Candyce and I are a on a flight to Texas for a weekend vacation. Coincidentally, my mom and my grandparents are visiting my uncle in at the same time I am doing a talk in Houston. So I’m flying in a couple days early and bringing Candyce to hang out with the family.

Candyce has so many qualities that I didn’t see at first. My life isn’t normal by any means…I fight for five-second impressions on a twenty-two minute episode of ‘The Real World’. I meet hundreds of new people each weekend, and only get to share a couple minutes with each of them. So first impressions are all that I have: charisma, humor, beauty, and charm.;

There’s a line in Scripture is etched in my memory: “Beauty is fleeting and charm deceptive. A woman who loves the Lord is to be praised.”

When I first met Candyce, I knew I was attracted to her. But I made a decision not to recruit every pretty girl that I meet. I didn’t make a decision to takes things slow; I didn’t really decide anything. I just woke up the next morning and kept going. Now here we are three years later, happily dating.

I used to be skeptical of anyone who were friends then one day started to date. If there was a spark, then why didn’t they start dating in the beginning? Dating seemed like the last resort after other options ran out.

My mother has always been my romance councilor. She told me a couple years ago something that makes a lot of sense: “When you marry someone, you are choosing someone to be you companion on the roadtrip of life.”

After every break up, I look back and wonder how I wasted so much time. I would spend months trying to clean up the mess. Day after day I’d play catch up, trying to make up for lost time. It seemed like the past relationship had distracted me from what was really important.

But life with Candyce is not like that. She loves and respects me and what I do. She understands what is important, and she holds me to that. It’s amazing.