We met while working together at Elmcrest Children's Center. It was NOT love at first sight! Renee was busy working fulltime and achieving her Master's Degree from Syracuse University. I was busy trying to figure out how I ended up working at Elmcrest. However, as time passed I realized I was making a difference in the kids lives. It put my life back into perspective and gave me an appreciation for people willing to dedicate their careers to working in the Social Work field. After knowing each other for a year, a friendship started to blossom. I realized I had a lot more "free" time than Renee and began to encourage her as she pushed to finish grad school. Renee was a constant reminder of the great work I was doing with the kids and how I made the other staff feel safe when all hell would break loose, like every other day in the Elmcrest world!! When Renee's career took her to another job outside the agency it gave me the opportunity to ask her on a date. We went to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, where I made another bold move of ordering the fried green tomatoes (Renee hates tomatoes). I asked her to trust me, and guess what, the tomatoes were a hit and so was the date! The rest is history. We look forward to celebrating with everyone on June 13th!