Tomas Kubrican and Carol Mittlesteadt

Tomas Kubrican and Carol Mittlesteadt

Interview transcript

TK:I got this job at Paul Bunion Restaurant as a cook. In the same year Carol picked the same place for her summer job as a waitress.

CM: When I saw Tomas, it was on my interview. He was sorting silverware in the kitchen.

TK: She caught me eye and I got immediately interested in her. But she thought that I have some mental disorder.

CM: He just kept starring at me all the time and never saying anything.

TK: My English was not good.

CM: I just thought he was a little bit odd and I kind of felt sorry for him. And one day I went to pick up my pancakes, and it was Tomas’s job to make the pancakes every morning. So I went to pick up my platter, and now the pancakes were in the shape of hearts. So then I knew something was really up.

TM: Right.

CM: Our first date I decided to take him to a concert on the square where the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra was playing. At one point the mood turned really romantic and he turned to me and he said…

TM: “I’m sick of you”.

CM: And I said, what?

TM: Basically what it’s translated from Slovak language, that’s how we say I’m love sick. But you know, it turned out a little different, so.

CM: I heard I’m sick of you.

TM: Reading her facial expression I realized that, uh, it probably doesn’t mean the same thing.

CM: I decided to give him a second chance anyway.

TM: Our wedding date actually was exactly three years later.

CM: Tomas’s parents came from Slovakia. You know his parents couldn’t understand English so we decided to say our vows in English and in Slovak. So, the day came and I said my vows in English, and it came to the part in Slovak, and I said, “I Carol, take you Tomas, to be my wife.” Tomas cracked a little smile.

TM: In Slovak, husband and wife is a very similar word.

CM: To this day, we still tease each other that Tomas is my wife.

TM: It’s kind of another thing to laugh about now.