17 years ago today…

Seventeen years ago today, I married my best friend. We’d been dating for five years before that, so, technically, we’ve been together for twenty-two years. Which is just crazy. And, of course, like most people that have been together that long, we have a three-and-a-half year-old daughter. Ha.

Anyway, seeing as today is kind of special, I wanted to take a moment to thank my wife for a couple of things. One, for marrying me. These days it’s kind of hard to remember what we were like before Greta came along, but, all I know is that the happiest day in my life was when Mrs. Yeti said she’d move with me to L.A. so I could attend grad school. Seriously, when Mrs. Yeti finally agreed to tether herself to my big old silver van and move south, well, that made me very happy because I knew that meant that we’d get married someday too. Or, at the very least have a grand adventure in Hollywood. It just so happens, we did both.

The second thing I’d like to thank Mrs. Yeti for is for always being there for me. There were many years where things looked very bleak and any sane woman would have been well within her rights to run screaming in the other direction. But, Mrs. Yeti never wavered. She may have voiced some concerns over the years, but, she was always there, standing firm. Right by my side. Let me tell ya, if your ship is sinking, she’s the gal you want in your dinghy. I mean that with all my heart, she is my rock and I can never thank her enough for sticking it out with me. Especially during the lean years.

And finally, I want to thank her for bringing Greta into this world.

We waited a long time to have a baby, longer than we probably should have, but, there just never seemed to be the right time. And then one day — in one of those lean years I mentioned above — she said: “It’s time. We need to do this now.” I hadn’t sold a script in four years, my agent was in jail for stealing from her clients, and I had just been fired from my day job at a coffee shop. We had no money, one leased car that we shared and two cats. I could not think of a worse time to start a family, but, once again, she knew what she was doing.

“If we wait until the time is right, we might never have a baby.” She insisted. And she was right. So, we started trying and it ended up taking us five soul-crushing years to get pregnant. She had at least three miscarriages during that time, two that hurt and one that really ripped our hearts out. It was brutal, and, honestly, there were times when I thought we should just stop trying, that maybe we had missed our tiny window of opportunity.

But, there was no stopping her now. And, as always, Mrs. Yeti was right. We turned to a friend who turned us onto an acupuncturist in Silver Lake who specialized in fertility problems. And, literally, one month after she started treatments, Mrs. Yeti was pregnant.

It was a difficult, trying pregnancy, and I feared for the worst through most of it. But, thanks to our lovely acupuncturist, a plethora of foul-smelling Chinese herbs, and even some good old, Western medicine — you’d be surprised how well your health care providers treat you when you’ve had three miscarriages! Seriously, we had like monthly ultrasounds from very early-on. It was awesome. — we ended up having a happy, healthy baby girl that has enriched our lives a thousand times over.

And now, as I look forward to the next seventeen years (and beyond!), all I can say is “Thank You”. I don’t know how I got so lucky, but, I am grateful every single day that we met and fell in love all those years ago at that crazy old GapKids in San Francisco. Everything deep and magical in my life begins and ends with you. You are my life and I can’t imagine my world without you in it.

Now, hurry up with that popcorn and beer! My Mom only has Greta for the afternoon and we’ve got like, three days of Olympic coverage to watch.

I know it sounds crazy, but, we celebrated our anniversary a day early, and that’s exactly what we did today. Popcorn, beer, Chinese take-out and Tivo. All day. And it was perfection. Happy anniversary, sweetie. I love you…