O'DonnellWeb

On Feb 21, 1987 I walked into a frat party at Purdue and was introduced to a girl named Michelle. We were just getting to the party, and her group was leaving. A 30 second shift in either schedule and we probably never meet. If my friend John (who knew her) isn’t with us, we pass without a second thought. Beyond the “hi” with the introduction, I don’t really remember talking to her that night. She spent the evening talking to my frat brother, and at some point that night she invited him to her sorority dance a few weeks later. Walking home that night I had no reason to think I’d ever see or even think about Michelle again, let alone be married to her 20 years later!

The next day John remembered he had a girlfriend, and decided against trying to get away with the clandestine sorority dance. For a campus of 35,000 kids, Purdue was rather small and his odds of getting away with it were slim. Feeling bad about breaking the date, he talked me into letting him set me up with Michelle when he bagged out on the date. She said yes, conditional on a preliminary date. The preliminary date was a party at our frat, and that turned into a bit of a farce, as my girlfriend showed up unexpectedly and I (with the help of several frat brothers) spent an hour or so trying to be in two places at once while making sure the girls weren’t. It all worked out and eventually I walked Michelle home, kissed her goodnight, and fell in love. We didn’t really become a couple until the sorority formal a few weeks later.

4-1/2 years later we got married. 15-1/2 years after that I’m writing this post. The picture is from the foyer of her dorm when I picked her up for that dance, about 19 years and 11 months ago. I had a second thought or two about Michelle’s reaction to me posting the picture, but what the hell. She looks great, I’m the one with 80s hair and the mullet.

So happy 20th anniversary of being in the right place at the right time sweetie