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Beginnings
from JC's point of view

Meanders

It all began with a Meander. What's a meander, you ask? Good question. From the authoritative source, www.meander.org, a meander is a wander along beaches & trails of the Santa Monica and Malibu Mountains

My long time friend and housemate, Samuel Goldstein, began a tradition of full moon hikes in the early 90s. He called these gatherings "meanders." The tradition continues to this day. The hikes take place on the Saturday night closest to the full moon. A gaggle of 10 to 30 folk from various walks of life gather with bottles of wine and stories of interest. They wander off into the night, up some random fire road, to a plateau overlooking the city or the ocean. Then they sit and share. Random people stand and tell a tale or sing a song. There's poetry and humor, wit and imagination. It stays refreshing and unique. And the crowd is always different.

Borneo

It was on such an evening I met Alicia. Alicia was a young CalFed bank manager at the time. She came at the suggestion of one of her clients, Susan, who happens to be an old friend of Samuel. Her first meander was entertaining enough for her to return on subsequent hikes.

After several meanders Alicia chanced to walk with a cocky young man (i.e., me) with hair that immediately made one think "engineer." We sat near each other on a grassy embankment with the lights of Brentwood in the distance. We shared cheese and wisecracks while Kevin crooned Nirvana's "All Apologies." Then conversation turned to travel and soon we were discussing a common desire to explore the depths of Borneo. Not your typical island getaway. I was thinking, "Hey, it's not every day you meet a woman interested in headhunters." Alicia was undoubtably thinking, "Hey, Borneo is far more interesting than satellites."

The First Date

Borneo was enough. A couple of days later, I called Alicia and asked her to coffee. We met at Lulu's Alibi, a coffee house on the west side of Los Angeles, not far from her apartment. The coffee was piping, the tea assortment impressive, and the company delightful. I was intrigued, but shy. I walked Alicia back to her apartment. We agreed to get together again sometime. But would we?

The Second Date

A week later I asked Alicia out again. We went to a cleverly elegant restaurant in Hollywood called Off Vine. Interest that was kindled, fanned brighter. Walking back to my car, I found enough courage to kiss her. The lights and sounds of the city faded into the periphery as excitement and emotion took over.

B-Day

Five months later I left Los Angeles on a six month walkabout to Southeast Asia. Alicia came over and joined me in Bangkok on November 9th. The next day I declared my love for her and she for me and thus "B-day" was born. B is for Bangkok. We celebrate B-day every November 9th. Our wedding takes place on the five year anniversary of our first B-day.