or was it September 10, 1979 First Day of 6th Grade: Although Michael and I have known each other since East Middle School, to those who think this is a rekindled love, it is not. At Downey High, Michael was a jock, a popular kid, a good student, and a troublemaker. I was an actress - very dramatic - and that’s really about it. We moved in very different circles; and while I certainly knew him, (everybody knew Newkirk), I still don't believe that he knew me...Insert 50+ years of living...Aside from our mutual need to live more than one life, a couple such as we could not seem more unlikely. I thought I knew everything there was to know about Mike Newkirk – until that day, 5 years ago, when we first met again. Five Green Lights New Year’s Day 2017, Rams Game: The night before I'd had a New Year's Eve party and was still sleeping when our mutual friend, Kerry Oh, invited me to join him and a few others at the LA Rams game. “Who's going?” I asked. “Cathy, Scott, Mike Newkirk.” (Memories of when we were kids came rushing in. He had lived as a fixture in my imagination for decades. No one held such real estate.) Assigned to gather me, there he was standing in my lobby, beaming, as I rushed in from walking Violet. We went upstairs to my apartment, and as I unleashed V and grabbed my jacket, Michael looked around and said, “It smells like mustard.” He was right. I hadn’t cleaned up from the night before… Twenty minutes later, we all walked down the street toward the Coliseum while Michael walked ahead on his own, be-bopping. At that moment, I knew that he was where I wanted to be, and not wanting him to walk alone, I ran to catch up. Right on cue, he pulled his ear pod out and handed it to me, and together we walked to the Rams game singing the Commodores. That afternoon two weirdos found our home… Michael calls it seeing Five Green Lights.

There is a word in Yiddish, "bashert," which means it was meant to be. There are two experiences for which I am grateful: finding my ring and the falling of falling in love.