Ours is a modern romance. Through five photos and a super concise autobiography; we found a connection. It was a connection that grew while being 300 miles apart from the beginning. That's how, I think, we knew it could be real. It was a month before we first met face to face and only six before I knew it was forever. He appeared to be an aspiring model for the next Vortex outdoor ad and it was apparent he was family oriented and a steward of conservation. Also, apparent... his love for debate, sarcasm, and strong opinions. I gave him a nickname, The Mountain Man. When I talked about him, he was The Mountain Man. I tried to convey my love for nature, art, travel and my bestie; Pachamama. I think he found my ability to provide a sassy comeback not only challenging, but intriguing. He may say it's annoying, but we all know it's still funny. I don't know if he had a nickname for me, but if he did, I'm betting it was mildly inappropriate. We found time on weekends to get together. We found common interests in almost any area of life. We shared similar life goals and found we wanted to build on our dreams together. He made me laugh... like the 'I can't breathe, my stomach hurts, I may pee my pants' kind of laugh. And his laugh, well, it just made me laugh even harder. I was so excited to talk about him. My folks liked him right away. He was more reserved, he kept the news of our new adventure more to himself. I will admit, I was worried and I think he knew it. So, in TJ fashion, he let me know that I was important in his own way. Not only did I meet Mom and Dad, I was thrown into the Hutter family reunion fire. And it was magical. Between the belly dancing, roller derby queen, science experiments and the finale of watching 30 people polka in a driveway... I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. But I knew whatever it was, it was going to be with him, The Mountain man. And it was TOTALLY worth it, as well as everyday since then. -Kim