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You know when you know.

Today marks the fifth year of being mar­ried to an amaz­ing woman. Long before all the Top Chef hub-bub, I met an incred­i­bly intel­li­gent, bub­bly, beau­ti­ful woman for our first date on August 3, 2005. As soon as she stepped out of her car, I recall think­ing, “I’m done!” Though I had be reluc­tant to get into a seri­ous rela­tion­ship, the con­nec­tion was that instant. Before a sin­gle word was spo­ken that evening, every­thing felt right. I accepted the idea that, you know when you know. We wan­dered over to a local wine bar and restau­rant, unbe­known to me that Carla isn’t really a drinker. Nev­er­the­less, we sat down at 6pm and chat­ted through a char­cu­terie board and some small plates, and then we went for a drive. We talked. We laughed. I sang. She smiled. I played music.

Every­thing went along so smoothly that we didn’t real­ize that we were chat­ting away and lis­ten­ing to music until nearly 2am. We said good night, but it as well have been “good start;” because the fun had just begun.

Fast for­ward to April 29, 2011, and I still light up every time I see Carla. As with any cou­ple, we don’t always see eye-to-eye on every­thing (we’re both very strong-willed), but we find a way to resolve differences–whether that’s meet­ing in the mid­dle, not gloat­ing when right, or con­ced­ing defeat when wrong. We find a way.

After five years, my love, admi­ra­tion, and respect for Carla only con­tin­ues to grow. I wish her all the suc­cess in the world, and will/would do any­thing in my power to help her suc­ceed and meet all her goals and dreams.

To Carla: LLL (love love love) today, and every day!