Jamie Palmer:  

Well...if I had written this a year ago, it would be very different. I met Cheri as a freshman at NCSU (she was my right guide in marching band...she used to say she was in charge from the start!) and by December 1 of that year we were dating...by December 15 we told folks we were going to get married when I graduated...and that's exactly what happened. After graduation, Cheri took jobs with the NC Symphony, NCSU Arts & Activities and the NC Art Museum, all as Box Office Manager. I, on the other hand, struggled for a while but eventually found a job as a mechanical engineer. After a short stint at AP Parts, then 2 years at Aeroquip (with both of us with 50+ mile commutes each way) I took a job with Raychem in Fuquay and we finally were able to settle in Angier. Then, in May 1991, I found out how small you can make a Triumph Spitfire by crashing head on to a BMW, both doing about 55 mph. Thankfully, the other driver only had a few stitches...I was in the hospital for a while and confined to a hospital bed at home for over 3 months. Changes one's outlook on life, to put it mildly. Did NOT cure me of driving British cars, however. At 31 years old I decided to go back to school and got an MSM (now MBA) from NCSU in new product development (I used to think a lot of the school until they let me back in -- they KNEW my undergrad grades...) and went to work for John Deere. I now have 10+ years in at Deere and am a product manager in Professional Mowing. We also built a house to cut down on Cheri's commute that's located near Willow Springs near Highway 42 in southeastern Wake County. Nothing ostentatious, but it's home. Picked the development because they allowed external buildings in addition to an attached garage. By this point, Cheri had gotten to be a pretty darn good glass artist (both flat stained glass and fusing) and the air-conditioned garage meant I could work on cars while she worked on her glass. Meanwhile, Cheri had gone back and gotten her professional internet webmasters certificate from NCSU and had changed fields -- she took a job with the NC Dept. of Tourism managing the database behind visitnc dot com. This also freed up her evenings, which was great! We had the perfect marriage...but decided to go one step further, and adopted a beautiful little girl. She was ours January 1, 2006 when she was just...Expand for more