Robert Jarzen, Husband Extraordinaire

My husband and I joke that our entire relationship is based on lies. I'm afraid to admit how true that is... you see, we met almost 16 years ago on a set of a commercial. During the casting session, he lied and claimed expert skateboarding skills. And during my interview, I lied and said I knew how to drive stick shift. (Hey, we were young, broke actors, we NEEDED the work!) : )

We both got the jobs, for a cheapie Italian shoe company named Koro, and our destinies were cemented. Luckily for me, the car I drove around ended up being an automatic, but Robert fared not so well, they had to cast a stunt-double for him.

I will never forget our first day of shooting. During the morning, I was definitely checking him out... he had, and still does have, a cute, cocky walk, so I enjoyed resting my eyes on his bum. I just thought we might have a little fun flirt.

Fate had other ideas in mind, when we sat down to lunch, it was the strangest thing. I remember looking into his eyes and then my mind got very quiet. From the very base of my brain, this thought swam up to my consciousness ( I can still feel the exact place where it originated) and I remember hearing, "This is the man you are going to spend the rest of your life with."

Well, that was it for me. But, you know how men can be a little slow sometime, it took him a bit longer to figure it out. As a matter of fact, it took him FIVE WHOLE DAYS to propose to me! : ) And I imagine you can guess my answer.

Robert and I consider ourselves married a month later. We made our vows to each other under the stars by ourselves, but since we were paying our own way for any wedding celebration, it took us two years to have a civil ceremony. So although in the books, it's 14 years, in our hearts it'll be 16 on July 11th.

I am so deeply proud of my husband. He is a spectacular father, my greatest friend, and an immensely talented human being.

When we first started this project we had a couple of other partners who ended up not being able to stay with One Wee World due to other personal obligations. This couple was a director friend of ours and his wife who has worked in production coordination. They were suppposed to be responsible for scheduling, filming, and editing.

After they dropped out, we realized what a good turn of events it actually was for us. (Although initially, since we were given almost no notice before they dropped out, we really had to scramble to cover for their absence) We discovered that, truthfully, Robert was perfectly capable of directing our program to our specific requirements.

It was very empowering and also deeply gratifying for Robert to get this opportunity. He is a wildly creative person and this project very nicely brings all of his talents into great use. No one more than him knows exactly what my vision is for this, and how spectacular that he also happens to be my husband! He's thrown himself body, mind, and soul into this project and I could ask for no better partner. It's a dream come true for us to work together.

I hope we get the opportunity to do this for the next 16 lifetimes let alone the next 16 years. Robert, I love you and I know we can do this together. If it doesn't turn out the way we hope... baby, we gave it our all and I'm proud of us. As long as our family is together, we will be okay.