The JOURNal for our
family's JOURNey!

The Szatkowski Journey

Our family Journey has really just begun. Follow us as our family reaches exciting milestones.

  • Sophie Grace Szatkowski

    Sophie was born on January 3rd at 5:54pm. She came into this world weighing 7 pounds and 15 ounces and was 21 inches long. Sophie wanted to hang out as long as she could inside Karen, but she was evicted when she decided to wait an extra 4 days past her due date. She is a beautiful little baby and is everything that Karen and Rick had hoped for.

  • Pregnant?!

    Karen found out that she is pregnant. Karen and Rick are so excited to be starting a family of their own. Karen surprised Rick while he was eating breakfast getting ready to go to work. Rick couldn’t believe it and needed to see the test, and even then they both couldn’t believe it. The due date of their child is set for December 30th, 2011.

  • The Szatkowskis

    Karen and Rick were joined together in holy matrimony on February 13th. They got married at St. John the Evangelist in Naples. They had the reception at the Hilton in Naples. Karen and Rick had such an amazing day. Everything went smoothly without a problem. Karen was even able to keep Rick up on the dance floor all night long. They were blessed to be joined by such amazing family and friends for their big day.

  • First Home

    Karen and Rick finally closed on their first house on December 4th. They got a beautiful house in Estero in the community Lakes of Estero. It is a 4 bedroom with 2.5 bath, 2600 sqft home. It is large enough for them to do plenty of growing into.

  • Engaged!

    Karen and Rick got engaged on Christmas Day. Karen had to wait 5 long years for Rick to finally ask the big question. He proposed to her at their condo with one of the books, “The Chronicles of Karen and Rick”, that he had made for her in the past. She said "Yes" and here we are! Karen didn’t know what she was getting herself into.

  • Karen Gets Her Master's Degree

    Karen graduated with a Master’s in Occupational Therapy from the University of Florida. After completing her education, she moved back to Naples and started looking for a job. She got her first job as an acute care Occupational Therapist at Lee Memorial Hospital in Ft. Myers.

  • Karen & Rick Graduate College

    Karen graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s in Health Science. She wasn’t done yet though, as she needed to go to graduate school to get a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy. Rick graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelor’s in Computer Science. He stayed in Naples and continued working for the same company (Internet Office) that he had been working for through college.

  • Karen & Rick Meet

    Karen and Rick met on April 10, 2004 in Gainesville, FL. Karen attended school at the University of Florida in Gainesville and was invited to a party by her friend Priya. The party was held at Steve's apartment and Rick had also been invited up to this party – in fact, the party was a birthday party to celebrate Rick's 19th birthday. Karen was hesitant about attending the party, so Priya took Karen to the Reitz Union (the student union at UF) to play pool with Steve and Rick before the party. Once Karen laid her eyes on Rick, she said she would definitely go to the party! The night included Quizno's, a movie rental, and flip cup…and sparks flew between Karen and Rick. Before the end of the night, they were holding hands. When Karen returned home to Naples at the end of her freshman year, Rick was excited to start dating Karen.

  • Karen & Rick Graduate High School

    Karen and Rick didn’t know each other at this point. We both attended Barron Collier High School and were in the same grade, but never knew one another. They wouldn’t meet till later the next year through their high school friends, Steve and Priya.

  • Rick moves to Naples

    Rick’s dad gets a job down in Southwest Florida, so the family moves to warm, sunny Florida. Rick had lived in Alpharetta, Georgia for his whole life, but it was good timing as he was just going to be starting high school. He didn’t know at the time, but he was going to the same high school as the love of his life.

  • Karen moves to Naples

    Karen's dad's company moves to Naples, Florida and the Driscoll family moves with them. Up until this point, Karen had lived in East Hampton, New York for her whole life. Karen starts 3rd grade in Naples, Florida.

  • Karen Patricia Driscoll

    Karen was born September 27th, 1985. She came out right on time, thanks to hurricane Gloria hitting New York. She was born at 9:12 pm weighing 7 pounds and 11 ounces. She was 19 inches long. She was born in to this world with just one light bulb on in the room as the power was out at the hospital.

  • Richard Eric Szatkowski

    Rick hung on as long as he could and came out Easter Sunday, April 7th, 1985. He was born at 12:30pm weighing 9 pounds and 10 ounces. He was 21 inches long. Rick took so long to come out (2 weeks more than expected), that his Dad built a deck on the back of the house while anxiously awaiting his son's arrival.