14

Fourteen years ago today, I took my then girlfriend, Amy, to Alexander's on the Bay. I had spent a lot of time planning, or I should say worrying, about that night. I was very nervous. I was so nervous that I couldn't eat all day.

A month or so before then, I took my mother's wedding band and had part of it added to an engagement design I liked. I asked some of my friends who were girls to question Amy about the cut of diamond she liked best. I bought the biggest ring I that I could barely afford, and spent the next two years paying it off.

I talked to a couple of friends who had a band and convinced them to come to the restaurant unannounced and sing for us. I couldn't take the chance that the owner would say no and decided that was the best plan.

We dressed up for dinner. I told her a story about doing something different and dressing up, after all, it was a fancy restaurant.

We sat down and I nervously tried to make small talk while looking out for my friends and hoping it would all go as planned.

Then they came around the corner. You could hear them first. They walked in slowly towards the table singing Amie. One guitar and two voices, singing the part that goes like this-

"Amie, what you wanna do,

I think I could stay with you,

For a while, maybe longer if I do...

Don't you think the time is right for us to find,

All the things we thought weren't prob'ly could be right in time,

And can you see, which way we should turn, together or alone..."

And now it is 14 years later, we have three kids, and I am still a big goober. I often wonder how I got so lucky in life.