Who are Carol and Mike Anderson?
Carol Marie Kurpiel was born on October 16, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois at Cook County Hospital. She was born into a family of 6 children (3 boys, 3 girls) and her parents John and Angeline Kurpiel. She attended Grade School and High School in Burlington, Wisconsin and it was there that she met Michael Anderson. As High School sweethearts, the odds were staked against them to fulfill a liflelong loving relationship. Not to mention at the age of 18 my mom became pregnant with me and 9 months later, just out of high school, she gave birth to Christi Nichole Anderson at Burlington Memorial Hospital in Burlington, Wisconsin. Two weeks later I attended my dad's high school graduation which would be only the beginning to the many great events that I was able to share in my parent's lives.
Although eveyone around us begged my parents to get an abortion and sneered at the fact that they "would never last", my parents vowed to provide me with the life that they never had. As my dad entered undergrad at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, my mom struggled to work and be a mom. Money was tight...VERY tight, but somehow they made it work. 4 years later my dad graduated Parkside with his BA in Biology and a new member of the family was also added, Michael William Anderson. My baby brother. Soon after we all moved to Davenport, Iowa where my dad attended Palmer College of Chiropractic and recived his DC in Chiropractic.
"Look at us now!" is what I want to scream to all the small minded idiots who told my parents they couldn't do it. 19 years later my parents are more in love than they were the first day that they met and they have a beautiful home to show for all of their hard work. I have definatley learned a valuable lesson from them. That no matter how much people say you can't do it, or how impossible it all seems, if you have the will to do it...you can!
Through it all my mom has become my best friend in the world. We have such an amazing relationship I can't even begin to explain what it means to me. We laugh, and tease, and bitch at each other. I can tell her anything and even though she replys back harshly or with words I don't want to hear sometimes, I respect out differences of opinions.
My dad is my mentor. He is the person in my family that I look up to the most, and go to for advice. He pushes me to my full potential, yet still is a child at heart. His humor makes me laugh from the inside out and I am proud every day of my life to call myself his daughter. He is one of the most lovable, caring, laid back people I know. I owe a lot of who I am to both him and my mom.