Technically I “met” Ian online. I was a senior in high school and received a weekly University of Portland new student blog link. Ian's blog, adorable head shot, and witty writing caught my attention right away. A year later I was a freshman at the University of Portland in Oregon and Ian was a senior. We met once that year in Ian's yoga class (Ian taught yoga on UP's campus and always had very well attended classes). Two years later we recognized one another at the Circuit Bouldering Gym. I gave Ian my number suggesting we climb together. Months went by without a text or an Ian sighting, and I started to think I would not see or hear from him. Finally one fateful Saturday afternoon in January we saw each other again at the gym and I learned his phone broke after I gave him my number. We quickly developed a deep friendship, climbing, biking, and hiking our way throughout Portland and Oregon. Four months later, at a brewery in St. John's, we decided to officially start dating. The rest is history. Looking back on our journey to one another I am so grateful the stars finally aligned for us. I can't imagine my life without Ian. I feel like the luckiest to have him as my life partner, climbing partner, and co-corgi parent.

I first met Steph during one of my yoga classes at the University of Portland, but she came to the class with a group of her very hip friends, so I was too intimidated to talk to her much. Our first real conversation came about two years later, after I'd returned from Ireland to run the writing center at Roosevelt High School in Portland. We ran into each other at the Circuit bouldering gym and, after climbing together she gave me her number. Disaster struck, however, shortly afterward when I dropped my phone and watched (seemingly in slow motion) as it shattered into several pieces. The SIM card was lost, along with all my contacts. Reasoning I would run into Steph at the gym again, I decided to wait to talk to her until I could ask her for her number in person. Unbeknownst to me, Steph had betrayed the Circuit and begun to climb at the hated rival gym across town, Portland Rock Gym. Many months passed without a single Steph sighting. Finally, in January, 6 months after she'd given me her number, I ran into her again at the Circuit. This time I asked if she wanted to climb with me sometime and, despite probably being annoyed with me for failing to text her for so long, she agreed. We began climbing several times a week together, and then we started going out for drinks and snacks after our gym sessions. We both read the same book together (The Historian) and talked about it outside of climbing. She brought me back a jar of sand after a weekend trip to the Oregon Coast. We grew closer over several months and, when we started officially dating in the spring, it felt like the most natural decision in the world. Now, many years later, after traveling and building a home with each other and with one very bossy corgi, I still feel that our relationship, despite the convoluted and (dare I say it) dramatic way it began, is the most natural, most lovely thing in the world.