After a brief honeymoon (at the Rockton Inn, in far north central Illinois) Mike & Libby moved into their first apartment, in south Evanston, a block from the Chicago border. It was a 4th floor walk-up, with 4 units and laundry facilities in the basement. Their unit was on the top floor - which initially was okay. From there, they could both walk about a block to catch a bus that would take them to the "El" and downtown to their jobs.
They didn't have much of a social life there, since the building had no other young people. Among the friends they did see were Charlie Durang (who had married a girl named Maggie) and Dick and Barbie Hill, other friends from Mike's time in Libertyville. They also saw a young couple who lived nearby whose wife Mike often met on his bus ride downtown. Before he got married, Charlie would occasionally show up, hoping to score a free meal with them.
They started to settle in to a simple routine of working, living in the apartment, and trying figure out Life.
Libby became pregnant in 1965 and everything changed...[more]