Martin Alexander LaDuke was born on October 17, 1969, in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the second boy after his older brother, Scott, and ended up being the middle child when his sister, Jillian, followed two years later. He was the quiet one in his family, and often the victim of bullies, both in his neighborhood and at school. He wasn't really a sissy, as was the typical taunt, but his sensitivity and compassion for others and his penchant for sitting alone and thinking gave other boys reason to question his masculinity, and therefore to pick on him mercilessly.

Martin - who was always called Martin, then, never by any nicknames - had a difficult time deciding what to do with his life, and went to college only at the recommendations of several of his high school teachers, who saw potential beneath his quiet, somewhat awkward, appearance. Though he was disorganized in a mad scientist kind of way, often losing homework assignments, never cleaning his locker, forgetting names and capital cities and failing to tie his shoes, he was very smart and a very insightful reader, and they thought he might do well in an English Literature program. Unsure what else to do with himself, Martin enrolled at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and declared his major in English.

After college, Martin applied for many jobs, including substitute teacher, editorial assistant, and publishing intern. He wasn't the greatest at any of those things, but he was very interested in books and reading. He happened to read about programs in library science, and upon learning that part of his job would have to do with reading books, he decided a graduate degree in library science would make him a more marketable employee.

Martin applied to graduate school at the St. John's University in Queens, and was easily accepted. On the first day of class, he met a woman who he knew was absolutely out of his league. She wasn't glamorous by any means, she wasn't even classically beautiful, but Martin thought she was amazing. He found himself sitting near her whenever he could, looking for excuses to talk to her, nearly approaching her in the hallway, then chickening out and cursing himself for not having the guts. Finally, though, fate took over, and he was assigned to work with her on an assignment requiring partners. Her name was Jessica. It took Martin about ten minutes to fall in love.

Jessica was much more outgoing than Martin, and when they started dating, he became the sole player in a perpetual game of follow the leader. They went to parties with her friends. They went to bars where he was given way too much to drink and didn't know how to turn it down. She bought him clothes, scheduled his haircuts, dragged him around like he was some kind of show horse or a well-trained dog gunning for a blue ribbon. And maybe Martin minded just a little bit, but he also loved the attention, and actually thought Jessica might be the best he'd ever do. And if that was his best, could he really complain? Jessica was amazing. He was the one who was a dud.

Martin proposed on the two-year anniversary of their first date, and Jessica gladly accepted, showing off her ring to anyone and everyone who showed even a modicum of interest. They were married in April of the following year, and moved to Sleepy Hollow. Martin was on the top of the world. When he found out, in the Fall, that Jessica was expecting their first child, he was convinced he was the luckiest man alive. As long as he did whatever made Jessica happy, he knew he had it made for the rest of his life.

Scott Joseph LaDuke, Martin and Jessica's son, was born on July 16, 1999. Martin was both enamored of and threatened by his little boy. He loved being around him, looking at him, looking for the family resemblance, holding him and marveling at what he had helped to create. Jessica spoiled the baby with things - toys, clothes, a mobile, teddy bears - but Martin spoiled him with affection. He was the proudest dad, and every little milestone the baby reached, Martin celebrated.

All was well for the family of three for the next two to three years. There were problems in the marriage, and Martin knew they were there, but with a toddler to raise, there was little time for fighting, or even for thinking about what might become of this partnership in the future. It wasn't until Scotty, as they called him, began preschool, that Martin began to fully realize his unhappiness. For one thing, Jessica made him do things he didn't want to do. He was working in a busy public library and on his feet nearly every minute of the day, but when he got home, Jessica would get on his case for being lazy or not fixing broken appliances. Martin would explain that he had no aptitude as a handy-man, and that would cause Jessica to make disparaging remarks about the fifteen pounds he'd gained in his early 30s. No matter what Martin did, no matter how hard he tried, it was never good enough for her, and despite buying a home gym, agreeing to mow the lawn, and learning to change a flat tire, by the time Scotty was five, his parents were getting a divorce.

The divorce was hard on Martin. He kept the house, but Jessica kept physical custody of Scotty, which felt like a punishment to Martin. He had always wanted children, and this was probably the only one he'd ever have, but Jessica was getting to raise him. Thankfully, despite Jessica's pleas, and thanks to Scotty's love for both his mother and his father, the family court judge granted him very liberal visitation rights, but Martin still constantly missed his little boy, and for a long time, felt very lonely and down on himself. He believed there was still something more he could have done to get Jessica and Scotty to stay with him.

One day, however, when Martin was heading into the grocery store, a young blonde woman who was heading out dropped her eggs on the ground, breaking them and spattering their yolks in every direction. Martin assumed it was his lack of luck that stained his pants with raw egg, but fate stepped in once again, and Anke (ankeh), the young woman, turned out to be very sweet, not to mention adorable. They were slow to start dating, because Martin - or Marty, as Anke called him, was so shy, but once they did, it felt only natural that they would fall in love. This past Valentine's Day, Martin popped the question, and the two are now happily engaged and living together in Martin's house.