Ten Years and Two Days Later

One spring day in 2002, Paul & I met up at The Diner on Clifton (in Lakewood) to introduce each other to our friends for the first time. We had been an item for all of three weeks. I had my camera with me just in case. It was a very fun evening, and our friends enjoyed meeting each other. One of his friends, Lisa, asked him how many months he'd been hiding me. "Umm..point-seven-five?" I said. She then proceeded, purely by accident, to take what is one of the best pictures of the two of us ever taken. Never mind that Paul had just taught two Aikido classes, I had had a long day (it was about 10:30 at night by then), and we both were exhausted. We looked radiant.

Then: April 8, 2002

Fast forward 10 years. We thought it would be fun to revisit the Diner tonight. We haven't been there for years. I don't know why--it's less than a half-hour drive away. We still have the clothes we wore that night (well, the tops anyway). We got there, took a corner booth, and asked our server if she would do us the favor of taking our picture. She was all too happy to. I dug through my backpack, only to realize that I had forgotten the camera at home. I was so disappointed!

She was so nice. She volunteered to take the picture on her phone and email it to me. Thank you, Mandy Drahos--you get our Outstanding Employee Award.

Now: April 10, 2012

This has been the best decade of my life so far.