One Tinker Toy at a time
Lisa Rinehart McAlhaney, BSJ '91, and Kevin McAlhaney, BSC '92
By Lisa Rinehart McAlhaney
Our OU romance starts like that of many others -- "just a small town girl, living in a lonely world … just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit."
OK, it was north Chicago, and it wasn't a Journey song, but it was classic. It is the next part of our story that makes it unique.
Our Bobcat love affair happened at the end of my college career. With graduation on my mind and a long distance relationship on Kevin's, we met spring quarter of 1991 in Media Planning and Buying, the great Dave London presiding.
The first lucky day, we ended up in the same group for a long-term group project. We were sectioned off by gender, grades and random luck. Our group started the class off right and beat the others in the world's great Tinker Toy Challenge -- the team with the tallest, free-standing structure won. Teamwork was developed, friendships were made and a love connection began.
By the end of the quarter, Kevin and I had earned an A. We had also bonded over Old Style (a Chicago favorite), baseball and one great Court Street shuffle.
I spent the following year driving from that small town to Athens while Kevin completed his senior year. Weekends consisted of Lucky's Pizza and hanging out uptown. Night Court and the CI were our favorites. By summer of 1992, what started as a friendship had turned into more, and we moved off to Chicago. By November, we were engaged.
After much though and debate about wedding plans, we decided to tie the knot in Athens. What better place could there be than where our romance started?
We arrived in Athens on Thursday with a number of our friends from Chicago. Our wedding was on Sunday, so we spent Friday touring the campus, having dinner with our friends and showing them the sights on Court and Union.
We went to the Crystal Casino for a game of pool and a couple of cocktails -- OK, beers. We were completely shocked to run into our favorite college professor, Dave London. This wouldn't be out of the ordinary, but he had run off to Mexico in search of relaxation and Jimmy Buffet, or something like that, shortly after our graduations. This had to be fate. What else could we do but invite him to the wedding?
So, on Sept. 5, 1993, we were married in Galbreth Chapel in the presence of God, our family, our friends and one professor wearing Birkenstocks. Thirteen years later we still use our favorite wedding gift, two sets of Tinker Toys with rules and advice attached. "Marriage can be difficult, even during the best of times, just remember to love each other and when all else fails … Whomever builds the tallest freestanding structure wins."
Posted 11-02-07
