Canada Day, 1999

That's when it all started. July 1st, 1999. I had no idea, as I was getting ready to go over to my friend Paige's house, that this day would change the direction that the rest of my life would take. To be honest, I didn't really want to go. It felt awkward. Paige was in newly-wedded bliss and was playing matchmaker. I'm grateful to her now, but as I was getting ready to go, I was dragging my feet.

"Maybe, I won't go," I thought, "I could call Paige and tell her that I can't come." But even as I was thinking it, I knew that I couldn't back out. There were going to be three guys and three girls there. It would be weird for everybody if I ditched and put things out of balance.

So, I went. I was late, but I went. And of course, it was a little awkward because these situations always are, but that's where Kedar and I met.

It's amusing to me now that it happened to be Canada Day: he served his mission in Canada, I had I roommate from Canada. We were the only two there who knew the Canadian National Anthem, so we sang it together. I made a rose for him out of a napkin. And after dinner and the dishes and after everybody else had left, he walked me to my car...

and that's how it all started...