Their meeting was unlikely. Their forever seemed more unlikely still. On a trip to visit his college friends from his days at UVM, Josh agreed to go to one more bar on his last night in town. Stephanie was celebrating a friend's birthday and hadn't planned to go downtown, but was convinced to have a drink after dinner. Across the room, Stephanie spotted Josh's backwards hat and 90s style, pointed him out to a friend, and said: "that's my type." After some extended eye contact, Josh walked up to Stephanie at her barstool and said his first words to her: "Is your name Emma?" Classic. Josh thought Steph looked like his friend from college. (Legitimately. It was not just 'a line.') And that was all the entry Steph needed to make conversation. They exchanged numbers that night and said a wistful goodbye (maybe more like 'see ya never?'). But they started messaging that Sunday and three weeks later, Stephanie flew to visit him in his hometown of Fairmont, West Virginia. It was either going to be an awkward four days, a fun quick experiment, or this was it. The tears on the drive to the airport were telling. Thirteen months, twelve trips, so many more airport tears, thousands of texts, and two extended visits later, Josh and Steph went backpacking into the Dolly Sods of West Virginia and he asked her to always go on adventures together. In November 2018, Josh said goodbye to his beloved Rambling Root, packed up his house, hugged his awesome friends, and moved across mountains to live with Steph in Vermont where she had rooted her life in the loving community of Burlington. When your core values align and you share a vision and worldview, there is no challenge insurmountable. It just takes time. And here we are...