Our daughter, Leslie, didn't date much in high school. She had a few crushes but they never culminated into many nights out at the movies. That was fine with her Dad and me. Right before she started her senior year, she was invited on a blind date. We'd never heard of him. She'd heard of him - he had been the quarterback at her high school, a fact that didn't necessarily endear him to her heart. Leslie truly could have cared less if the sport existed back then.

She'll tell you now the only reason she agreed to go on the date, after we'd looked him up in the yearbook, driven by his house, and asked around a bit, was this: her dog had just died, a few days before. If you've read any of her posts, you know she is a wee bit strange when it comes to animals. She decided maybe a date would be a distraction. That ended up being the understatement of the century for the two of them.

I won't tell you all of their story, but he thought her hair was too curly and she thought him a bit rude. Typical blind date. They decided to see each other the next day in spite of first impressions. Holy mamoly baboly, as Lauren would say! We couldn't get rid of the guy! Madly in love, they fell, and he's been around ever since.

Today's Jeremy's birthday - he's 27. When we met him he looked like this. He was a few days shy of 19. Shy, quiet, soft-spoken.