Today I am excited to introduce you to Liz Grimm. Liz has been reading my blog for a few years now and has always been a quiet source of encouragement to me. You will sometimes find her in the comments section of posts, but more than that, her private e-mails and messages to me have always been a great blessing. She and her husband, Chris, even joined in on our March Madness bracket game this year and had us all scared for awhile when they picked their alumni Marquette to go where almost no one else picked them to. They joined right in with the group and enjoyed themselves, which was so cool to see (and impressive too since we tend to bust each others chops a whole lot on there!). Liz has such a sweet spirit about her and I hope you are as blessed by it today as I have been.
How did you and your husband meet?
Chris and I met our freshman year in college at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI (2002). We had a few classes together and became study buddies. We continued our friendship after that semester and even after I transferred schools. After about 2 years of close friendship, we blossomed into a loving relationship going into our junior year (2004). We were married in June 2009 and are excited to announce that we are expecting our first child due this coming April! 
Where was the first place you lived internationally?
Can you tell a little more about the experience? After we graduated college, Chris was offered a job playing in Lugano, Switzerland. When Chris asked if I would come with, and although it meant putting my career on hold for a bit, I was excited for the experience. So here we were, fresh out of college and living abroad in a beautiful city with palm trees. Lugano is one of Europe’s best kept secrets. It is in southern Switzerland and right on the border of Italy making it very Italian influenced. In fact, they speak Italian there! We were about 30 minutes from Como, Italy and about an hour from Milan, Italy. Lugano is located alongside of beautiful lake Lugano and it’s such a picturesque place with the Swiss Alps surrounding us. The weather was very mild and it maybe snowed once. We were very comfortable there. The only complaint was that it was my first experience with “no dryers” and hanging our clothes on a line for them to get nice and crispy wasn’t so much fun.
How many years has/did your husband play(ed)?
This is my husbands 6th season; 4 years in Switzerland (Lugano, Sion, Massagno for two seasons), 1 year in Blois, France, and this season in Skopje, Macedonia.
What cities have you lived in internationally?
I lived in Lugano, Switzerland Chris’s first season and decided to stay home for the next two seasons and begin my own Social Work career. We got married in June of 2009 and made the journey back to Switzerland for his 4th season in Massagno, Switzerland. Last year, I lived in Blois, France and this year I’ll be joining Chris in Skopje, Macedonia. I’ll be traveling there very shortly.
If you had to pick a favorite international city, which one was it and why?
Lugano that very first year was the best experience. Looking back, gosh we were spoiled…new apartment, an AUTOMATIC car, beautiful weather, beautiful scenery, great Italian food, wonderful people, and no pressure from the team’s management because we were winning. Coming very very close in second place was Blois, France. For whatever reason, I was always the only wife around for both seasons I was in Switzerland so it was always me and the guys, which was fine of course. It wasn’t until we lived in Blois, France that I realized how wonderful it was to have other wives and girlfriends around. I feel the relationships we developed in Blois will be life long.
Please share one funny moment in your life as a Basket Wife.
Last year we had many different problems with our apartment. The problems ranged from the heating going out every other day, to broken furniture. The biggest (and smallest problem) was a mouse. My husband is a big guy and some might consider all 6’10″ 270 pounds of him intimidating but the mouse reduced him to a screaming child. I was the only one who had seen the mouse and our attempts of catching him with mouse traps and sticky traps were worthless.
One night while I was in the living room, I heard Chris screaming “MOUSE” from the kitchen. I ran in there screaming and was freaking out. The mouse was on our stove and afraid to move while we were staring at it, afraid to move as well. It was like a stand off. Chris happened to be talking to his parents on skype at the time and they were laughing hysterically at the scene. Every time the mouse moved, Chris screamed which caused me to scream too. We had finally devised a plan to catch the mouse in a towel and then throw it out the window. Unfortunately when we went in for the grab, the mouse ducked behind the counter (as we screamed) and he evaded capture once again.
We finally caught the mouse, who we had named Igor, with a trap that managed to catch him alive. When we saw that we had caught him, my big intimidating husband was too afraid to pick the trap up. I had to give him a little pep talk to get him to remove the mouse and release him safely outside. We were just happy that we didn’t have a snake like another one of Chris’ teammates.
What was the toughest struggle you encountered in your life as a Basket Wife?
I think along with everyone, I struggle with being far away from family, friends, and the comforts of home. I also struggle with all the air travel. Weeks leading up to a flight I experience a lot of anxiety. My husband would say that I am an excellent flyer, which I feel I am once we are in the air and the seat belt sign is turned off. I am very calm and use meditation and prayer as a coping method during take-off, turbulence, and landing. I absolutely love the feeling being on the ground after a flight…I’m all smiles!
What is the greatest lesson you have learned as a Basket Wife?
God has always been a part of my life, but I feel my relationship with Him has grown in the last few years. In this lifestyle of constant uncertainty of where life is going next, I have really learned to trust that no matter where we live from year to year, God has a plan for us and life will work out just fine.
Thanks for the kind words Erin!
My pleasure, Liz!