My Compañero Perfecto/My Perfect Partner for Valentine's!

With Valentine's Day tomorrow, I was asked to write about my perfect partner. Luckily, I found my perfect mate 18 years ago. And we married 5 years ago. I met Tom when we both worked at the University of Miami. I won't say it was love at first site but we did have a connection.

He knew I spoke Spanish and one day mentioned he wanted to learn. We decided I would teach him a little Spanish after work. I didn't want him to pay me, so he took me out to dinner. During those after class diners we became very good friends. After a couple of months, somehow, we fell in love. It was unexpected.

I think it worked because we were good friends. We used to talk about everything. At those dinners we learned a lot about each other. We had a lot in common and, yet, we were also very different. But we had enough in common to fall in love. Now 18 years later our relationship is still strong. And Marriage did not change a thing in our relationship, which is a little weird because it does change relationships. But not ours.

We don't really celebrate Valentine's because it is just another day. We prefer knowing and demonstrating our love all year round. I think I did find my true companion in Tom and I am glad we have lasted this long.

My other perfect companion in my life is my cup of coffee. Luckily, Tom is also a coffee nut. Here is one thing we do not agree on though. He takes his black. I take my with creamer. I used to take it sweet as well but have given up on sweetening my coffee. I don't know how he can drink it black. Coffee is best when mellowed out with some creamer. I like a little blond. And if the creamer is flavored, all the better.

My favorite creamer is, of course, Coffee mate. And my favorite Coffee Mate flavor is original. It is sweet and mellow just like my Tom. It makes me happy and it makes my coffee so much better. And that's how I feel about Tom. He makes me a better person and vice versa. We make a good pair.