It was Fall 1998.  Emily had just graduated from college and started a new job in Philadelphia.  One day, over the copier machine she saw Tom.  Their eyes locked and they knew they were looking at Destiny.  Tom drew Emily to his chest with his strong, well-muscled arms, and she could feel the beating of his heart through the material of his golf shirt with the company logo embroidered on it.  "Do you know where I could find more toner?" he asked huskily.  Emily gazed at him, her eyes shining, and murmured, "I think it's in the cabinet up there on the left."

OK, that story was slightly embroidered.  The truer story is that Emily and Tom were working at the same company.  They were acquaintances.  Emily's friend thought Tom was super-cute, and Emily got tired of hearing about that cute Tom Reilly guy.  Emily and Tom played on the company softball team together.

Then Tom moved to Richmond, Virginia.

But Tom realized all that he was missing, and on St. Patrick's Day, 2000, he came back to Philly to drink green beer with old friends.  He and his friends were meeting up with Emily and her friends;  as he walked into the pub, their eyes met through the smoky haze... oh, sorry, the romance novel thing was already done in the first paragraph.  Continuing on:  By the end of the weekend he had extracted a promise from Emily that she would visit him in Richmond (contact Eric Sacks for more details).  Tom had thus cannily arranged for their "anniversary" to fall on St. Patrick's Day so that he could easily remember it... and Emily knew it was true love when he put it in his Palm Pilot and hit "repeat yearly, no end date."

Click here to find out what happened next.