The story of Cicily and Greg

 

This is Cicily and Greg.

I first became familiar with one of them when I was in my front yard of our first house that Steve and I lived in, back in 2006 (I think). We used to live in the Roosevelt Park neighborhood/area in Kingston . It was common for me to be outside with my kids and I would often see this very “content looking” dad jogging  by my house…pushing a jogger stroller. There was always a sleeping kid inside the stroller. Turns out…. it was Greg pushing that stroller. Obviously, he lived somewhere in the hood .

As time went on, I  got to formally meet both Cicily and Greg at T-Ball practice or some little league related event. I learned that they have 2 sons; Jackson and Wilson. They mentioned they had moved up to the Hudson Valley in recent years from New York City.

I eventually saw that Cicily also enjoyed jogging in the neighborhood. I don’t think she liked pushing the jogger stroller. I don’t recall ever seeing her pushing it.

Our boys were the same age as their boys, so we started seeing each other around randomly with the kids. (school, park, little league, etc)

Eventually, I became friends with Cicily on Facebook.

When I became FB friends with Cicily , it helped me to know more about her and her family.

Here is what I learned:

I learned that the family likes Hockey and the boys play lots of hockey with Greg.

Cicily is involved with The Junior League of Kingston.

Their family is very active.

Fitness is an important part of Cicily and Gregs’ lives.

Typical family?  Yes, in a way…

But, not really.

There’s more…….

• Cicily comes from a biracial family and her family was featured in a PBS documentary in 1999 about their experiences as a biracial family. It was called “An American Love Story”

 

• Cicily has a father and sister in a famous Blues band (Heritage Blues Orchestra). This band was nominated for a grammy award a few years ago. Cicily flew out to LA with her family (her parents still live in NYC) and it was sooo exciting to follow her travels on Facebook. Fun to see the timeline of getting ready for the show and walking the red carpet and taking pictures from her seat in the auditorium…. All going down “live” while I was also watching it on TV.

 

• Cicily and Greg met on a blind date. They were set up by a friend. The story of their dating and engagement was written up in the NEW YORK TIMES.

( I will post the link to the online version at the end of my blog story so you can read it. It’s such a great story of how they met and became engaged. A MUST READ !!)

After knowing this info about Cicily and Greg, I had a few questions for them.

So, I decided to ask Cicily to answer these 3 questions.

1. When did you move to Kingston?

2. Why did you decide to move here?

3. What made you choose the house and neighborhood you are in?

Here was her response:

We moved here in October 2002. After September 11th, I just couldn’t see staying in the city. I lost my best friend who managed Windows on the World and a good family friend who just happened to be there that day. At the time anywhere you went in NYC and the boroughs you were met with the faces of all the victims in the form of posters of those who we thought were missing, these posters became semipermanent memorials. It was really too much for me to bear. For many years after moving up here, visiting the city still felt like going to a memorial.

Greg was already working in the Hudson Valley organizing healthcare workers for 1199 (Union), so he was commuting from Queens. I was the one that never wanted to move, until 9/11. We chose the Roosevelt Park neighborhood, because it was centrally located, and as a true New Yorker, I didn’t know how to drive. There is nothing like taking driving lessons with your 2 year old in the back seat! So the neighborhood was great, accessible for me, walkable distance to stores and other things.

Cicily’s answers to my questions absolutely blew me away. I had no idea about the 9/11 story. I had no idea she lost her best friend. That is so sad…I am sure that has been the guiding force in her raising her children and being a great wife and mom.

And I can just picture little Jackson  in the back seat of the driving school car as Cicily was learning how to drive. I love it!

When you are around Cicily and Greg, it is obvious they are a beautiful couple that give off a good vibe. Their family is beautiful (inside and out). Their 2 boys are amazing. They are extremely talented and well rounded. I could actually write an entire blog story about their boys.

I am so glad that I chose to write about Cicily and Greg

Here is their New York Times story……Read it, you’ll be glad you did…

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/07/style/weddings-cicily-wilson-gregory-speller.html

 

 

Thank you, Cicily and Greg, for letting me share your story and use the pictures that I took off of Facebook. Everyone has a story and yours is really pretty awesome.