A decade ago I was sitting in my favorite bar, The Alibi, in Hillcrest, California sipping on a "Big Dipper" (aka really gross fucking beer in a very large glass). The door opens and this boy walks in... he crosses in front of me, walks to the other end of the bar, talks to a girl. I turn to my friend, actually, my best friend's friend, Garth, and say "That guy was really cute." Garth yells, loudly, down to the end of the bar "HEY SHE THINKS YOU'RE REALLY CUTE!!!!!!!!!!" Said cute boy walks my way, "Shit, what do I say?" He hands me his business card and tells me that he is late meeting up with friends, he has to go, but give him a call. Yea right. I throw the card out and take up my drink... Right around, right now, 10pm, we all saunter over to our other favorite bar...the one with real beer on tap, LiveWire. There he is... the cute boy... just sitting there. We talk for hours, he gives me his number, I give him mine. Angel is spending the weekend at my house and we stumble home (after much alcohol, Denny's chicken fried steak and coffee) around 3am to a phone ringing. It's cute boy... he comes over. We talk all night and we fall in love....

Ten years later, unbeknownst to me... you see, I knew we met sometime the week before Thanksgiving but not exactly the date... My mom is coming over, she has a doctor appointment in the morning and she is going to just stay at our house since she's an hour and a half away and I'm just a half hour from the doctor. This happens frequently - it isn't suspect at all. The Husband & I decide to go to dinner and take advantage of having a babysitter (the only one my kids know). I open the door to get in the car, there's a pink rose on the seat. How sweet, I think. How thoughtful. I ask if he knows where we are going...he says he has an idea... we drive south... south... downtown... the Prado... I'm starting to wonder... we park and he tells me "Oh I heard about this place..." I'm thinking "Prado - I heard it's horrible!" We near a fountain, he guides me to it... he sits me down. I'm now wondering what is going on... he pulls out the camera... 10 years ago, we took a picture, a self-portrait, there in that spot... 10 years later, we take another one. Nostalgia.

Back to the car, I'm starting to be confused. We drive around the block trying to find a parking spot near the Alibi but I'm thinking we are going to dinner at a nearby restaurant. I'm guided into the Alibi, we order a beer (but not a Big Dipper - they have real beer there now). A guy is talking to a girl, she's giving him her number, she leaves and I take her seat. I say to the guy "Hey, you never know. We met here, right here, about 10 years ago. Now we are married and have two children." He says "Really... today is 10 years?" I say, "Well, sometime this week." He toasts us, gives us his seat.

Now we are back in the car and I'm even more confused... where could we possibly be going now? When we end up at Jimmy Wong's (Golden Dragon), I'm really confused. This is the site of our first date meal... I ask "Is this nostalgia night?" The Husband says he was just in the mood.

Back in the car, we go an entirely different direction than anywhere we'd "typically" go... and when The Husband parks in front of the apartment I used to live in, the one that we spent that entire first night talking in, I'm really confused. Then he shines the light... 10 years ago TONIGHT, RIGHT NOW, we met and we started our life together. 10 years ago we stood in that window, the one we can look out the window and see and we talked and we talked and we melted into each other. 10 years later, the man that I love, presented me with the most wonderous poem that he wrote for me... that he poured himself into. Then we popped the cork on some champage, had some of that Trader Joe's Dark Truffle chocolate (see mindless entry below) and toasted to 10 years of being together... and to many more decades of love (oh and celebrated our love, there in the car, in front of the house, in front of the window, we spent our first night in).