Edited for length and clarity

I was there first, and I saw you walk in. In your cool outfit, leather jacket and a scarf. Just like you looked in your pictures. “no catfishing” We ordered food, Ian didn’t eat. “Tina would come to learn not eating is not normal for Ian.” Not eating was a sign, Ian was in love, and he goes home very happy. “His roommates mentioned that they had never seen him come home from a date that happy, right?” Yeah. From there things blossomed.

And ate burgers and truffle fries beforehand, again Ian did not eat. “But he always remembers the food on hand.” Mmhmm, the first date was pizza! “It was” And I had a beer. “Yup” And some weird people bothered us. “Yeah” When I dropped you off after our second date…I kissed you. And we were rudely interrupted by a car trying to drive through the parking lot behind us. It was kind of a nice way to end the night. At least someone ended it. “Tina and Ian in their awkwardness were happy that they did not have to end the date themselves.” Someone made the decision for them. “Exactly!” And I was able to smoothly kiss you and then drive home. Smiling the whole way. Date 3 was where things got real serious. Ian was invited over to Tina’s house for dinner. “Vegan Burritos! You only ate half a burrito” Eventually Ian would start eating around Tina. ”How long did it take?” Umm The Kitchen, date four.

We ate carrots. “They were so good, with whipped feta and honey” With whipped feta and… did we have gnocchi? “No, we had that later. Did we have roasted cauliflower?” Maybe roasted cauliflower, and we had goat cheese cheesecake. Vegan goat cheese cheesecake? "no, gluten free goat cheese cheesecake." Glutten free goat cheese cheesecake! "Before date 4 you said you wanted to take me out for a nice meal.” Yea, and I did. We ate good food. “At one of our favorite restaurants” Little did Tina know she would be going back there again, or maybe she did. “I hoped so” We did go back, for Valentines day the next year.

The first valentines day I got the privilege of watching Ren [Tina’s Cat.] “And I hid a valentine and chocolate for you in the crockpot.” I was very excited that you gave me the responsibility and trust of watching your house while you were gone. “And you were a little freaked out that I might be a crazy Christmas nutcracker lady.” Yeah I was already thinking that by the 3rd date though. Tina was a crazy person with big collections of nutcrackers still up into February. Ian wasn’t sure if that was a year long thing :-) Are you getting all this down? “Yeah I'm getting it all.” Ian was looking forward to seeing Tina come back from her trip to Crested Butte. Ummm what next? “Ian offered to come pick Tina up from Crested Butte, which I was pretty amazed by.” Oh yeah, your car got totaled so I offered to come get you. I was worried about a 6hr drive back with you. Like, we were doing pretty well, I had seen you a few times, but that’s tough for anyone stuck in a car for 6hrs. “Oh, you weren’t looking forward to it?” I was looking forward to it, but you know that’s a lot of pressure. “Yeah, to stay on your game for 6hrs” We both have to be interesting to each other for 6 hours. Keep the conversation a-flowing. Ok, from there things kept moving along nicely. “I met your dad” We went snowboarding. And I thought, Oh she probably wants to go meet my dad! :-) “That’s exactly what I thought!” :-) I wanted to go get snacks and Abby makes good food and drinks and it would be a fun way to impress you. “And I was hoping to impress you on the slopes.” And you did! You were moving quick. You were flying down the mountain. We took our first picture together on the top of Vail. “My first time at Vail”

A defining moment of our growing relationship was accidentally going to see ABBA “Aaahahahahh IT WAS! Oh my gosh. Both Tina and Ian thought the other liked ABBA” We clearly had good communication going on. That was our first, but wouldn’t be our last, trip to the symphony. Tina cultured Ian with many shows and plied him with halftime drinks to keep him happy. And cotton candy. "We never actually bought the cotton candy did we?" No, we never actually bought it, but it was available. Ian and Tina would continue to get to know each other over the seasons.

Ian would go to see her every day. “You stayed even when I was sleeping right?” Well, I would put you to bed and we would cuddle while you were falling asleep and once you were asleep, you wouldn’t want me to go until you were asleep, so I’d cuddle you to sleep and get you all tucked in, get your lights turned off, and I would say bye to Monica and then drive home. And then it was time for me to take over. Tina moved back into her house and I pretty much moved in. To watch and take care of her. “And it became official when we moved your fish tanks in!” Yeah. Is that good? “I think that’s good.” That was just the prologue to Ian and Tina's story. Chapter 1 begins in Greece. And hopefully many more chapters to go. "See you in Greece!”