Just a little more than three years ago, I came across a profile in Yahoo! personals. Before I even read the whole thing, I could see that this profile was different from the others. He could spell, for one. 😉 Upon closer examination, I saw that this man and I had a couple of important things in common…among them, a love of music and a love of books.

What really grabbed my attention, though, was the mention of one of my very favorite musicians: Toronto’s Ron Hawkins, frontman for Lowest of the Low. I’m pretty sure that’s what took me from “hey, this guy looks interesting” to “hey, I’ve got to meet this guy.”

That guy, of course, was Rand. In one of our very first email exchanges, he asked me about the last concert I’d gone to. My last concert happened to be Lowest of the Low, and we began exchanging stories about seeing Ron/the Low in concert. Rand started using Ron’s lyrics as the subjects of our emails, and we’d go back and forth, searching for a lyric that seemed appropriate to the topic of our conversation. After a few dates, he sent a message with the subject “you nearly kissed me blind,” and I nearly swooned. 😉 I go back and read those early messages now and then, and they still make me smile.

When he took me out a couple of days before my birthday, he played his guitar and sang for me. Among other things, he played both Subversives and Black Monday. If there had been any doubt in my mind up to this point, it was gone. 😉

Now, I’m not saying that we wouldn’t have gotten together if it hadn’t been for Ron, but it sure didn’t hurt! Thanks, Ron!

And I’m still every bit as smitten now as I was three years ago. (look for a list of things I love about Rand, ala Debbie Ohi, in the near future!)