Thus, two-strangers who couldn’t be from further places in the US ran around the Las Vegas Strip being silly all night. I pretended my lifelong fear of rollercoasters was nonexistent when we jumped on the ride at New York, New York and his phone fell from the pocket of his blazer during the ride, never to be retrieved. (It was surprising to see someone so unphased by that)

Phoneless, he left me a voicemail from the hotel landline on his work trip the next day (that for some reason I saved & still have today).

Back in my college town for the second semester of Junior year, we’d randomly Facetime and share stories from our entirely opposite worlds - him, a 26 year old dad working in finance, based in Silicon Valley, and me, a 21 year old college student living in a house with 5 girls and 4 animals, in a small town in south Georgia.

Somehow we never ran out of topics to discuss. He’d send me EDM songs I’d never heard, and I’d send him some Classic Rock gems. I’d share my favorite Bukowski poems and he’d talk about the score of Warriors games. I never really “romanticized” the idea of relationships because it seemed like they had to follow certain default patterns, but when I started getting random Pink Floyd socks or a poetry book in the mail, it was different. Who knew these things could be custom built?

On the final day of Junior year after wrapping up with exams, he booked me a last minute flight (for the next day) to visit California for a week.

Registry

Just making the trip all the way to Boise to celebrate with us is the best gift we could ask for!