Whois
dMy name is Lauren and I’m a 26-year old Leo, originally from Algonquin, IL. I spent two years at St. Xavier University (in Chicago) as a nursing student and after a transfer to Loyola University-Chicago, I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. I am an Officer at a Juvenile Detention Center and we live in East Central Illinois.
In December 2009 we welcomed the newest addition to our family, a beautiful baby boy! He’s changed our life in great and amazing ways — and we forgive him for interrupting our once peaceful nights of sleep. His name is John and he is perfect and wonderful and such a joy!
After meeting in June of 1997 and dating steadily since April 2001, in July of 2004 I married the love of my life, Noah. At the time he was a Soldier in the U.S. Army and we spent 2 years stationed at Fort Drum, NY (in the north country of New York state) before he deployed overseas. He was deployed for over a year to Afghanistan when he came home safely in March 2007. He is now a civilian, going to school, and we love finally being able to be together each day without months (or a year) of Army separation. We have a nice life.
We bought our first home together in March 2007. It’s an old Cape Cod style home — I grew up in a Cape Cod so it’s no wonder that it immediately felt like home — that we’re slowly but surely updating and improving.
The furry members of our family:
Audrey. She really doesn’t like anyone except Noah but she’s gotten more used to sharing her space and master with other people as the years have gone by. We raised her from a little 7 week old kitten and I must say that her only redeeming trait is that she has never once used anything but her litter box as a toilet, so she has that going for her. She can be really cuddly actually, but it has to be on her terms.
Mac. Mac joined our family in late September 2009, about a month after Max’s passing. The similarity of names is purely coincidence as we had no hand in naming either of them — they are both shelter rescues. Mac is big and sweet, a 90-100 lb. black lab/mastiff mix (rarely do I see any mastiff in him though). He’s really tall and incredibly graceful. LOVES TO SNUGGLE!
This is Max (above). Noah gave him to me on Valentine’s Day 2004 to keep me company when he left for boot camp and the little guy turned out to be the best dog and best friend anyone could ever hope for. We lost Max on August 29, 2009 (he was 11 1/2 yrs. old) after a short battle with a fast-growing tumor in his bladder. Max was a great dog and I miss him and think of him each day. He was my first “baby” and wanted only to love and be loved in return, which he was. Rest in peace, sweet boy.
Sam was quite the character. He was sweet, smelly, and stubborn to the core. We acquired him when we lived in NY and Sam has been happy as a clam in every home we’ve had him in; if he’s being fed and had a soft place to snooze, he’s happy. He also snored incredibly loud and made the most interesting noises to accompany the snores. Sam died from Congestive Heart Failure just shy of his 13th birthday in February 2010. I miss him daily.
