on April 3rd and currently serving as such!!
Within the past two years, Karen has continued to devote her time as an active member of the community, was appointed to a position on the Vernon county board supervisors for district 19, was elected as a member and now serves as VP of the acclaimed Viroqua Food Co op, and continues as a member of the Viroqua Chamber of Commerce, and the Vernon Women’s Alliance. All along keeping a full time job as an organic farm certification inspector. Whoo! She’s a busy lady indeed, and I’m so lucky to get to be her First Man.
I officially left the Guthrie Theater in the Fall of 2017, and have been trying to spend as much time in my new home of Viroqua. Though work is mostly in Minneapolis still for me. Most recently having been on the crew for Justin Timberlake’s Half Time Show at Superbowl 52 in Minneapolis, Kenny Chesney, Hall and Oates, and many more.
I continue to search for that job that will allow me to be home and a part of the community full time in Viroqua, meanwhile continuing in my profession as a stagehand in Minneapolis with IATSE Local 13.
I’ve been a volunteer DJ for my show The Soul Drift Radio Show (Like my page on Facebook) at the community radio station here WDRT 91.9fm Viroqua for almost a year now, and continue to find as many volunteer opportunities in the community as my schedule allows. Along with developing friendships and familiarity in the Driftless area, it’s good to be an official resident of Wisconsin again and have a home in a community I truly love with Karen, and more family and friends outside of Viroqua much closer.
And so, there you have it. Almost two years later from our engagement, and with our big day coming up quickly we want you to know how much we appreciate your role in our life’s journey. We hope to get to see you on May 26th! Much love!!
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