We were introduced shortly before Valentine's Day 2015. At the time, Monica was working at a medical practice in Aventura where Eddy's Godchild, Mary Jo, was also working. It is as yet unclear what fantastic story MJ was selling which Monica was buying. We owe even greater gratitude to MJ for keeping to herself Eddy’s response to her message sending Monica's photo: “Giddy Up! She's a Q T [cutie] :)” / “She doesn’t have a tail or anything like that does she??” [For those wondering – No, she doesn’t.]

After a few back and forth Facebook messages, in an obvious attempt to skirt the “pressure” of a first date on Valentine's Day, Monica accepted Eddy's invitation to dinner on Sunday, February 15. Since then, after one of us was forced to invest in something a bit more substantial than folding tables, plastic party chairs, and an air mattress, and furnish at least one room, with smiles on our faces, we’ve never looked back.

To be sure, in addition to some grey hairs and a few pounds, the years have brought some challenges, chief among them the losses of Eddy's beloved Father and Monica's beloved Grandfather, as well as Eddy’s Mother’s cancer diagnosis (Mom Won!!), but overall, as Joe Walsh says, “Life's Been Good”: Monica's children, Bryan and Ashley, have grown into well formed, kind, and caring young adults, Monica has fulfilled her dream of becoming an RN, and Eddy's solo practice has progressed quite favorably.

While Monica puts ketchup on just about everything, and Eddy, quite often, not even on fries, this is pretty much where the differences end. Beyond this “culinary contrast,” everything else just seems to joyfully converge: We both enjoy our Families, our Friends, entertaining, good food (with or without ketchup), the occasional adult beverage, Christmas, animals (if you don’t know, ask us about Tiffany, Christmas, and Kitty), and Each Other!! We even share the same favorite color – many of you may know what it is.

More than anything, aside from our Love and Respect for each other, we’ve been blessed and fortunate to find in the other a pillar of unwavering support in a person who does not take him/herself or what life throws at us too seriously. It's cliché, but good things really do come to those who wait.

More importantly, one of us has learned to forgive that she thought (or thinks) the Super Bowl is not always on a Sunday, and the other has learned to overlook that he measures the distance between each nightstand and the bed to make sure both sides are equally distanced ….