We both graduated from high school in 1996 and went to a local community college. Immediately Robert started working in the theater department. In 1998 my cousin (and MOH) performed in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Robert was the Stage Manager. She introduced me to all of her new friends from the theater department including Robert. It took some convincing that they were good people because Theater people can be a little crazy, but eventually I became great friends with all of them.

In January of 2001, Robert and I both found ourselves single. The weekend of my MOH's birthday, I arranged for her brother to come up from San Diego for the weekend. Robert hung out the entire weekend with the clan. A few days after that weekend, we officially started dating, and as they say, the rest is history.