Getting to Know Me

I am very excited to participate in Debbie Reyonds' What We Have in Common, Getting to Know Each Other Better Contest.

Here goes nothing!

1. My parents were childhood friends and grew up down the street from each other in Mumbai, India.
2. My father moved to the United States in 1965 to study at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY.
3. My grandfather actually put my mother on a plane to the United States to marry my father, based on communicating with my dad and my father's dad via telegram.
4. My parents had the FIRST Indian wedding in Cleveland, OH in 1968, which was actually covered in the local Cleveland newspaper.
5. My sister and I were born in Cleveland, OH, but lived in Massachusetts for the majority of our lives.
6. My dad worked in the same division as Jack Welch at GE Plastics in Pittsfield, MA in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.  
7. Western Massachusetts was an idyllic place to grow up.  We had woods and rivers around our house.  I would disappear for hours in the woods by myself.  Looking back and thinking about my kids, it is crazy that my parents were comfortable with us playing in the neighborhood and the woods without cells phones or adult supervision.  Small town.  Different times.
8. I lived in India after college where I went to do social service to find myself.  I lived in the apartment where my grandfather and father grew up.  That was an incredible year that shaped my outook on life.
9. Best day of my life was July 3rd, 2000 when I met my wife on a blind date at Chi Chi's Mexican Restaurant in Succasunnah, NJ.  She ordered a taco salad.  I ordered enchiladas.
10. My wife was living in New Jersey and I was living in Seattle in 2001.  I had a planned an elaborate engagement in Northern California during the week of September 11.  Due to 9-11, we had to cancel our engagement.  My wife was deathly scared of planes after 9-11 and would not let me get on a plane either.  After things had settled down slightly after 9-11, I got on a plane from Seattle to New York and surprised my wife in New York City and asked her to marry me.  I had to pull my roommate in Seattle and my wife's best friend into an elaborate rouse to keep her in the dark and get her to New York City for dinner.  Wow.  That was an incredible year.

That was fun.  I probably could have written another 400 words on this one!  Thanks Debbie!

 [UPDATED: Pictures of parents]