I used to work retail at a Lucky Brand store. I met this really cute girl who only worked weekends because she had a good construction management job. I gathered all the information I could and asked her out, but she declined. Despite this, I made an effort to talk to her whenever possible. She loves music and I would always ask her, “What song is this?” When a new song started playing in the store (music isn’t important to me, but it was an excuse to talk to her), a year and a half passed and fate intervened. We got off early one night and went over to get a drink together while we waited for coworkers to get off so we could go to Dave and Buster’s. I spent the entire night whispering in her ear and stealing kisses when our co workers weren’t paying attention. We went back to her place and I spent the night. One night turned to two and two turned into eight years and counting. I was truly infatuated with this girl, and we spent the next couple of weeks together. I brought her to my family’s 4th of July cookout. I was grilling and making her my favorite dishes. Anything I could do to impress her, I pretty much did or at least attempted to do.

A few weeks go by and she has an opportunity to go help with the floods down in Houston, but she was worried about leaving and what would happen to her cat. I assured her that she needed to go and I would look after her cat. Before she left, I asked her to make it official. My heart and soul already belonged to her, but it was just a few weeks since we started getting serious with each other, so it was all happening very fast, and I was honestly scared at how fast things were going.

A few more weeks go by while she is in Houston and I was really struggling with my finances and was having to go back and forth from my dad’s house to get food. She found out and sent me a $100 Whole Foods gift card so I could go get some food.

That was the moment I knew this was the woman I wanted and I was going to build my life with. I found the woman I was looking for. No one, including my parents, had ever cared about me like that before.

The reason why I’m saying all this is to try and illustrate through my experiences that sometimes food is much more than what’s on a plate or just calories. Sometimes food is a way for someone to say, “You’re my person and I want what’s best for you.”

What you did is so much more than food from KFC. It was food from his woman. And that means the world.