Exactly 52 Sundays ago today I met the woman who will become my wife. It would not have happened if a lot of things didn't go right, and in some ways, wrong.
First there was The National Debate's Bob Cox pushing me to come to BloggerCon in Palo Alto. Then there was my winepal Bill Gillespie saying, "dude if you're gonna be up there you gotta come to the Family Winemakers Tasting" then there was the person who's like a big brother to me, Rick Caras, who said, "well we'll all be up there too so you should join us for Monday Night dinner." On top of all that there was Om Malik who said "wine and Indian food would be fun" so along with Om, my friend Melanie (MW) Wong who I have known longer than I care to admit from being online and tasting wine with, we organized a wine dinner at Sultan. For I invited long time PR Pal Bill Ryan, my client and friend at Verseon Adityo Prakash (figuring he and his wife would enjoy some really good Indian food with him being Indian--and I know they like wine) and a few other people. Then there was the missed CalTrain because the train left early (3 minutes) while I was trying to get my ticket using my AMEX card--they don't accept AMEX and I had to have a card that has a PIN code meaning option two, my Visa didn't work, resulting in my using my ATM card--(same as cash and the accountant yells at me for that). But the coup de grace was the cabbie whom after I found five bottles of wine to go with Indian food at K&L in San Francisco leaves me off on the wrong side of the W hotel, meaning I have to carry the wine all the way through the restaurant, bar, lobby and reception area.
All that had to happen...and for a very good reason. Helene Malabed! There she was sitting on one of those funky couches, furry pink UGG boots, red wine glass between her ankles, Toshiba Tablet PC on her lap and the most radiant smile I had ever seen. I went upstairs, grabbed my laptop and came down, hoping she was still there. When I got across the way from her I blurted out the only thing I could think of, asking "can I share half of your Internet connection."
That was 52 weeks today and to all of you who played apart in it, including the cab driver and train conductor and especially Om and Melanie, Rick, Bill G and Bob C. from Helene and me a big THANK YOU.
