A very handsome, familiar looking gentleman reached out to me on an online dating site with a charming hello. I asked him to tell me a joke. He responded with a lengthy perfect dad story about hollandaise sauce. I responded with my phone number. We, obviously, quickly deleted the dating app. In an attempt to protect myself I forewarned him that I only wanted to be friends. Oh, but that heart of mine had other ideas (and we did meet on a dating website after all). I can still remember the stoplight I was at when he first called me on the phone "Emily!" I blushed right then and there. Our first date consisted of pancakes on a snowy Sunday morning and lots of giggles. I fell into bed texting friends that I couldn't get this darn smile off my face and that I had just had "the best first date ever". Second date was a show at a small bar. Sure, we had both been to this place before, with other less Adam and Emily like people, but this along with countless other details of this relationship, was different. I wore leather leggings and knew by now that I did not want to be only friends. Adam didn't know I had a big, fat crush on him, he kept being a very polite new friend, we giggled. I've said it before and I will say it again, I wholeheartedly thought I was the exception to the quip: when you know you know. I knew. I had never been more sure of something than I was with this someone. Third date was a Christmas movie marathon at a local theater. He brought the snacks (pre-peeled clementines and unwrapped candy for ease and quiet). I brought the Christmas sweaters and the racing heartbeat. During "A Christmas Story" his sweaty hand reached for my sweaty hand and lightning struck. At intermission I exclaimed, "we held hands!" During "It's a Wonderful Life" we cried and smiled and held hands like we had been for years. Then we kissed outside my front door, with a wreath above us and sparkly snow under our feet. As the saying goes, the rest is history.

I had been thinking about a SW road trip for some time. I had a couple close friends in Angel Fire, NM who I had visited before and wanted to go see again. The open road, fresh mountain air, and some fresh powder in Taos all seemed like just the thing I needed. It was NYE 2017 and Emily and I had only been dating a few weeks. She was at her friend's house babysitting for the night. We were in the middle of one of our nightly hour-long phone calls when I mentioned the trip to her. I jokingly asked her if she’d like to join me. Of course she wouldn’t want to come with, I thought--we had only known each other for a few weeks and the prospect of spending 14 days in a car with someone you hardly knew, well, nobody would go for that. She instantly responded with a “yes, I’d love to go” to which I chuckled, thinking that she’d surely change her mind after a day or two of consideration. Well, she didn’t. And in early March, we packed up the station wagon and headed westward. One of the first indications that we’d be a good match was her insistence on using a road atlas instead of GPS to navigate. Good times were had with family and friends as they welcomed us to their homes. We went south through Colorado, slept in a yurt near Alamosa, and finally made it Angel Fire before 2 great nights in Santa Fe. We headed home and got caught in a blizzard before rolling in to St. Paul. The mountains were stunning, stars were bright, food was good, and the car made it without any issues. Most importantly, Em and I got to know each other. Well. Really well. We got to know each other in only the way you can on a 2 week road trip. We laughed most of the time, cried a little, and had one argument in Salida which was solved at once with a couple of burritos and a stand-up hug. We learned a lot about each other on that trip. Our discussion before leaving was something like, “this will either work or it won’t--we’ll find out on this trip.” We were right. We certainly found out.