when we first started dating, nick would often sign off from a text conversation by writing "bisous" (french for "kisses"), but if he wasn't paying attention, autocorrect would change it to "bisons." after a while, he capitulated to the persistence of autocorrect and began to sign off from all our text conversations with the salutation "bisons." and so, as the years have passed, through the strange and beautiful agency of language, "bisons" has become our shorthand for "i love you." on a road trip to california this past summer, we encountered some real live bisons (in the badlands in south dakota), pictured below. (photo credit: nicholas fortier)