Teacher Couple - Mr. Clifford and Ms. Monti
Elijah: So how did you meet?
Mr. Clifford: We met our freshman year of college. We were all in the same dormitory. And my freshman roommate dated her freshman roommate. So we often tagged along to events with them.
Ms. Monti: They did not last; we did.
Elijah: What is your favorite thing about Ms. Monti/Mr. Clifford?
Mr. Clifford: There are a lot of very strong qualities… But I would say probably the most is that at part she is an extremely caring person. Like not just for like people who are like in immediate family but like she cares about everybody that she meets.
Ms. Monti: For the world: he cares deeply about all people and wants to use his talents to be of service. For me: he is calm when I am at my least calm state—just telling him how frazzled I am is calming because he remains entirely unfrazzled.
Elijah: What’s a pet peeve that Ms. Monti/Mr. Clifford does?
Mr. Clifford: Um, so Miss Monti and I have different approaches to household organization. I optimize for convenience, so I put the things that I do the most with steady reach and Ms. Monti likes things put away, so I often find her cleaning my belongings in an attempt to organize me in a way that results in me not being able to find my possessions and causing extra delays to finding my stuff.
Ms. Monti: He has a high tolerance for messiness and likes to leave stuff everywhere. I have NO tolerance for messiness.
Elijah: Would you still like Ms. Monti if she was a worm?
Mr. Clifford: If she was a worm?
Elijah: If she was a worm.
Mr. Clifford: Um… [pause] I would say yes, although it's a little bit difficult to… describe like a worm as being especially like caring and kind. But I think I would appreciate those qualities even in a worm.
Elijah: Would you still like Mr. Clifford if he was a worm?
Ms. Monti: I am a biologist, so I might actually find him more interesting as a worm.
Elijah: What's the best part of your relationship?
Ms. Monti: How much we've learned to work as a team. We've gotten better at being a couple as we've aged.
Mr. Clifford: Oh I think now I mean at this point we have known each other for say… 36, 37 years something like that…. so we've known each other for more than like two-thirds of our lives and so, knowing a person that very well over time, both the endearing parts and the annoying parts, is a very cool thing. It’s the only person that I know kind of in that way. It’s awesome.
Elijah: Now, who's most likely to cry reading a book or watching a movie?
Ms. Monti: Me. Like, it's not even a valid question. I cry THINKING about movies and books.
Mr. Clifford: Ah… definitely Laura. Although, I will say that since I had children I have become more of a crier in response to like emotional things than before I had kids. So it actually could be either one of us but definitely more likely Laura.
Elijah: Would you cry watching Toy Story?
Mr. Clifford: Watching Toy Story? Probably no for Toy Story, but yes for Up, for example.
Elijah: That's fair. How are you celebrating Valentine's Day?
Ms. Monti: We have not even planned the rest of today.
Mr. Clifford: Given that this is like over 35 Valentine's days together (since we dated and were friends for a long time before), Valentine's Day is actually kind of low-key for us. So we might go out for dinner, but we don't necessarily make it, like, it has to be Valentine's Day because our birthdays are within two weeks of Valentine's Day. So we often have one nice dinner out to celebrate both our birthdays and that's usually very close to Valentine's Day.
Elijah: And finally, what is your favorite thing to do together?
Ms. Monti: I love that we work together- the two years that I worked here when he worked elsewhere were so much harder for me.
Mr. Clifford: We both enjoy running a great deal, although we won't necessarily run side by side. We'll both go running somewhere, but we'll go at our individual pace. Taking trips together, and even though we have different approaches to parenting, I think being with our kids together is also enjoyable.