Somewhere more familiar
Barbara Warren McKnight, BSJ '96, and Eric McKnight, BS '94

By Barbara Warren McKnight

Upon arriving at Ohio University in the fall of 1992, I took great pains to separate myself from my hometown of Brunswick, Ohio.

I knew of people from Brunswick who were going to OU, but I didn't care to find them once I got to Athens.

I was anxious to start anew -- make new friends, experience dorm life and get into my classes. That first week, I tried to figure out where I fit in.

My roommates were okay, but not overly friendly. The girls on my floor were nice, but it seemed like they all knew each other before even arriving at school.

On Friday evening, I called home in a panic.

"I don't know anyone, I don't have anything to do tonight, and I want to come home!" I wailed into the phone.

By the end of the conversation, I was in tears, and my mother was distraught and contemplating making the four-hour trip to Athens to get me.

After hanging up, I wandered around the floor to see what others were planning for the evening. I ended up in the room of some girls I barely knew, including one who had gone to my high school.

She invited me to a party hosted by upperclassmen in an apartment above Wendy's restaurant. When we arrived, I immediately recognized some of the guys. They were from my high school, but about two years older.

"Where are you from?" one asked.

"Brunswick," I replied.

I was greeted with a chorus of No way! and How come we don't know you? They peppered me with questions to test whether I was telling the truth. How many McDonald’s do we have? Name teachers from the high school. I passed with flying colors.

I started chatting with a guy named Eric whom I didn't recognize, even though we had both attended Brunswick High School. We talked about all things Brunswick -- people we knew, our neighborhoods, our part-time jobs. We learned that our mothers lived about a mile apart, and that we both had lived in Brunswick pretty much our whole lives.

A few days later, we had our first date at Events, a restaurant that is now Skipper's. During winter break, Eric walked a mile from his mom's house in a foot of snow to visit me.

We dated for the two years we were together at OU and stayed together after he graduated and moved to Cincinnati. Almost eight years to the day that we first met, we married.

Oh, and as for my poor mother, she didn't hear from me for days after that night I met Eric. Being the worrywart she is, she was beside herself with anxiety. Finally, she called me.

"Oh, I met a boy," I told her. "And, he’s from Brunswick."

"I sent you 300 miles away so that you could date a boy from Brunswick?" she asked me incredulously.

"I guess so," I said.

Fourteen years and two children later, we are still going strong.

Posted 11-02-07