Tell me about yourself
I’m not very adventurous. I am the “go with the flow” kind of guy. It’s taken me down different paths into different parts of the country and world—-to some pretty awesome places. I embrace my environment. I believe anywhere you live is what you make of it (from rural farming town to big city).
In what states have you lived? Michigan and Nevada.
What took you to Vegas? I went to CMU on and off while working at the casinos in Mount Pleasant. I was studying to be a teacher but I kept dragging out school.I got to the point where my friends had left and graduated and I was one of the older students. I lost interest in school and I wanted to pay off debt.
One of my friends had gone to Vegas and I told him that if the casino—where he worked—was hiring, to let me know. I don’t think I really meant it, but he called me out of the blue. He said his boss was hiring and I ended up flying out there and getting the job. I never told my parents until I knew I was moving.
Has your experience given you any new insights or perspectives? Absolutely! Vegas is a different world.It was a cultural shock when I first moved out there from Waldron, MI. There’s people from all over the country and world in Las Vegas.When I first moved, all I knew was my college roommate. He had changed a lot and I didn’t want to be around him anymore.
The first summer I was there, it was 113° for ten straight days. When another friend came out that’s when I started to feel comfortable—going to see nature, sporting events, and boating on Lake Mead. I was sad to leave.
Give me an example of your culture shock in Vegas.
My first job was running table games at the Rio. A guy started talking about how attracted he was to one of the women there and I asked, “Isn’t she married?”
The guy looked at me and said “Do you know how many married women I’ve ***?” I was naive, traditional, and reserved. I spent a miserable first two years there.
How did people react when you returned to Michigan?
When I said I was moving back people would ask me why I would leave Vegas. I felt that if they thought Vegas was so great why didn’t they move there themselves. They say they couldn’t. I hate that mentality and have distanced myself from those type of people. They could move if they wanted to. If my wife and I decide someday that we want to move we can. I’m not here because I’m stuck. People get trapped and it’s not the case for me.
What characteristic or quality do you get complimented on the most? My speaking ability.
How did you meet your wife? We met on Tinder. I had recently broken up with my girlfriend of five years. I did a search for women in Michigan and found a match—we had sixteen mutual friends on Facebook. There were a bunch of guys we both grew up with. We discovered that we had gone to the same birthday party of a friend's daughter before.
She was newly single with a daughter and I visited her a month later. We met in Ann Arbor for our first date and it lasted twelve hours. For the next two years I would come to Michigan and she would visit me in Las Vegas. We got to the point that it was pretty serious. She talked about moving to Vegas but eventually decided that it was better to stay in Michigan, so her daughter could see her biological father. I realized I wanted to be with her forever. We share a birthday on September eleventh and she came out to celebrate. I proposed on the trip. Then I bought a house in Michigan (only seeing it via video tour) and we didn’t live together until we got married on April 28th 2018.
What fear have you overcome? Fear of marriage. My parents are still married and I didn’t want to have a marriage end in divorce. I was with my previous girlfriend for five years and never proposed, although I’ve maintained a good relationship with her kids and they come visit my wife and I in Michigan.
In what states have you lived? Michigan and Nevada.
What took you to Vegas? I went to CMU on and off while working at the casinos in Mount Pleasant. I was studying to be a teacher but I kept dragging out school.I got to the point where my friends had left and graduated and I was one of the older students. I lost interest in school and I wanted to pay off debt.
One of my friends had gone to Vegas and I told him that if the casino—where he worked—was hiring, to let me know. I don’t think I really meant it, but he called me out of the blue. He said his boss was hiring and I ended up flying out there and getting the job. I never told my parents until I knew I was moving.
Has your experience given you any new insights or perspectives? Absolutely! Vegas is a different world.It was a cultural shock when I first moved out there from Waldron, MI. There’s people from all over the country and world in Las Vegas.When I first moved, all I knew was my college roommate. He had changed a lot and I didn’t want to be around him anymore.
The first summer I was there, it was 113° for ten straight days. When another friend came out that’s when I started to feel comfortable—going to see nature, sporting events, and boating on Lake Mead. I was sad to leave.
Give me an example of your culture shock in Vegas.
My first job was running table games at the Rio. A guy started talking about how attracted he was to one of the women there and I asked, “Isn’t she married?”
The guy looked at me and said “Do you know how many married women I’ve ***?” I was naive, traditional, and reserved. I spent a miserable first two years there.
How did people react when you returned to Michigan?
When I said I was moving back people would ask me why I would leave Vegas. I felt that if they thought Vegas was so great why didn’t they move there themselves. They say they couldn’t. I hate that mentality and have distanced myself from those type of people. They could move if they wanted to. If my wife and I decide someday that we want to move we can. I’m not here because I’m stuck. People get trapped and it’s not the case for me.
What characteristic or quality do you get complimented on the most? My speaking ability.
How did you meet your wife? We met on Tinder. I had recently broken up with my girlfriend of five years. I did a search for women in Michigan and found a match—we had sixteen mutual friends on Facebook. There were a bunch of guys we both grew up with. We discovered that we had gone to the same birthday party of a friend's daughter before.
She was newly single with a daughter and I visited her a month later. We met in Ann Arbor for our first date and it lasted twelve hours. For the next two years I would come to Michigan and she would visit me in Las Vegas. We got to the point that it was pretty serious. She talked about moving to Vegas but eventually decided that it was better to stay in Michigan, so her daughter could see her biological father. I realized I wanted to be with her forever. We share a birthday on September eleventh and she came out to celebrate. I proposed on the trip. Then I bought a house in Michigan (only seeing it via video tour) and we didn’t live together until we got married on April 28th 2018.
What fear have you overcome? Fear of marriage. My parents are still married and I didn’t want to have a marriage end in divorce. I was with my previous girlfriend for five years and never proposed. I have a great relationship with her children and they still visit me in Michigan.
What is one thing few people know about you? I took tap dance lessons from age three to age eighteen. My neighbor gave me lessons. But I was embarrassed to tell anyone. I enjoyed it when I was young but in middle school I no longer wanted to do it— but was forced. Then I got a little older and I appreciated it a little more—I was the only boy in a group with six girls.
What is one thing few people know about you? I took tap dance lessons from age three to age eighteen. My neighbor gave me lessons. But I was embarrassed to tell anyone. I enjoyed it when I was young but in middle school I no longer wanted to do it— but was forced. Then I got a little older and I appreciated it a little more—I was the only boy in a group with six girls.
