Today is the tenth anniversary of the day I first met my wife, Lisa.

Her sister, Katy, dragged her out to a country bar where Katy and I had met a few weeks before. Apparently Katy thought Lisa and I would be a good match. Lisa has gone on record about not expecting to meet someone at a ‘honky-tonk’, and had I not been wearing a shirt from the Hard-Rock Café – Rome I had picked up just two months before, we probably never would have spent the evening talking about Italy and travel. She didn’t want to date at that point (not just not date me—she didn’t want to date anyone). But I was patient and persistent, and a couple of months later, on Groundhog Day, we went out on our first non-date date. It was a few more weeks before our first official date-date.

We dated for about 15 months before getting engaged, and were wed a year to the day after we got engaged.

A lot has changed in the last 10 years. Lisa’s hair is longer. I no longer have the goatee, but I do still have the sweater and the boots. We have two wonderful children. We’ve had a rough couple of years with my health, but we’ve had far more ups than downs, and I can’t imagine the last ten years without her.

Happy Anniversary, Lisa!