Sylwia and I were both born and raised in Poland. I come from a small city of Grajewo, which is in the northeastern part of Poland. Sylwia on the other hand is from Tarnów which is in the southern part of the Country. At around the age of 11 I moved to Chicago with my mom. Sylwia’s move to Chicago didn’t happen until 3 years later when she was 14. We didn’t know each other until we met in Lake Villa, both at the age of 14. We went to the same high school together and remained friends. After high school, I joined the United States Air Force leaving our little town and Sylwia behind. Since we were not very close at the time we didn’t keep in touch. I spent 6 years in the AF where I was mostly stationed in Tucson, AZ. I also went on small deployments to the UK, Oman and my last two years of enlistment were in South Korea.
After separating from the AF I came back to Lake Villa where I found Sylwia still living there with her mom. She was working full time while attending college part time. We immediately became better friends this time around. I took advantage of my educational benefits that the military offered and began going to college full time.
