How I came to be.

Since I plan on sharing bits of my life with you, I think it only makes sense that I start at the beginning.  Perhaps this will give you a better idea of why I turned out this way.  (Why I turned out this AMAZING, that is.) Now mind you, this is Radke legend, so some of the details are a bit hazy, and have gotten lost of the decades of telling the story, but this is what I remember from the many variations my parents gave me over the years. 

My dad was born a small, black, child...Whoops, no wait, that was Steve Martin in The Jerk.  My dad was born on a farm outside of Rochester in 1951. He was given the very distinguished name: Theodore Jon Radke.  He is the youngest of 5 children, and his parents were of the era: Children should be seen and not heard, as well as the era of, if you can toddle yourself down to the barn, you can probably milk a cow.  My dad knew the meaning of hard work his entire life.  He farmed well into the early 80's and to this day is still involved in a farming community, even though he no longer farms any land. 

My mother, Roberta Ann Radke (AKA 'Berde') was born to a single mother, a hot summer's night in 1952.  My grandmother's husband had died of tuberculosis before mom was born.  My grandmother worked hard for her 3 children and gave them what she could.  When mom graduated high school she decided she was going to become a nurse.  Where else does one learn how to be the very best nurse but at the Mayo Clinic.  Off to Rochester, she went....See where this is heading? 

Place: A hole in the wall bar
Location: Rochester, MN
Time: Random Saturday night, early 1970's

Berde, after a week of giving the very best care to her patients, decides she's going to blow off some steam with fellow nurses, and have a drink...or 10.  They go down to the bar they frequent, by their apartment so they can stumble home afterward.  My father, the unsuspecting soul that he is, is sitting at the bar, meeting someone about purchasing some farm equipment.  (Because all purchases of that nature, should be done while drinking.)  My mother and her friends have a table close to the bar and clearly, aren't getting the drinks fast enough.  So when they would run out of drinks, mom would walk to the bar for a refill.  Well, mom is loud, and fun..and apparently ruining dad's 'farming deal'.  So by the third time mom bumped into him while getting a refill, dad turned to her, fed up and said: "Look, if I buy you the next round will you stop coming up here?!"  Mom, being one to never pass up a free drink said, "Sure!"  The rest as they say, is history. 

My dad being impulsive asked my mother to marry him on the very first date.  She shot him down.  But that wouldn't discourage him, and soon she fell head over heels with this farm boy.  On October 9, 1976 they were married.  The day didn't start out as my mom had pictured, she found dad face first on the bathroom floor, from a night out with the groomsmen.  She picked him up by the hair and said, "Damn it Ted Radke!  I paid $200 to get professional pictures taken today, you will smile, and look like you are enjoying every minute of it!"  (First, let us focus on professional pictures for $200?!)  I would like to point out, my dad looks fabulous in every single wedding picture.  Even though in all of the toasts throughout the day he had 7up in his glass, the wedding itself was a total success. 

My parents knew they wanted kids, and tried for a few years following the wedding without much luck.  Turns out the magic combination for conception was the following: A Christmas party, too much Cold Duck, and a water bed.  (This story my parents loved to tell when I was in high school and had friends over.)  Next thing you knew mom was pregnant, and out I came to the world on September 3, 1981. 

Little did they know what they would be in for.  This was the start of a life they had only dreamed of...and I was bound and determined to not make it easy on them.  :)  So began the life of Megan E. Radke.