The Story of The Dukes
In the beginning….
Once upon a time in Atlanta (Sept 2005), Tiffany and Max went to a party. I know this is a shocking beginning, but bear with me. It was actually a birthday party for Tiff and her friend Sandra, a friend who insisted that Tiff meet her friend Max. So finally Tiff the Minnesotan and Max the Colombian met at the birthday party, yay! Unfortunately, due to Tiff and Max’s busy schedules (esp. Max!), they were not to meet again until a month later, at the local Halloween bash. Luckily they recognized each other in their fancy costumes! Max the Canadian Mounty, and Tiff the USO Girl, partied the night away, and the rest is history (who said one night stands can’t work?)! Kind of…
Tiff was already planning to leave the country and try her skills at international health, thus she had applied and was ready to go to Peace Corps, to the far-away South Pacific. Tiff and Max kept dating casually, but in later conversations found that neither really thought it was going to last! But they had fun times and fun journeys to interesting countries, so stuck together until Tiff left. At the last minute, Tiff was rejected from Peace Corp for a fake medical reason (for which Max is thankful!), thus had a change of plans. In the meantime, an offer to work at the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico had arisen, and as it had been a long, hard job search, Tiff took the job willingly — despite the fact that she spoke very little Spanish, and was taking a 75% pay cut, and was moving alone to the biggest city in the world!
Tiff didn’t have much time to get scared; she quit her cushy job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, packed up, and shipped out. Max tried to help her with Spanish before the big move, but she still was a “bit” behind when she arrived to find that only her boss spoke English, and that her life was now completely in Spanish, in the big, smelly, smoggy, busy, charming Ciudad de Mexico.
Tiff and Max missed each other. Due to visa issues (IMAGINE!), Max was unable to visit Tiff as planned, and they were sad. Tiff was lonely, and a little scared, and Max missed Tiff. After the missed visit, Max discovered that the Mexico City office of AT Kearney was desperately in need of consultants, and luckily, Max speaks Spanish! When he checked tentatively into transferring offices, he discovered that it wouldn’t be a problem, in fact, it would be rather easy. Tiff and Max discussed this option — move in together? New jobs? New city? New language (for Tiff anyway), that’s a lot of major changes at once. But, they discovered that they really loved each other, and wanted to stick together forever…awwwww. Max moved to Mexico a few months later, and they found a cute apartment in Polanco, a posh part of the city.
That was just the beginning! Since 2006 Max and Tiff have had many adventures, including getting married in September of 2008. Keep checking In a Tiff for more stories about the Dukes!
