On a cold Thursday night in January 2002, I was leaving the parking garage in my building to go out when a car came out of nowhere and hit the right side of my car. I stooped and stepped out of the car to inspect the damage. I couldn't believe it. The right passenger-side door was totally damaged. A brand new car (BMW 330i) that I had purchased 3 months earlier now looked like a piece of junk! I was about to beat the daylight out of that guy. Fortunately for him, he worked in the parking garage as, get this, a garage attendant! I managed to keep my cool, we exchanged insurance information and he left.

I went and sat in my car wondering if I should just stay home given what had just transpired. Being the Salsa addict that I was, I decided to go out anyway. So I went to the "Five Spot" (a night club here in Philly that used to have Latin night) to get my usual Salsa fix. I was standing in the back room by the bar when two Nubian women walked in and went straight towards the dance floor. As I stood there, I kept asking myself who these ladies were. The tallest of the two immediately caught my eye. I walked up to her and invited her to dance. She looked at me from head-to-toe-to-head then asked me if I knew how to dance. Not knowing who she was or how good a dancer she was, I gave her a safe answer. I said "I have taken a few lessons but I don't know how good I am". She then told me "forget it then" and went on to dance with someone else. Needless to say my ego was hurt. I knew she wasn't from the local Salsa scene. When she was done dancing, I asked her again and she turned me down, again! I walked away and asked a friend of mine to dance. Well, she saw me dancing and knew I had taken more than a few lessons. Dancing a few feet away from me, she yelled "I thought you didn't know how to dance" (remember Chayanne and Vanessa Williams in Dance with me). I just laughed and kept dancing. When the song was over, we went in the back room (near the bar). She introduced herself as Janine and we spent the next couple of hours dancing and talking ...

Over the next couple of months, we developed a wonderful friendship that evolved into a romantic experience 6 months after we met. The more I knew her, the better it got. So on June 30th 2004, I popped the question (in the most unusual way). She said yes. That was one of the best days in my life. We celebrated our engagement  with friends and family at Posh Lounge, one of the hottest places in Philadelphia.

We got married on July 30th 2005 in Paris, France.

Janine is a classically trained Soprano. Due to a vocal cord injury, she had to stop singing professionally. But thanks to her passion for the Law as it pertains to children, civil rights and women issues, she decided to become an attorney. She graduated from the Villanova School of Law in 2007. Here she is singing the National Anthem at her commencement.

Engagement Party Pictures

(Click on picture to view whole set)

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