Jemie Sae Koo was playing wing woman for a friend at a dive bar, when the guy her friend liked cut in on their dancing. Relegated to the sidelines, this woman - who is no wallflower - admittedly responded by sitting with a dark cloud over her head.

Like a scene out of a movie, handsome Coast Guard rescue swimmer Jeff Callard approached her, an Asian beauty sitting with a scowl. Holding out his hand and asking her to dance, she responded by looking to see if there was anyone behind her and asked back, "Me?"

"I'd be kind of biased," he responded. "I'm the drummer."

You might think they wouldn't have made it past that night. And there were more than a few moments along the way when it seemed it just wasn't going to happen between the two. Missed connections, miscommunication and medical school seemed to conspire to keep them apart. It started with a lost telephone number, which they overcame and connected anyway, but the blossoming relationship ended (at least for a while), when Jeff moved to West Virginia.

Jemie remembers back to that time and shares, "When I was with him, it was the best time ever. I developed some pretty strong feelings for him. The break-up was tough. It was one of those things - 'Well, take care, have a good life.' I really felt like I was never going to see him again."

Two and a half years would pass between the break-up and an email reunion, spurred on by a nightmare Jemie had of Jeff getting into a fatal accident in an adventure race. "I woke up in this sweat and panic mode and I was like, 'I want to get in touch with him.' He e-mailed me back and said, 'It's funny, I was just thinking about you, too.'"

Slowly and steadily, the two would reconnect electronically and in person. Finally, on a six-week break from school, Jeff stayed with Jemie in California, spending his free time alternating between surfing and shopping for an engagement ring.

The proposal took place on a bumpy sailboat trip on six-to-seven-foot waves, and their wedding two years later, was water-themed to illustrate their affinity for the ocean.

Their relationship has been like a sailboat trip ever since, with a clear path set out in front of them, but various obstacles around which to navigate. Jemie shares, "We're constantly trying to work on this. It's not a walk in the park. You fantasize about having your little house and the white picket fence, and meeting him at the door and saying, 'Dinner's ready! How was your day?', but because we're so busy, often times we don't get to see each other as much."

Jeff is completing his second year of residency in Emergency Medicine and starts his days as early as 4 a.m. , while Jemie is busy as Media Relations and Field Deputy for Councilmember Suja Lowenthal. What does work for them is a thoroughly modern relationship helper: technology. Setting out their schedules on Google Calendar helps, as does keeping in touch via text messaging during the day.

"I think one other thing we really do is try to show each other how much we appreciate each other," Jemie says. "Show and tell," Jeff adds. "For me it all comes down to communication. If I can give anybody advice, it would be that communication is the number one thing for a relationship."

Their efforts are working; their connection is strong. Talking about and to each other, they maintain strong eye contact and talk about their continued mutual attraction. This young love is fresh, and frankly, hot. Active, both physically and in the community, and with their shared values of friends and family, the two will celebrate their second wedding anniversary on May 20. Theirs is the quintessential love story about how two people meet and end up leading a charmed life. The details read like a romantic novel that ends with "And they lived happily ever after..."

Eyes meeting across a crowded room, shared dreams of having kids of their own and finally being blessed with three boys, coaching sports, and settling into in a family-oriented community complete with block parties, pancake breakfasts and concerts put on by all the neighborhood kids - it reads like a dream. And it has been, for the most part.

For the most part, because this couple has faced some extraordinary challenges in their relationship. Not, who squeezes the toothpaste from the top or the bottom, but pressures like entire groups of people saying that it is unnatural for them to be together.

This is because Jonathan and Peter Schnack are a gay couple. In their almost 14-year relationship, they have married each other three times. One was a protest wedding in Washington, DC and the other two were in California. The most recent ceremony took place not because they wanted the luxury of renewing their vows, but because after their first marriage, they were told their union was not legal.

"There's so much bad that comes with the wolves at our door," Jonathan shares. "But there's also some good that comes with that, in that they, like it or not, serve to make us stronger. That is a strange side-effect of some of those external battles. You can do what you want on the outside, but you can't change what's in our hearts."

What is in their hearts is deep love and trust for one another, and pride in the family that they grew one step at a time. Peter explains, "We worked to have kids. It wasn't a surprise; it was a lot of planning and work and communication." Jonathan adds, "People would ask us, 'Are you sure you want to do that?' We'd say, 'Well with us it's not going to be the accident in the back of a Chevy, it's going to be planned out.'"

