St. Patrick's day is long over, but we here at The Band know that luck is something we have all year round. Despite our troubles, our past, our illnesses, we're lucky - and we know it. We're not afraid to stand up and say, despite our darkness, we have light - and luck. This is what makes US lucky.

So The Band, what makes YOU lucky?

My fiance, Mister E, is a huge geek. He loves comics, video games, and indie hip-hop music. Sometimes I think he loves our cats more than I do.

If it sits still longer than two minutes, he'll eat it. A good portion of the time he drives me absolutely crazy. And I am so incredibly lucky to have him.

We met when we were teenagers. I was sixteen, healing from an emotionally draining relationship; he was nineteen, celebrating his birthday and Spring Break all at once. My best friend introduced us and we were instantly crazy about each other. Love at first sight and all that sappy stuff that I refused to believe in until the moment we met.

Because we were stupid teenagers, things happened and our relationship only lasted eight months. I was the stupid one, breaking up with him for reasons that, now, when I think about them, make me want to crawl behind the couch with the special needs cat. I couldn't bring myself to stay friends with him because it made me think of all the times I failed him.

Over the years, we got in touch with each other a couple of times; there was this undercurrent of romance that neither of us seemed willing or able to acknowledge. All my exes knew his name because I was always talking about the things we did in high school or how I regretted breaking up with him.

Then, fourteen years later, I found myself alone in Chicago. I'd learned to live on my own and take care of myself, and was just starting to let myself think about a new relationship after some mishaps in the romance department. I knew what I wanted and knew I wasn't going to settle for anything less. It was one of the best times in my life, really.

I was on the bus when it happened. It was a friend request from Mister E on Facebook; the bane of my existence was e-mailing me - it took me all of thirty seconds to hit "accept." Ten minutes later, we were messaging each other. By the next day, we were texting. I got a terrible haircut and he called to console me.

Hearing his voice again, it was like no time had passed. We could have been just across town from one another instead of across the country. I was happy and relieved to discover that he had not only forgiven me for everything, he didn't blame me and was still in love with me.

Understandably, we were both nervous when I moved back to Texas. Fourteen years had passed; I'd gained sixty pounds since the last time we saw each other and was the proud survivor of two breakdowns.

But the minute he showed up at my door, it was love at first sight all over again. Since that day, we've only been apart when it was absolutely unavoidable. I don't think we're afraid of losing each other again so much as we want to make up for lost time.

When we were teenagers, we used to lay on the lawn of the modern art museum and look up at the stars; we talked about how we would get married when I turned eighteen. Next year, we're finally going to realize that dream and spend the rest of our lives collecting cats and driving each other crazy.

Every day that we're together, I think about how lucky I am. Some people never find the love of their life. I not only found mine, but I managed to do it twice. I have someone who appreciates me, who loves me for who I am, and who accepts both the darkness and the light in my life. We've been back together three years in May and every day I'm with him I seem to fall more in love with him.

Sometimes I'm so happy that it's a little scary, and I can't help waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then we find something else we have in common or curl up together to watch a gritty cop drama and I know that we'll keep being lucky as long as we have each other.