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My love story is about my valentine. In fact, this individual has been my special valentine for many years now. If you read my "The Flavor Chronicle" column or were a reader when I was writing "Mixed Grill," you have already been introduced to her.

In 2002 I was a single woman after 18 years in a relationship that went nowhere. So, I moved out of my houseboat in Sausalito and in with my daughter and my 6-year-old granddaughter in San Leandro. I knew from the very start I would not stay there very long. After a year in San Leandro we packed up and moved into a third floor apartment in Dublin.

Pete/Dad,

At the age of 16, you would think a girl's first love would just be considered “puppy love” - but not me.

I’ll always maintain that we’re the last generation when “cruising” was safe. Cruising, for you young ones, was when a bunch of your friends crowded into one friend's car (usually a beaten up Chevet or Vega) and drove up and down Main Drag America a bazillion times, checking out the happenings.

Judy and I met on June 13, 1966 on her first day at college. Her parents had just dropped her off (she was a freshman and I was a junior) and she was walking with her new roommate through the student union, where I also worked as a short order cook. We just looked at each other as she passed by, but I can still remember what she wore.

Tim and I met through my husband’s uncle, a.k.a. my boss. I did not want to meet him. Luckily my boss, his uncle, did not adhere to my wishes and brought him to a party I was attending. Once introduced, I thought he was good looking, but still not interested. He was my boss’s nephew, and there was no way I was going down that road!

Love can sometimes be hard to find, but if you’re lucky it will find you. It happened to be the summer of 2003 a little over 10 years ago. I had just graduated from college and was working at Macy’s when someone new started in my department. We had said “hello” and seemed to have an instant connection and we quickly became friends. We enjoyed spending so much time together we didn’t even realize that we were together sharing every day.

I met my future wife in grade school through her brother, electric trains and horses. Her brother, John, and I each had an electric train. That's how I met his sister Marilyn. I found out she was a horse fanatic and they each had a pony. My brother Jerry and I shared a horse. We all started riding together. There were four kids but only three horses so I rode on the back of Marilyn's horse. That started everything!

I was 16 when Adam visited my church for the first time. I was playing “Eve” in a play that day. From the audience, he saw me and turned to his friend and said, “I'm going to marry her.” After service, we met in person, and I fell in love right back.