I was briefly married to a woman who cheated on me, so I decided to take a couple of years to get to know myself. No dating, no distracting myself by constantly hanging with friends. I wanted to figure out my own life, so I could move on in a healthy way. Near the end of the two years, my best friend invited me to join him and his fiancé for dinner and a movie. When we met at the restaurant, there was another woman seated at the table. I felt like I'd been tricked, and over the course of dinner, we exchanged maybe two words. We met again shortly thereafter, and again, we barely spoke. At the end of the evening, though, she mentioned she'd been house-sitting for her boss, who had an amazing home and kitchen. I told her that I'd happily take that kitchen for a test drive and cook dinner for the four of us. When the evening arrived, I knocked on the door and was greeted by the same woman I'd met twice previously. She looked beautiful, and while there had been no spark before, something was beginning to change. The evening was fun, the food and conversation enjoyable, and later that evening, I said my goodbyes. A month or so later, I told my friend I was ready to date again and asked him whether he thought she'd be interested. As luck would have it, she had just moved from Los Angeles to Miami. I had lost my opportunity. A year later, my friend and his fiancé were getting married in Carmel and asked me to be a groomsman. I was happy for them, and we sat at the rehearsal dinner. I could not believe my great good fortune when the woman walked into the room. She looked stunning in a 1940s dress, pearls, Doc Martens, and ray-bands. I excused myself from the bachelor's table and went for a walk on the beach, all the while thinking of her. The following evening after the wedding, we were inseparable, talking, dancing, kissing on the sand until the sun rose the next morning. Everything between us changed. She returned home and we spoke on the phone every morning, then again for hours every evening. We'd play Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn in the background. We had never dated and had so much yet to learn about each other, but after a few months, she moved in with me. Six months later, we were married. That was in 1993. In April, we will celebrate our 30th anniversary in France. We've both a business, both at home ourselves, have been through innumerable adventures together, some thrilling, some challenging, but at no point could I have pictured a second of it without her. The love of my life and my best friend.