how it all began
our meet-cute
it all started on a saturday night…
a tale told from two perspectives:
act I: erin
may 1st, 2021 seemed like it was going to be as unremarkable as any other day. the daytime details are hazy and unimportant, what mattered were the plans that night. my friend was having a small get together, much like we did every weekend. but this night was different. this night someone came who I had never seen before, and boy did I see him that night. I thought he was C-U-T-E.
and then he left.
I didn’t get his number, I barely got his name. but I knew he was going to play music and that made my heart swell. who was this mysterious musician with long chestnut hair, a green bandana tied around his head, and knuckle tattoos that read “love soul”? it didn’t take long to get the answer because before my heart could hit the floor, he was back citing an unexpectedly early night for the jam band. I would be lying if I said my wish hadn’t come true…
we spent hours playing cards against humanity — which is a surprisingly fun way to learn a lot about somewhere very quickly. before we knew it the sun was up and it was sunday.
later that week his band was playing a show for may 4th (may the fourth be with you; yes there were star wars costumes and music) and I had every intention of being there. chris told me the show started at 6. I wanted to show him that I was “cool” and “hip” so when I arrived outside of the venue promptly at 6, I called my mom in an attempt to be “fashionably late”.
when I walked in fifteen minutes later (moral of this story is I am neither hip nor cool), the band was barely set up and there I was, eager in an empty bar. thankfully, another friend was bartending so I just pretended she was why I was there early… not because I was so excited to see chris again (I feel like he saw right through me, but I’m not complaining).
after that night, it felt like we were inseparable. he instantly became my person. never has someone been so kind and understanding while also pushing me to grow and become my best version. chris is a goof and a love soul and I’ve never been happier.
I cannot wait to continue our story as the emskis.
act II: chris
It was a dark and stormy night. (cue the lightning) Actually, it was not — it was another Burlington evening and I was off to make music with my bandmates. On the way, I made a stop at my friend’s house to say hi.
As I came up to their apartment, I interrupted the game they were playing and there she was — blue hair and criminal smile disrupting my focus.
After recovering from my initial stun, I took my leave only to learn that the jam session had been called off early because everyone passed out. I felt my face warm as I smiled; hoping I wouldn’t appear desperate, I called my friend to explain the situation and ask if I could join the game night delight.
The disappointment of the cancelled music night quickly diminished when Erin came downstairs to let me in — in that moment my life changed forever.
Little did I know, my future wife and I would sit scrumpled (scrumptiously crumpled) into one another all night, giggling into the dawn of a new day. As the night and following weeks progressed, there was no way of knowing that this person was to become THE person. The only one for me.
To the moon and back again: a spicy romantic story of two lovebugs (but it’s not an act!)
I am eternally grateful for and excited by the chapters yet to be written.
it’s all in the name
you may have noticed that we keep throwing around the name “emski”.
and we understand you may be confused, chris's last name is mroczkowski (say that four times fast) and erin’s is johnson. where the heck did “emski” come from?
well, from chris.
when chris was just a lad, he shortened his last name in social settings to “m’ski” — just remove those pesky additional consonants (and two vowels, his other nickname was consonants for obvious reasons) and everything was right as rain.
now that chris and erin are beginning their new chapter, neither last name felt quite right — johnson is boring (an erin problem) and mroczkowski is hard to say (also an erin problem). after hearing chris’s shortened name from his youth, erin was SOLD.
just slap a letter on the front to make it phonetic and there you have it folks.
the beginning of something fresh and new: the emskis
the countdown is on
november 2, 2024