Ryan Schon

Meg + Ryan Meg Williams and I were both leaders in residence hall student government at Iowa State during the fall of 1994, so we knew each other from the many meetings and activities that we did together. Two weekends that December would bring us together under some curious circumstances. Dec 2, 1994 – Room Party My roommate “Mouth” (Jason Mahoney) and I planned a party in our room, because my brother Jared was visiting from Buena Vista University. We enjoyed the evening and decided to visit the building party in Maple Hall to do some dancing. There we ran into Meg with some of her friends, and when the Maple party ended, we invited them back to our room to continue the party. The RA on duty never made rounds that night, so we knew the party could continue. I had an office Christmas party to attend the next night in my home town, and I needed a date. I knew Meg had a boyfriend, but I decided to ask her anyway. People love that part. She said she would let me know the next day, which I interpreted as “no”. Our room party finally shut down at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. Dec 3, 1994 – Christmas Party Meg and I met for breakfast an hour later, as we were hosting residence hall student government leaders from other schools and had time commitments. Meg told me then that she couldn’t go with me to the Christmas party, but it was because she had to lead her house’s floor party that night. She asked me to stop by when I got back from Glidden. That night, I drove 60 miles each way, from Ames to Glidden and back, in pea-soup fog, racing through dinner, to get back to Ames to see Meg. By the time the night was done, Meg had broken up with her boyfriend, but it wasn’t any more clear where she and I were. Dec 4, 1994 – Dinner On Sunday, it was time to study for finals. Mouth and I were in our room studying that night, revisiting the curious events of the weekend. Suddenly there were four well dressed ladies at our door. Meg and friends had gone to dinner and stopped by to say hello. Things were looking up again. Dec 9, 1994 – First (Second?) Date [Flashback] A friend of mine asked me to accompany her to The Nutcracker on December 9. I thought that sounded like a great idea. I didn’t have anything else going and I enjoyed her company. [Second flashback] Mouth thought it would be great to have a guys night out on December 9. Never mind that none of us had girlfriends. I made a second attempt at asking Meg out on a first date. It wouldn’t be anything formal, just hanging out at Cy’s Roost. This time she accepted. After picking up my first date, attending the Nutcracker, and returning her to her sorority, I picked up Meg and we joined guys night out at Cy’s Roost for our first date, my second of the night. People love that part too. Sep 9, 1995 – Wedding Bells It turned out that Meg and I were perfect for each other, and we fell absolutely in love. We were married on 9/9, the 9 month anniversary of our first date, and we danced our first dance to Billy Joel’s classic: You may be right, I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic you’re looking for. Today Today we are living in St. Louis with four children. Dani is 13, Andrew is 9, and Emily and Jacob are 7. We still have season football tickets and make it back to campus a half dozen times a year for various activities. That brings me to the last bit of our story that people love when they hear it. Sometime in 1996 – That Guy At one of the first few Cyclone football games we attended after we were married, Meg hit me on the arm and said “YOU’RE THAT GUY!” Of course, I had no idea what she was talking about. It turns out she sat 10 rows behind a loud-mouth, shirtless, painted-chest football fan during college and couldn’t stand the guy. Then she married him.