"Thanks to an unusual
power-sharing arrangement, the Schumachers boast a peaceful
coexistence..."
In June of 1985, Kathleen and John Schumacher met
on the Catawba Islands in Lake Erie. "I saw these two very attractive ladies who
were having dinner," John says, referring to Kathleen and her sister. "I
walked over and said, 'I'm having dinner with you,' and that was
that."
He and Kathleen spent a few days together on the island, then started a long-distance relationship between New Prague, where he worked at his historic inn and restaurant, and Cleveland, where she was chief clinical dietitian at a teaching hospital.
Kathleen made her second trip to Minnesota at Thanksgiving, and by the end of the weekend she was ready to quit her job in Ohio. "[My boss] wanted three months' notice," Kathleen says, "so in February, John flew out, loaded up my stuff, and moved me to Minnesota." Within months, Kathleen started managing the front of the restaurant and inn, and two years later they married.
achers credit some of the spice in their thirteen-year marriage to the unusual ritual that governs their social calendar: From week to week, they alternate making all the small decisions in their personal life--"from dining and entertainment to sex to holding the television clicker," Kathleen says.
It's a ritual they tried five years ago after Kathleen saw it suggested by "some therapist on some talk show," and the couple is pleased with the results. "Our interests are different," Kathleen says, "yet if he didn't have his weeks, I probably wouldn't get exposed to things that I like now."
Because of the arrangement, Kathleen goes fishing and John endures ballet. John's son, C'Jay, is following suit with his fiancée. It's a system that encourages both John, fifty-two, and Kathleen, forty-four, to come up with creative ideas--a task that also helps their inn and restaurant. "We're always thinking up romantic things for us and our guests," Kathleen says. "We're in the romance business."
