Happy 19th Anniversary Honey!

I knew a few things when I met my honey:

• That within a week of meeting him, I knew that I met my future husband. (It took him a few years to figure that out though!)
• I would become a golf widow (though I took up golf to avoid that).
• It would be hard to ever stay mad at him because he makes me laugh.
• That I would marry him all over again!

When I met my husband 21 years ago, he looked like this.

Mama C and the Boys noticed on my Instagram account when my husband finally made an appearance on my social media. He’s a bit elusive when it comes to being in front of the camera. See what I mean?

At a photoshoot at the golf clothing apparel company that I started after business school (now defunct).

The photos I had of him before I started taking photos of him revolve around golf. He practiced 18 hours a day during the summers because it was just fun for him.

He started playing golf at around age 9 and never looked back.

High school golf yearbook photos.

But what else makes him happy besides an eagle or a hole-in-one? I thought I’d ponder that list in honor of our 19th anniversary.

19 Things That Make My Husband Happy

1. When the bed is made.

2. When anyone notices a small detail in our house that he agonized over like a drawer pull,  the hinge on the door, or the molding around the windows.

3. When the house is clean.

The night he proposed. We are at a bar in Carmel called Sadies on New Year’s Eve. After midnight, we walk on Carmel Beach and onto the 10th green at Pebble Beach which is accessible off the beach. It’s not the famous hole that makes PickyKidPix think it could have been a better moment.

4. When UCLA beats USC (or when anyone beats USC’s football team).

5. When FC Barça beats Réal Madrid (or when anyone beats Réal Madrid).

We’re engaged!

6. A hot bowl of pho, even on a hot day.

7. The dive Brazilian buffet restaurant near our house especially on Fridays, fish stew day!

8. Houseplants.

Our first ratty apartment in West Los Angeles.

9. When the temperature is above 60 degrees.

10. That his work attire is now work boots and paint-encrusted hoodies.

11. Discovering new country rock bands that can actually carry a tune like The Avett Brothers.

12. When he gets home and there’s a nice hot dinner waiting for him.

13. When the kids actually do the thing he asks them to do without repeating himself over and over again.

14. When he hits the exact golf shot he’s going for. It’s not necessarily making a birdie or eagle but hitting that difficult shot.

15. When UCLA has a great basketball team. (His alma mater; they won the NCAA championship in 1993, the year we met.)

His bachelor posse.

16. When his kids display their good manners to adults thus dispelling the fear that people will think they were raised by wolves (because he thinks I was raised by wolves).

17. Bud Lite in a can. Yes, he’s had scores of other beers but he just prefers Bud Lite in a can and he’s not afraid to say it.

Meeting my mother.

18. Waking up each morning, thus cheating death for one more day.

19. Being married to me! Happy Anniversary honey!

19 years and 3 kids! Who would have thunk?

My books:

 Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

• Junior Library Guild Gold selection
• Massachusetts Book Award Long List
• Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
• Starred review from School Library Journal
• Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
• 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
• Green Earth Book Award Long List
• Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids

 Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me