Dud3s

I think because you came up with a great example I really can't think of any off the top of my head that match it. Maybe one day a moment will come to mind.

Right now, finishing my Iromman is way up there. The first time my little girl told me that I was her best friend - she was turning two the next day. That completely rocked. Bumping into my future wife in music class my senior year in college. Whonu?

When my then 6-7 year old daughter came into our bedroom as she was heading off to her own bed and said, "I'll love you 'til a circle stops." Awesome.

When my 15 year old daughter recently apologized for some of her appalling behavior, unprompted, and seemed to really understand what was so so bad about what she did. Yes, with that one, it's the little things.

During both of my pregnancies I bonded with my children in the womb. I would sing to them and rub my stomach. They would kick back.

When I held my children for the first time. Both of them immediately responded to my voice.

When my long-time boyfriend would look at me and say, "I love you and I don't know what I would do without you."

I don't have a very good memory, but one of the most important memories that sticks in my mind is the night I met Eleni, my wife. We were out in NYC in a limo with our friends for a birthday and I remember on our way back to Connecticut we started off driving around the East Village and most people on the limo were passed out and sleeping. Eleni was sleeping on my lap and I was wide awake, looking out the windows, taking in all the lights and sights of New York City at night, reflecting on the night and all the events that occurred after we first met only a few hours earlier.

Oh, and another memory that really stands out (way less importance than meeting Eleni) was when 9rules won the Best Community award at SXSW Interactive a few years ago. Sitting around the table, hearing the word 9rules spoken into the microphone, it was like time stood still. I was so incredibly excited that it felt like I was moving in slow motion as I got up from the table, shook hands with people around me, and then walked up to the podium to give a terribly impromptu speech.

The second time Mel asked me out was to the year end Biomedical Science party which we were a part off. It wasn't the fact I saw her in a skirt for the first time. It wasn't the fact that the skirt had a high slit which kept blowing in the wind as we walked to the event. It wasn't that we had a blast kicking back with friends.

It was when the night was over and she reached up and kissed me on the corner of my lips and left without a word. I repaid the kiss a week later in full much to her cat-like amusement.

Flash forward 10 months later. We're living together and we're dating each other. Mel looked me in the eye in the kitchen while I was preparing her breakfast one morning and said for the first time:

"I love you."

Knowing her and her fear of committing to any relationship, those words didn't just change my life and made my year, I know it changed hers as well.

18 months after that, I waited at the airport gate as Mel stepped off the plane returning from Malaysia after 4 months to attend my graduation.

We looked into each other eyes and kissed the kiss that only lovers apart could kiss. Embracing each other so tight, I knew even if it's just for a little while, she's back and whatever I've endured in the past few months, it would have just been a dream I'm waking up from.

The long twilight's just ended. She's the dawn I'm waking up to and my day has just begun great.

These are the moments I'll remember but each lasted only seconds. I know it's corny but the birth of my child, seeing and even smelling him for the first time was the first official part of our relationship. (Like Tyme, we had an established relationship during the last few months of the pregnancy). Watching the national news with my preschooler next to me and finding words and concepts he could understand at his level as I translated 'adult speak'. Wearing the Mother's Day g-d awful-looking earrings to work. Attending one sister's wedding and the other sister's Law School graduation ceremonies. At work, there was a boy many years ago. He trusted me. It's too long of a story to write here, but Jose 'rocked my world'.

One of the few "rock my world" moments was, ironically, at a rock concert. I traveled nearly the full length of California to see a favorite band in concert, and standing under a the stars, alone a crowd of more than a thousand, and everyone singing my favorite song. It was a moment that connected me to everyone, that feeling that "omg, everyone else feels like I do."

The other one was the graduation ceremony for my AA. Not just because it took me seven years to get a two year degree, but because it marked another ending and beginning, since I was transfering to a four year college for my BA, and that was a dream I never ever thought would be possible.