Connect How did your love story begin?

Having grown up in a small town we don't really know when we first met but 40 years ago 6/23/1985 Chris invited me to his high school graduation party at his parents house when I got there his sister came out with a Bday cake that he had her make & everyone started singing to me. That was the night of our first kiss and when it all began, we always said we'd get married on 6/23/90 but ended up breaking up in 1989 and then got back together 11/1999 and married 6/23/2000.

What is your favorite memory you've shared as a couple?

Celebrating our 20th anniversary 6/23/2020 in our son's hospital room at Stanford Medical Center after his 1st of 2 brain surgeries by Dr Steinberg for Moyamoya Disease. Our 4th child Ryan has Down Syndrome was diagnosed with a rare arterial brain disease on 6/1/2020 during Covid after having a small stroke. We celebrated our anniversary w/dinner in his hospital room, we were also refinancing our house & had to meet a notary to sign docs outside the hospital we had her bring us a bottle of wine

What would you do with $20,000?

We would donate $10,000 of it to the Down Syndrome Association of Santa Barbara County which we founded in 2009. The association hosts events and helps families with individuals with disabilities in our community. The other $10,000 we would use to retake our honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean and visit Melissa's grandmother's family in Nevis since we we not able to go away as we are caring for Chris' 91 year old Dad and 88 year old mom with dementia at our home for the summer.