Seven years ago today, at a happy hour-gone-long, I mustered up the courage to meet Sarah at Helen Fitzgerald's in South County. I won't go into a lot of details (check out past issues of St. Louis' Best Bridal magazine or STLtoday.com's bridal page on the Way Back Machine if you haven't heard this already and give a damn). I will, however, state the obvious: My life has never been the same. And that's a good thing.

I now have a beautiful wife, an awesome son, a quirky (and annoying) dog, a cool house, a master's degree and so many other things I could have never imagined. So really, who gives a crap drama at work and other non-importantissues. Life's about family, and that -- kind of -- makes me feel better about things.