How we met was a wonder and unexpected surprise. Karen and I met online through Match.com. With a simple message and a few unique questions we wanted to meet in person. Our first date was an honest and fun start to our friendship.

Even though our first date went well, we didn't feel the spark. I enjoyed spending time with Karen and decided to call her to set up another date. This time we decided on a nice restaurant and some dancing afterwords. The date started off well, the food was great, and the company was even better. I remember thinking that I hadn't smiled and laughed like that in a long time. Honestly I couldn't believe how easy it was to talk with Karen. By the time dinner ended we both started to feel sparks, but knew that it wasn't quite there. Then we went dancing. We laughed and danced to a Cars cover band until the band stopped playing. We spent the rest of the night and early morning talking and getting to know each other. Fanning that small spark into a beautiful little flame.

We are lucky that so much was going on in each of our lives, giving us the opportunity to actually see how amazing and supportive the other person was over a long period of time. Even exhausted and stretched thin, we always seemed to find a way to sit, talk, and to support each other. We truly became friends that could love each other, not in spite of the difficulties, but because we both now have a partner that would face them with us.

Since then, we have done a little traveling. We've been to Ohio, up and down the coast of California, to Florida, and on a whirlwind 4 day car ride through California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota. We even backpacked in Moab, Utah testing our limits. Since then we have talked about more travels and destinations, places we would like to live and places we want to experience.

Thank God Karen said yes because the adventure has just begun.