The message that started it all.

December 20, 2024. 10:41 PM.

It started with a message.

Not just a “hey” or a copied line sent to a dozen people. It was thoughtful. Kind. Genuine. You had taken the time to actually see me before saying hello.

I was so touched! I was so excited to reply. I thought you were handsome and liked your profile and thought oh, yes this guy seems real!

Then I noticed where you lived.

Almost seven hours away.

I remember thinking how impossible that seemed. What could ever come from something that began with that much distance between us?

I almost let the message become just another notification.

But it was too kind to ignore.

So I answered.

I had no idea that the man quietly waiting on the other side of my phone screen would become the love of my life. That a simple courtesy reply would lead to laughter, three—sometimes four— hour long conversations, countless miles traveled between planes and car, and eventually… home to Sugar Hill.

Life is wild. Love is absolutely wild.

And sometimes it just arrives as a message on your phone, through an app, asking if you’d like to have a conversation.

(Yes, you spelled my name wrong, but it did not cost you anything….lol.)