Till our fingers decompose

A little morbid right?

That’s us though! We met online through a mutual friend during a challenging time in our separate lives. Supporting each other through those times lead to falling in love, moving in and starting to live happily ever after. We moved in together in 2023, moved again in 2024 (to our dream home), and eloped in May of that same year. We’ve gone from long distance (Damn those time zones), to falling asleep next to each other every night (A king bed for all the animals, and damn our wiggle worm child).

Not to brag but our love is one for the books. We started off thousands of miles apart when Sarah was living in Utah and I was living in Vermont. It was a challenge at first, but we soon got close despite the distance. We started off super strong too, texting often and having several conversations going on at once. I’d stay up long after I should have been in bed so that I could steal a few extra hours with her. We’d hang out on the phone from the second I got off work until she’d eat dinner with her folks around 5 her time, 7 my time. We’d text until Melissa’s bedtime just before 8 her time 10 my time. It wasn’t until around 10:30 my time that we’d can get into a video call and I’d see her pretty face. I regretted nothing. Staying up late into the night while still not running out of things to say to each other and playing a video game together or simply enjoying each others company are some memories I will cherish forever.

She came back in the late spring and my world began to thaw as well. We saw each other on weekends. Even though she still lived a few hours away, we’d meet up halfway and spend the day together. Sometimes the night too. I played with Melissa and basked in the light that was Sarah. Then I went back to my house and suddenly the world seemed less bright. The summer was a good time, and having her in the same time zone was a blessing. My house faced west in Vermont, and I had a great view right across Lake Champlain at the Adirondack mountains. Her mountains. Funny how even before I met her, I was looking towards her. It was a good time. We were falling in love, but I had already fallen. Hard.

Then she went back West again. She was living with her parents at the time, and that was just how things were. Her folks did roughly 6 months on the East coast and 6 months in the Southwest. Since she was still recovering from loss and in school, Sarah needed to live with them. So away she went. It was horrible and I was a mess. I remember watching her location on Life360 move steadily away as she made the 2400 mile drive over the course of several days. We went back to video calls and talking every day, and I missed her. We still had each other, but that winter was hard for me.

Finally, spring came into my life again. We moved in together back in her home region of New York state not too far from where she grew up. Into a teeny tiny two bedroom apartment that felt like home because she was in it. It was glorious and everything I wanted. There wasn’t much room for visitors; there wasn’t much room for us. We were on top of each other constantly and didn’t kill each other. In fact we found a lot of happiness there. It was small though, and we were looking for something bigger, hopefully to stop renting and set up the homestead we both talked about living in someday.

We got engaged. I knew early on that I would love this woman for the rest of my life. I waited an appropriate amount of time for her to work through some grief, though I know it will always be a part of her. I asked her folks individually for their blessing starting with her mom. Nothing against her dad, but her mom is kind and saw how much I loved the kiddo who I would later adopt. I asked her dad the next day, and Sarah the day after that. She hiked to the top of a mountain (a precursor to our elopement) as my girlfriend and came down as my fiancé.

Life was good and I was living the dream. We moved into the home we’re living in now. We eloped, got ready in our backyard and married on the top of a mountain. We’re putting down roots in a way we never did when renting. We finally found our forever home, but for me, it’s because I found my forever person.