It has worked out well for them. While Peter wanted two children, Jonathan wanted three. A surrogate delivered firstborn son Trevor eight years ago, and then the same woman became pregnant with twin boys, Ethan and Garrett, who are now six years old. The boys are rambunctious, curious, intelligent, respectful, and most of all, happy. They are the best representation of a fact touted by psychologists - being raised by parents who have a true partnership makes for well-balanced children.

The Schnacks are the kind of partners who complement each other so well that the two men seamlessly relate one thought together. "I know that there are some couples and some families where they say they need to make sure that the couples are secure for the sake of the family," Jonathan says, "But I have a hard time divorcing one from the other. I feel like we're all integral and I can't …" Peter finishes his sentence, "Separate."

Two elements are also essential in explaining why their relationship works. "I think for both of us love is being loved," Jonathan says. "Knowing that the other one of us is looking out for each other, that we always have each others' back. They're definitely intertwined, love and security."

Jonathan, who is a stay-at-home Dad while he earns his Masters degree in education (Peter works as an I.T. Manager), describes this time in their lives as a "golden period", when their boys are all young. "That brings its own set of challenges," he says, "And I think when they get older there will be new challenges, but right now knock wood, they're all just doing great. We're so proud of them." "I fell in love with her first of all because she was really beautiful, and then I found out that it traveled all the way inside - she is a good person too," says John Knight of his wife Joan.

When the Knights speak about each other and their journey through life together, you can start to believe in a love that lasts. Really lasts - through all of the trials, tribulations and triumphs that life can throw at you. They met at a dinner party in Long Beach almost 50 years ago, and, getting to know each other over an after-dinner drink, discovered many interesting similarities. Joan's birthday is on the 22nd of March, and John's is on the 20th. They are both only children. John's mother's name is Ellen and Joan's mother's name is Helen. John's middle name is Franklin, and Joan's is Frances.

Curiosity piqued on both sides, they decided to have lunch the following day. "He picked me up in a convertible," Joan says. "He put the top down. I had long hair, so he bought a silk scarf for me and then we drove down the coast and had lunch. It was romantic from the very beginning."

John was also dashing - a few years older than Joan, he had graduated from the School of Architecture at USC, and spent three years in the Air Force, becoming First Lieutenant, and later rising to the rank of Captain in the Reserves.

He made quite an impression on her. "I just knew it was right," she says. "He just kind of swept me off my feet. I had graduated from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri and was attending University of Oregon when I first met him and I ended up moving to Long Beach."

The two reminisce about their courtship. When asked if it was a case of love at first sight, John laughingly says, "Well, she listened to me, which was great." He then adds, "I'd never really been in love before. This was my first love, and it was something that I just automatically knew. I had the service behind me and education behind me, and I was really ready to fall in love. Thank God I met her."

They dated for two years and then got engaged. Five months later their wedding ceremony was held at the First Methodist Church on Pacific, followed by a reception at the Long Beach Yacht Club. After honeymooning in Hawaii, they settled into their home in Naples, and nine months and one week later, welcomed their first son, John. A year and nine months later, daughter Helen (Holly) was born, and three years after that, son Benjamin (Ben) came along.

Joan explains, "He wanted six children, and I thought two would be great." John responds with a twinkle in his eye, "You can see how the negotiations start there. She always wins a little bit!" What the two did agree on was how to raise their family - with teamwork and never setting one parent against the other. That approach was so successful that it carried on into the next generation, and the couple now have six grandchildren, ages three to 21.

The fact that they complement each other has been noticed by friends throughout the years. Nancy Gregory has known the Knights for 46 years. She says, "They enjoy each other. They enjoy being together, they really do. They don't argue; that's what makes them a joy to be around too."

And the Knights do get around - they are not the stereotypical longmarried older couple, content to sit around being homebodies. They are involved in the community and support the Dramatic Allied Arts Guild, Assistance League, Museum of Art, Long Beach Yacht Club and Grand Prix, to name just a few.

The Knights' shared love of travel has taken then to such far-flung destinations as India, Africa, Europe, the Amazon, and Dubai, with their next trip planned to Egypt in May. They travel well together, around the world, and through life.

John's last bit of advice is just one more reason why. "You've got to include the word 'yes' a lot," he shares. "We both say it. That helps a marriage, too."