Constable: As pandemic and job stress grew, so did their marriage
At the start of 2020, Crystal and Glenn Broj, married for 30 years with two adult daughters living out of state, had to make an effort just to share a meal in their Deer Park home. Crystal, the chief technology and innovation officer for a health association, sometimes left for work by 5 a.m., and Glenn, an IT manager for a drugstore chain, often did not get home until 7 p.m. Even their text messages to each other didn't always earn a quick response.
“We were not always seeing each other in the morning, and might not connect until later in the day,” Glenn says. “Our dinners could be brief.”
Change was coming.
“I lost my job, and then COVID hit,” Crystal says. With her searching for a new job and the pandemic forcing people to work from home, Crystal and Glenn made the most of their time together. In addition to watching movies and concerts and spending time together at their outdoor fire pit, they took virtual painting classes together, and worked together to perfect their gourmet cooking skills.
“Glenn was my rod. He made me laugh and kept me going,” Crystal says. Glenn grew up in Des Plaines, Crystal grew up in Streamwood, and they met as computer science majors at Northern Illinois University. They started dating after graduation and were married in 1990.
Crystal started her new job with another national organization last month. Often working from home, the couple now share coffee breaks and lunch before returning to their separate home offices.
“We've learned to slow down a little and enjoy our time together more,” Crystal says.
“It's made things a little more leisurely,” Glenn says.
As a way to “keep busy” during the pandemic, Crystal started drawing and writing. “This year was the first I've ever tried it, but it was kind of fun,” she says.
She wrote and self-published seven “Aleksa and Ari's Adventures” children's books, starring her nieces as young girls coping with life during the pandemic. To honor health care workers, Crystal painted a 20-by-10-foot canvas mural, which the Lake Zurich public works department hung from the side of the Offbeat Music store in the village's downtown. The painting includes likenesses of the couple's daughters, Sarah, 28, a pediatric ICU nurse in San Diego, and Emily, 24, a surgical ICU nurse currently assigned to a COVID-19 unit in St. Louis.
The Broj family knows the horror and heartache of a coronavirus that has closed businesses, disrupted lives and seems destined to kill 500,000 Americans. But the pandemic also has helped them refocus on each other.
Having once learned how to make pasta from scratch during a trip to Italy, they always are interested in mastering complicated recipes.
“The harder the better,” Crystal says. “I can make Julia Childs' French bread.”
During the pandemic, she posted photos of everything from stuffed pretzels to homemade sushi on her Facebook page.
Those skills will come in handy for their Valentine's Day celebration, on a day when record cold and lingering snow make it easier to adhere to pandemic restrictions on public outings.
“We're staying in, of course,” says Crystal, noting the couple did an online painting course on Friday and might host a video call with their daughters for Valentine's Day. “We'll make some dinner and chill.”
Most importantly, they'll do it together.