anniversary date changes every year. In order for you to fully understand this phenomenon, I will have to begin this story weeks before I met your father in the ancient year that was 2001.I sat in the middle of hectic and loud train station in Chennai
waiting for someone from the ashram to pick me up. As a young girl, I had admired the orange robes and giant afro of Sai Baba in a photo that sat in my father's meditation nook. Now, I had finally taken a solo trip to India to embark on the spiritual journey that I had fantasized about since I was that little 
girl. At eight years of age, I had had the opportunity to visit Sai Baba's Ashram during the Christmas holiday but was afraid to go by myself.Now, at 23 years of age, I was probably less prepared than I would have been at eight. I hadn't done much research and hadn't made the necessary arrangements beforehand and that's precisely why I was sitting in this train station for hours with so many Indian Rupees in my money belt that it looked like I had a pot belly. I probably
never told the ashram what time I was getting in.Just as I was laying my head down on the bench to take a nap, a taller Caucasian man, a very gentle looking man with a very unusual glass eye spotted me in my neon pink sari and said, "Ashley? I'm here to take you to the ashram." As I followed him through the busy train station
he told me all about Chennai. "Do you smell it?" he asked. The only thing I could smell was the overwhelming and unmistakable aroma of feces. "Yes, I can smell it." He laughed and continued, "It may smell like feces now but, in time it will smell like rose petals."
During our one stop to get some batteries for my camera, I fell into a mixture of cow dung and mud, losing my sandals in the process. Since we didn't have time to pick up shoes, it was decided for me that I would go barefoot for the remainder of my trip.My journey in India began with the fulfillment of that childhood dream. I spent three days at Sai Baba's Ashram and one of those days was Christmas Day. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget. From there, I went directly to another ashram. At the gate, a guard sat at a desk behind a stack of papers. He looked my name
up, and with a perplexed look, said "Foreigners sleep in the hall. You have a key to the suite which is reserved for close friends and family members of the master. You must be very special." As far as I was concerned this Master had physic powers and knew I would arrive drenched in cow dung, exhausted and disillusioned by my own inadequate spirituality. From that moment, I was a believer, a follower of 
this psychic guru! A few days later, I was able to meet the Master once, face to face. To this day I can't recall our conversation but, I do remember he said that I reminded him of Grace Kelly. His entourage wrinkled their noses in disagreement and I was told to leave.As it turned out, I wasn't the disciplined spiritual seeker I thought
I would be in India. While others meditated and prayed, I ended up with many hours to myself, walking the ashram's halls and courtyards. I was simply unable to meditate longer than three hours a day. I appreciated the time I had to read, and reflect about my life up until that point. I occasionally asked permanent residents about life and its 
purpose. I will never forget their answers and I will tell them to you Rai on the day you ask me the very same questions.One afternoon, while I was in my suite, when I couldn't think of anything else to do, I told the Universe I was ready for a serious relationship. I followed that with a page of scribbles, a list of
attributes I would like to have in a life partner. In other words, on paper, I created the perfect partner, asking the Universe to present this person to me as soon as possible.A week later, I met your father at the base of Gwanak-san in
Seoul. As we hiked up the mountain together I told him of my adventures in India. He couldn't stop laughing when I told him of the frog on my seat in the airplane (I will tell you this story one day as well). A few months later, I dug up the now-crumpled paper I had written on in that ashram in Chennai. I looked at my wish list for that perfect life partner. As it turned out, your father 
had every attribute on that piece of paper and a billion more! When you think of your soul mate, the perfect partner, and you find someone who meets all these expectations and exceeds them by a billion, that is love, Rai. Don't ever settle 
for anything less than that.Two years after hiking up Gwanak-san, we raced to San Francisco's City Hall on Chinese New Year Day, rushing to make our scheduled marriage appointment. In our rush, we crashed into a pole in the parking lot, and made it to our appointment just in
time. It was that day, as hoards of Chinese people raced through City Hall and as lion dancers swayed before us that we were married. And so, it would be on the day of the Chinese (Lunar) New Year that we would celebrate our Wedding Anniversary for the years to come. The result is that, in the western calendar, our Anniversary changes every year, sometimes it's in January, and other 
times in February. We still celebrate on Jan.22, the day of our wedding but, the rotating date remains more important for us.
So, today, Feb.14th, New Year's Day 2010, the beginning of the Year of the Tiger (and Valentine's Day) we take the time to look back on our relationship and smile at all the amazing and crazy things we have done together. We look at you, Rai, in awe and say, "I can't believe we made someone as beautiful as you!"
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