well, hello.

Six months ago today (not that I'm counting), I met Nate. Supposedly it wasn't our first time meeting, but I don't really remember meeting him when he says I did. And we had lots of mutual friends (I went to Kansas State and Nate went to the University of Kansas) so we kind of knew of each other before June 6. We followed each other on Twitter and read each other's blogs. Nate was living in Louisville and I in Nashville. And here's the story of how it all started.

On June 5, Evan (Nate's best friend) and Jenn (my best friend) got married in Kansas City. I flew back for the wedding. Nate was in the wedding. I saw him there, but didn't talk to him because I really didn't know him. The next day, I got to Kansas City International Airport to fly back to Nashville. The flight was completely full. I was one of the last to board, and I picked a middle seat near the front. Just as we were about to close the door and push back from the terminal, one of the flight attendants came on the speaker: "Folks, we have a full flight. We are looking for a volunteer to take a later flight so we can accommodate another traveler ... "

I didn't have to wait for him to finish explaining. I know that Southwest hooks you up when you volunteer to take a later flight (and I am kind of crazy about saving money). I was flying alone, so I'd only need to tell my roommate who was picking me up to come later. I hesitated, just knowing someone else would jump at the chance, but they didn't. And I reached up and pressed my call button to indicate I was willing and I got up, gathered my bags, and got off the plane. On the way out, I passed a woman with two babies who was very grateful to have my seat on the plane. Southwest gave me a voucher for the cost of my flight + $100 (enough to fly to Kansas again round-trip for free), plus they got me a seat on a flight four hours later and gave me $12 for dinner. All $12 bought me in the airport was a Caesar salad and a diet Coke.

I finished up my dinner and was sitting far from my gate because I had so much time to kill. I pulled out some sudokus and started working them when I heard, "Alyssa!" I looked up to see Nate. He forgot to check when his flight to Louisville was leaving, so he got to the airport really early. He sat next to me and we talked for two hours. Conversation was easy.

Two weeks later, Nate came and visited me in Nashville. He wrote me a letter and we started hanging out when we could and video chatting when we couldn't. We flew back to Kansas City together at the end of July, and in September, Nate found a place to live and a job, and he moved here. About two weeks ago, we traveled back to Kansas so Nate could meet my family and I could meet his.
So glad I got off that plane.

And here we are. :)