Thank you, Chevron Gas and Wendy Shapero

People always ask me how I met my darling boyfriend, William. And they are always surprised and amused when I tell them the story. For you see, dear reader, I met this charming fella, the love of my life, and future father of my children, at a Chevron gas station in Toluca Lake, CA.

It all started one stormy Sunday afternoon in January 2005. I had just dropped off my friend, Wendy Shapero, at her house after enjoying a nice post-church lunch outing together. My car was nearly out of gas, and thankfully, there was a gas station just up the street from her place. I pulled in to the station and pulled up to the pump. It was raining really hard and the wind was blowing like crazy, and there were hardly any other cars out on the road. The gas station was deserted except for myself and the guy working inside.

I had just begun to fill up my tank, when another car pulled into the station and up to the other side of the pump where I was parked. I didn't pay much attention to the other driver, as I just wanted to fill up my car and get out of there and get home. The wind was really picking up, whipping my hair into my face. I struggled to brush it away while holding my keys in one hand and trying to pump gas with the other. I guess I was making a bit of a commotion, as I heard a voice from the other side of the pump say, "Rough weather, huh?" I looked up to see Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome, smiling at me from the other side of the pump.

Now, mind you, I wouldn't normally be open to being chatted up by some random guy at a random gas station in LA. And at the time, I wasn't looking at him as Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. I was looking at him as Mr. Guy-On-The-Other-Side-Of-The-Gas-Pump. My guard was definitely up, but he wasn't being creepy or slick, or, "Hey, come here often?" about it. He had a friendly face and a nice smile, and I didn't have any major alarms going off or anything. So we chatted about the weather for a bit, how unusual it was to have such bad rain in LA, the recent Tsunami in Thailand, that kind of thing.

The longer we spoke, the more I felt in my gut that this was a safe, good guy that I was talking to. He asked me my name, and when I told him it was Maria, he said, "No kidding! I just wrote a song a few months ago called, 'Sweet Maria!'" Now, I learned later that when he wrote the song, he didn't know anyone named Maria, and he had never written a song with a girl's name in it. He just happened to think "Maria," sounded nice.

Anyway, finding out we were both in the entertainment industry, we chatted some more about that, and by the time he asked me for my number, I felt comfortable giving it to him. Then we shook hands, and I drove away. And then he used my number. Almost two years later from that fateful day at the Chevron gas station on Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake in my friend Wendy Shapero's neighborhood, we're still going strong.

I just have to be really self-indulgent here and brag on William for a minute. He's quite the renaissance man, as he is an amazingly talented singer, songwriter, producer, composer, and all around bad-ass! You can check out the fruits of his labor and everything he's been up to by clicking here to go to his website. He's one of the hardest working people I know and I'm so proud of him. And he also happens to be a really great guy! You gotta love it when they are hella talented AND good people. Here's to you Papalee! I love you, Big Man!