For those of you that know me, you might not be surprised when I say I'm a bit of a free spirit. My life has been made up of saying 'yes' to whims that most people would find preposterous. That's how my favorite adventures have all begun. So, when the idea of Telluride popped into my head, it would surprise no one that I was living there two weeks later.

I came to Telluride in search of myself. After an unfortunate bevy of bad boyfriends, I promised myself freedom for my wild woman, my lone wolf. Of course, as these things often go, that's when I saw HIM standing there. In a red wig. Wearing a basketball jersey. Lip-syncing onstage to a song so funny, it had me in tears.

We officially met later that evening at the coffee shop affectionately nicknamed "The Bean". No it wasn't love at first sight. (Or was it? This is up for debate). Actually, as first impressions go, ours left a bitter taste in my mouth. I was unenthusiastic about finding that "The Mishky" (Telluride's name for Eric) would be in the musical with me. I was unenthusiastic about his suits, his cult-like following of adorers, or the way he looked up at me after I sang my song in front of the cast of 'Hair' and told me "I never liked that song until you sang it!" I was especially unenthusiastic that he had taken up residence in my mind and how my heart would flutter when he was near.

As fate would have it, I soon became nanny to his tiny roommate and got to spend more and more time with Eric. I finally met the man behind the mask: A multi-deminsional gypsy vagabond with so many colorful, absurd stories of adventures past that my own adventures seemed like a shopping trip to Walmart in comparison. Naturally, I was hooked.

Like the proud, independent woman I am, I pursued Eric quite relentlessly. I wanted in on the adventure that is The Mishky. Fortunately, running into him was quite easy as his people became my people and our mutual interests over-flowed the center of our Vin Diagram. Unfortunately, it was right about the time I realized I was in love with him that he ended things.

As far as choices go, although initially very upset, I'll never regret us parting ways for a bit as it gave the two of us time to grow. I spent the next 3 years on a very important journey of self-discovery, learning about love, friendship, and partnership in a way that I hadn't been able to before. It was a necessary part of my story. But the palpable connection between Eric and me, well, it was cosmic. And as these things often go, these cosmonauts were sucked back into each others orbits and have collided in a most spectacular way.

For those of you that don't know me, after reading this you might not be surprised to find out that when Eric proposed to me at sunset on a boat in the Bahamas almost exactly 4 years after he broke up with me, although most would say it's preposterous, I said 'yes'. 'Yes' to a lifetime of fun, love, and friendship. And 'yes' to the beginning of our greatest adventure.

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