About Rob (written by Brenda)

The moment he walked through the door of my studio I thought, "I should have worn the black dress instead of these jeans." In his brown corduroy jacket, fitted black button-down shirt paired with blue jeans, tall, dark and handsome just didn't seem to cover it. And that was before he opened his mouth. Rob will tell you that he passes in a crowd, but that is far from the truth. With his Somerville crew, he's animated and a bit silly, charming even as they recall his crazy antics; with his family, he's protective and loyal, a big brother and oldest son who's always here although lives a little far away; with his students his methods might seem a little off-beat, but he's generous with his time and open to their ideas; with our friends here in Manchester, he can easily change from politics to geekness to school bus cozy discussions; with me, he's ever calm and patient, he believes in me and even does the cleaning. Facts about Rob: * Can read faster than anyone I know (he finished the last Harry Potter book in 6 hours) * Pop-culture wiz - ridiculous knowledge of pop-culture including movies and music * Has fabulous sense of personal style, what he calls redneck beatnik * Feels most at home in the woods * Traveled to Niger, France, Ireland, and Guatemala * Can hold a conversation for 15 minutes about anything * Is handy -redid our roof and builds furniture * Plays guitar If there exists such a thing as a perfect match, Rob would be as close to mine as possible.

About Brenda (written by Rob)

I remember going back to work after meeting Brenda for the first time and feeling giddy. I knew, beyond shadow of a doubt, that I'd just met someone incredible. She's beautiful, funny, wise, sexy, brainy, geeky, honest, occasionally crazy and kind. It's a complete package that I'd never really imagined existed, much less met or sought out. Three and a half years later and here we are—living in a battered house with a needy cat and Devin, Brenda's often infuriating, often amusing, sometimes surprising and 97 percent wonderful son. He'll be 13 in March. Brenda has the whole world in her head but hasn't seen as much of it as she wants to. Life, for her, is an adventure and her glass is usually half full (if it's not filled even closer to the top). She took on the struggles of single-momness like she took on the garage roof of our new (to us) house—necessity trumps fear. She cooks great, pours a mean Jack and Coke and never scrapes her plate. She can sew a dress and bang together a bookshelf but can't quite bring herself to clean the kitty-litter box or suss out the controls of the dishwasher. Brenda is what exactly what she is and that is wonderful. Living and loving with Brenda is a place I've always wanted to be, but never realized was possible.

Note: We wrote these independently of each other and only read the other's description AFTER it was published to the site. Aren't we just shiny? '