These stories are from my point of view, since he isn't much for writing and I enjoy telling stories. Now you have to suffer through reading our love origin story. lol, God speed. Not to pop anyone’s ideologies of 'true love' or 'love at first sight', but we didn’t really like each other when we first met. 😂 He didn't look like my type, which was mainly blue eyes, I had never really been into dark colored eyes. Other than that, I thought he was cute and funny, but he reminded me of 'my personality type' (loud & funny), which I was trying to stay as far away from as possible. For him, I was just another face in the crowd—nothing special—until I opened my mouth and made him angry. We had lived very different lives at that point. Our journeys were two very different paths, and our meeting converged in one place and time where they became one, much to our surprise. The true beginning of our story started at his best friend’s wedding (one of my best friends Sister’s wedding). We both went about the celebration enjoying our mutual friends and running into each other on occasion. During a group conversation, he was irritating me (by not giving me attention) #BRAT, so I voiced an bratty statement, then turned on my heels in search of some delicious red wine. I triumphantly walked into the bar and took a seat in front of the bartender and ordered my celebratory drink. I was feeling quite good about what I had said because I felt that I had stood up for myself. HMPH! I showed him. Out of the corner of my smug eye, a figure whirled around my back to face me… it was him… and he looked mad. A little voice inside my head slowly said, Uh oh… My instinct said he was gonna start screaming at me. But instead, he looked me dead in the eyes and in a controlled tone said, “You hurt my feelings.” I could tell he was upset but he was controlling his temper. Wow, that caught me off guard. I had hurt his feelings. He told me straight up that I did, and honestly, I admired that about him. I had never heard a man say or admit that before, and his blunt sincerity made me realize that I had been careless with my words and how they had impacted another person. He further explained that he was not my property and that I couldn’t treat him as such...Fair point honestly. When I was about to speak, I saw his face draw into determined lines, and he took in a large lungful of air like he was about to give me a tongue-lashing. What I said next caught him completely off guard. I looked him in the eyes and said, “I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt your feelings.” He stuttered, a look of confusion crossing his features, then slowly said, “Okay… thank you.” In the half second before I realized the conversation was about to end, I decided—just in that brief moment—that I liked him. I didn’t want the conversation to end… but how do I keep him here? He was about to turn and leave. As he started to turn away from me, my voice froze, but my body had a plan. My hand shot out, grabbing his ear and yanking it down toward the bar. “Owww! What the actual f&!5.” He whipped his gaze back up to me, and I stared blankly back at him, not saying anything. When he spoke again, he asked, “Why did you do that?!” I opened my mouth to explain, but nothing came out. Then I mumbled, “I don’t know why I did it.” He looked at me like I had lost my mind. (Little did he know, I never had it to begin with—silly fool.) Long story short, we ended up talking more at the wedding and had a great time. He asked for my number, which I thought was weird since we had both said we weren’t interested in any type of relationship. I figured he did it as a polite gesture and thought nothing more of it. On to the next adventure, I thought.

The day after the wedding, I continued on with my life. I was fixing up an RV that I planned to live in and travel around in, working at campsites cutting firewood while I wrote my books. It’s the simple things, really. I sat in the driveway of the house I was staying at, grinding rust off a piece of metal trim. My phone buzzed, and I paused my work to check the notification. I had received a text from Tony. That’s weird, “Good morning,” it read. Aww, that’s polite of him, and I put the phone back in my pocket. He doesn’t have to be polite. I decided to ignore it so he wouldn’t feel obligated to talk to me. The next day: “Good morning.” …What the heck? Is he really trying to start a conversation? I tried to leave him in the dust, but it turns out this man did not give up easily in any aspect of his existence. Why is he continuing to pursue conversing with me? We had already discussed that we were not looking to date anyone...Hmmm.. oh I know! He must have liked the sass I dished out, 🤔 So, I sassed him thoroughly through text. I gave him all the what for's and he dished it right back at me. Impressive, I guess. In our conversations that followed, I realized he was hilarious. Not the usual 'kind of funny' humor that I so often found the world to be filled with. I preferred the more crude and morbid type of humor, I had grown a bit numb to the world because it had chewed on me a little but this man… he was comical and witty. I caught myself laughing out loud to his ludicrous and crude comments. I found that he had this spark of life that had not been extinguished by the tragedies he had faced in this world. On the fourth day of us talking, at 8 p.m., he texted me and asked if I owned a pair of boots. Random question… but whatever. I told him that I did. He replied, “Get ready and wear your boots. I’ll be by to get you soon.” I shrugged. Whatever, I’m okay with some mystery. He pulled up to the place I was staying at in his loud, bright red truck, and I hopped in. …This man, proceeded to drive me out to the middle of nowhere. The lights of civilization started disappearing, then the street lamps vanished as well. As I watched the headlights eat up the two-lane road filled with potholes, I realized I had no idea where we were. When he pulled off the road and started driving through the woods on what appeared to be a makeshift truck trail, I thought, well, I’ve lived a pretty full life. If he kills me, then I guess it is what it is. We continued up a road that was far too small, for a truck that was far too big, tilting precariously toward a cliff that was much too close, as well as climbing a steep incline. ...Lord, I’d rather he just kills me than tumble off this cliff. When we made it to the top of the small mountain, he parked against the backside of it. We both jumped out, and he showed me a view of the city in the valley below. The thousands of lights in the town sparkled and shimmered in the distance. “Oh wow, that is really pretty,” I said out loud. “What are we up here for?” “To look at the stars,” he replied. I scowled at him. “What!?” he said. “Uhhhh… this feels like a date,” I accused. He laughed, his easy smile spreading across his face as he threw his hands up feigning innocence. “It’s not!” he shouted in a voice filled with humor & mischief. We gazed at the stars, pointing out the different constellations we knew. And that was our first date—but not a date.