The mountains are calling...

It was over nine years ago that we met through an accidental kidnapping. Though we were from different schools, we were randomly selected to attend a writing conference held at the University of Tennessee's Knoxville location, and just so happened to be in the same presentation. While the presentation portrayed the descriptive merit of The Grapes of Wrath, Sydnee took to doodling characters they'd been fond of at the time but now shall remain nameless out of embarrassment. This caught Ryan's attention, who recognized Sydnee's awkward rendition of a character from a foreign television show. After the presentation was over, he came over to talk to Sydnee, and the two of them hit it off immediately. Recognizing the spark, Lea caught up with them and encouraged them to exchange emails. (Ah, how long ago that was! Now I’ve gone and dated the story.) Reluctant to leave his company, Sydnee invited Ryan to go have lunch with them, and the three went off to eat. Unbeknownst to them, somewhere, a teacher counted heads and panicked. Lunch was the usual affair of boxed sandwiches and chip bags consisting of nitrogen and half a potato's worth of crispies. This could hardly be noticed over the conversation, however, as Ryan and Sydnee poured over their shared interests in animation and writing, and the sparks flew like gunpowder. The teacher burst into the lunchroom, at last finding his charge. Declaring that he was “saving Private Ryan”, he swooped in and claimed his wayward student. Though we were separated at that point, we still had each other's emails, and kept up conversation for almost a year until Sydnee “asked” (read: demanded) Ryan to be their boyfriend, and the rest is history. And that is how I accidentally kidnapped my beloved.