I fell in love with my best friend. Taking our friendship to the next level was a huge risk. And it was probably the riskiest thing I have ever done. Boy am I glad that paid off. Our lives were deeply intertwined since the glorious yesteryears of the mid 1980s. We were aware each other because I had gone to school with Joanne’s sister, Jeanice since preschool.  To pretty much sum up our interactions, we knew that the other existed on the face of the earth. It was not until the summer of 1999 in UC Davis did we get reintroduced. I had heard of Joanne before from friends who said I should “check out” Jeanice’s sister.  So on a beautiful sunny morning on my bus ride to school, Jeanice introduced me and I thought “Hot damn, Jeanice’s sister is cute!” Bringing out the smoothness of George Clooney within myself, I shyly waved hi. To my amazement, I must have not made such a great impression because later that day, I saw Joanne walking towards me and I again waved my hand in the air. However, Joanne just walked right pass me. Feeling like Little Mac being knocked down with Mike Tyson’s uppercut but coming back with Doc’s help, I made a great recovery and with my hand still in the air, I pictured a friend across the street to wave at.  From that point on, Joanne and I became best of friends while at dental school in UCSF and as they say, the rest is history.

It all started with a preschool called “Noah’s Ark”.  My sister Jeanice had just started her first day of school on a cool September morning in 1984.  Unbeknownst to her (and me!), a mischievous little boy named Jeff would be in her class.  Because Jeff and my sister were in the same preschool, our families quickly became familiar with each other through school functions.  He even came over to our house when we were younger for birthday parties…I have a picture of him wearing his little red bow-tie!  We later wound up at the same K-8 school, Holy Name.  From then on, Jeff would follow me wherever I went (ha ha ha…just kidding…well, not really).  We both went to Lowell High School, UC Davis for undergrad, and finally UCSF for dental school.  Throughout college, we became really good friends, but it wasn’t until dental school that we discovered our common loves of traveling, movies/musicals, and good food!  Jeff finally gathered the courage to ask me out during the end of our second year, and the rest is now history.  And although this is the first time Jeff and I are NOT in the same school, the time apart has only made our relationship stronger, and I look forward to sharing our lives together!