It started in 2020… 

One fine day, Mike was discussing his normal activities with his friend Amanda, and she mentioned that she had a friend that would be perfect for him. He was shown a picture and knew she was something special, so they arranged for the two to meet.

Amanda brought Vanessa with her over to Mike’s house for a Movie night and the two instantly hit it off. Vanessa was shy, but she could feel something between them and so they secretly made plans to see each other again.

The following weeks, Vanessa would visit with Mike and enjoy each others company, then one day, it happened. Mike couldn’t resist the temptation of Vanessa’s gaze, and they locked. It was at that point they knew they finally found each other.

Fortunately, these two met during the Covid-19 Lockdown. Where as if it wasn’t for the global pandemic, their busy lives may have never intertwined. Yes, they broke quarantine just to be together. Sorry Newsom.

On their first date, May 4th, 2020, Mike pretended to be someone completely different. A character named “Pauly”, who was Mike’s secret twin brother as on their date night Mike had an emergency he had to attend to, but still wanted Vanessa to be taken out and shown a good time, so they departed.  Pauly, not one known for being a lady’s man, was full of crass humor, no class, and spoke in a New Jersey accent and played the role as Mr. Austin’s associate. He adorned a hat similar to Mr. White and mirrored sunglasses and a Minky-dot jacket as he’s was always ready for the club. They ventured out for an exceptional evening, however at the time, almost all restaurants were closed due to the pandemic, and staying true to Pauly’s character, they went to In-and-Out for dinner. They enjoyed their gourmet meal on their way to Las Virgenes, Malibu Canyon where they headed down to a closed Santa Monica beach where they spent time together watching the ocean and getting to know each other. It wasn’t until the ride home when Pauly revealed he was actually Mike and Vanessa was a good sport for putting up with the quirkiness and attempts at humor. They got along famously and reaffirmed their obvious bond. 

Vanessa lives Downtown, and Mike in West Hills, but they both made sure they spent as much time as possible together week after week. Vanessa has been there for Mike in good times and bad, including when Piepur, Mike’s cat was attacked and fought off 2 Coyotes while roaming in the front yard and Vanessa stepped up and helped Mike get Piepur immediate medical attention and stayed with him until we knew Piepur would be okay. 

The following months, Vanessa & Mike spent several weekends together and learning all they could about each other and found how much they had in common. Vanessa would not only tolerate, but actually enjoyed Mike’s unique, sarcastic and almost always hilarious humor and she couldn’t get enough, and he didn’t mind the audience.

Here is the song Mike wrote and produced for Vanessa.

Here is the Redux version – 1 Year Later

Several months later, Vanessa would help Mike in his annual Halloween House display as “The Claw” that handed out candy from a bathroom window. The kids loved it and Vanessa has a blast. 

With Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, they knew they wanted to start making moves to take the next steps, so Vanessa invited her mother to join us for the holidays and we had an amazing time together. Decorating, enjoying amazing food and each others company. It was truly memorable and they knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

Whenever we’re together, we feel like kids and can do whatever we want. It’s nice to find someone you can just be yourself and they enjoy that person.