Rachel and Jason first met on January 1, 2006. Well, kind of. Maybe "interacted" is more the right word. Semantics aside, on New Year's Day 2006, Jason sent Rachel a message on social-networking site MySpace (forever dating them to circa 2005 since no one uses that site anymore).
Jason prefers to gloss over that little detail, and instead says that we met at a party, which is also true. On January 3, we were both invited to Sierra Setchel's 21st birthday party, hosted in the fabulous NEFA (Near East Fine Arts, an arts-oriented house at Hollins University where Rachel lived in her junior and senior year). We met and immediately connected, and soon after, we had another date at NEFA. The Facebook-official beginning of our relationship was on January 7, 2006.
Over the next two years, we grew closer by spending lots of time at each other's alma maters, Roanoke College in Salem, VA and Hollins University in Roanoke, VA. Travelling and seeing live music took up a lot of our time and spending money during the college years; we visited Rachel's family in Boston a couple times and saw Widespread Panic waaaaaay too many times.
After we both graduated, we decided to move in together. In June 2008, we found just the place: a converted chicken coop at the top of Little Brushy Mountain in Jason's hometown, Salem (technically Roanoke County). A little later that summer, we adopted two kittens, the personable Thurgood and the perpetually terrified August. We got jobs and have spent our first years of adulthood happily in the Coop, where Rachel grows herbs, Jason works on his recordings of live music, and we occasionally host parties.
We finally made it official after almost five years of dating in November 2010, when Jason proposed to Rachel with a peridot ring just before we made our annual trip to Kansas. She plans on keeping her last names (Jason is planning on keeping his, too, but you probably weren't wondering about that).
At Hollins and Roanoke College
Around Roanoke
Travelling
Rachel before Jason
Jason before Rachel
Our Families
Around Roanoke
Travelling
Rachel before Jason
Jason before Rachel
Our Families
The Graham Family
Jason was born in 1984 in Salem, VA, where he was raised by his parents Barry Graham and Linda Pagans Graham. Barry worked as an electrician at Appalachian Electric Power for 30 years before retiring in the spring of 2010. He's spending his retirement fishing on his boat, Overtime, at Smith Mountain Lake. Linda taught science at middle and high schools for 35 years before retiring in 2003. She won Glenvar's Teacher of the Year award in 2003 and was listed several times in Who's Who of American Teachers. She's been to a whole bunch of Jimmy Buffet concerts, most of them with her sister Cindy Danieley. Their two cats are Smokee (who is technically Jason's, but mostly cares about Linda) and Baby Blue Eyes. Barry and Linda have been married since 1983.
Jason's brother Evan was born in 1987. Evan graduated from Virginia Western Community College in 2011, and he works at Kroger. He loves professional wrestling, video games, and chatting with friends online at World Vibes Radio, where he's a moderator.
The McCarthy-James Family
Rachel was born in 1986 in Winchester, KS, and was raised in Lawrence, KS by her parents Bill James and Susan McCarthy. Bill is a baseball statistician and writer. He works for the Boston Red Sox and recently published Popular Crime. You can read more about his career on Wikipedia. Susan worked as an artist for many years, but has recently shifted her focus to academics. She got her Masters degree from Boston University, worked on her PhD, and is now doing some research, writing and artwork while looking for a teaching job.. They have a Shetland Sheepdog named Yawkey, who mainly cares about Susan. Susan and Bill have been married since 1978.
Rachel has two brothers, Isaac (b. 1988) and Reuben (b. 1993). Isaac graduated from Puget Sound Universtiy in 2010 and currently lives in San Francisco, where he works at Lolapps. Reuben is a rising senior at Lawrence Free State High School (where Rachel and Isaac also matriculated). He lives with his parents and his grey kittycat Robo. The James brothers are computer gaming enthusiasts.
Jason and Rachel are gearing up for a big move to Rachel's hometown, Lawrence, KS, in the summer of 2012. It will be Jason's first time living outside of Salem, VA. We will be making frequent trips back to Salem during our time in Lawrence and plan on moving back (hopefully with some little ones) later this decade.
