A couple met in kindergarten and have been married for 15 years

Growing up, I distinctly remember that Evan was always the nicest boy in class, and his kindness stood out to me again when I met him on the street years later. I went to a big arts festival in Miami with my ex-husband, with whom I had my first son Ryan. I ran into Evan and stopped on the street. I introduced my ex-husband to Evan and we all hit it off catching up on the sidewalk for half an hour. I remember thinking how cute he still was all these years later.

We reconnected at my grandfather’s funeral

We didn’t keep in touch after we reconnected on the street that day. But about a year later, while I was divorced from my first husband, my grandfather died, and Evan came to the funeral to pay his respects. At the funeral, I told him I was getting a divorce and needed a new apartment for my son Ryan and myself. Evan owns his own residential real estate company in South Florida. While he helped me look for a new place, we got to know each other again.

Eventually a facility opened up in his building and Ryan and I moved in. I wondered if the apartment was good enough for Evan own property there, it was pretty good for us. Our apartment quickly began to feel more like one college dorm. Some nights I would go to see him and other nights he would come down to see me.

When we finally went first meetingi was nervous Not only was I recently divorced, but I also had a 2-year-old son. We went to a neighborhood Italian restaurant that wasn’t too fancy and talked for hours. I remember thinking, “That’s good, I could do that.”

It was important to me also that Evan fostered a connection with my son

While we were dating, I made sure Evan knew Ryan and I were a pack. If she wanted to fall in love with me, she had to fall in love with Ryan. It didn’t take long for Ryan and Evan to develop their own relationship. They were running in the hall playing Star Wars with lightsabers and play basketball on our rooftop balcony. We truly became the perfect trio.

Evan and I got married in 2009 at the same place we first met in Kindergarten. Temple Beth Am Day School has a synagogue and ballroom, so we had both the service and reception there. Mom still had our kindergarten class picture from 1979, where Evan and I sat next to each other in the front row.

One of my friends took it pre-school class picture and I edited everyone else in the photo to be black and white, keeping us in color so we could stand out. We used this picture, along with a picture of us as adults wearing clothes similar to our preschool photo, for our wedding invitation.

Ryan sat with us during the ceremony and when we walked down the aisle, Evan picked Ryan up as we all walked out together. In keeping with Jewish tradition, we all participated in the hora, and Evan, Ryan, and I were lifted into the air on a chair.

While Ryan was growing up, every year in our time wedding anniversarywe would all be celebrating what I like to call our family anniversary. The three of us truly became a family that day.

Ryan is now 19 years old and a student at Tulane University. We have another son, Myles, who is 13, and twins, Joely and Brooke, who are 11. We have been married for 15 years and prioritize communication. We also make sure to make each other laugh and have fun together.