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Last Saturday was the one year anniversary of the first date that Kelly and I had.

Plans to make it a memorable event had been in the making for many days, and the payoff was grand.

We woke up early, and drove to South Lake Tahoe. Reservations for Montbleu and dinner were taken care of, and Kelly even scheduled us for a fancy couple’s massage at the spa in the hotel.

When we checked into the hotel, I was a bit disappointed about our view. Our window showed us the roof of some buildings, and a mountain that wasn’t even covered in snow. Yuck!
I called the front desk and asked if we could upgrade. They told me that they’d have a nicer room available in an hour or so (for a small fee, of course), so we decided to take the offer. The new room would be facing Lake Tahoe, a sight well worth a small upgrade fee.

We had a couple of hours to kill before our massage appointment, and I had just the plan for that time. We walked over to the Heavenly village to catch a gondola ride to the top of the mountain. It was cold and windy out, but my hands were sweating.

Luckily for us, we managed to get in a gondola by ourselves. The sky was cloudy, but the lake was a very deep blue, so the views we were about to take in got us excited. Kelly sat with her back to the lake, as I took a few pictures of her with Lake Tahoe in the background.
I sat next to her, and whispered some sweet things in her ear. We kissed a couple of times, celebrating our anniversary with a very romantic and private ride. Seizing the perfect moment, I told kelly to “Look at the lake, it’s so pretty!”.

When she turned around to look back at me, she found me on one knee, with a ring on my hand and a huge smile on my face. I simply asked her: “Will you marry me?”, and she said yes. The ring went on her finger, and we spent the rest of the ride looking deep into each other’s eyes.

When we arrived to the top, we walked around in bliss, enjoying the landscape, the view, and our love for each other. Kelly had been questioning me about when I was going to ask for her hand, and little did she know that I’d been planning it all along.

When we first talked about such things, many months ago, she told me that she wanted three things: A ring (she showed me a picture of “a ring”), a private circumstance, and a surprise.
I took these things to heart, and made sure that they were true at the moment that I went down on my knee. Her face told me I’d surprised her. Being on a little cart dangling from a wire above pine trees and snow on the side of a mountain… that’s rather private, I’d say. Happily, the ring requirement was also met, and I did actually hear her say “wow” a couple of times. Success!

When we went back to the hotel, we headed to the front desk to check in into our new and upgraded room. Kelly totally pulled a move from Friends (the TV show) and announced to the concierge that we had just gotten engaged. Luckily for us, it worked! The manager was there by coincidence, and we got a free upgrade to a mini-suite.

We had our couple’s massage at the spa in the hotel, and it was wonderfully relaxing. It was a royal treat to our bodies. The therapists were super nice, and we both felt at the end as if they had transmitted a lot of positive energy our way. If they hadn’t disappeared after leaving the room for us to get dressed, I probably would have given them a hug.

The last item on our anniversary plans involved a fancy dinner at Evan’s, the fanciest restaurant I could find. It had great reviews on Yelp and Zagat, so we had to check it out.
Dinner was very tasty , and the things we ate were straight out of Top Chef. However, the highlight of the experience wasn’t the incredible food. There was a small wedding party dining there, with the bride wearing her white dress and the groom in a tuxedo and all. I took it to be a very good sign of the day’s events.

In the end, the weekend turned out to be out of a movie. We celebrated our year of falling in love with each other, and we also celebrated our promise to continue to love each other forevermore.

It’s so hard to try to tell a story, that I’m not even going to try! Instead, here are a few tid-bits of how it all went, in no particular order:

• We left on Thursday, September 3rd. It took us about 3 hours to arrive to our camping spot. Not bad!
• One of the first people we saw at Burning Man was a man in his late 40s, wearing nothing but shoes and a hat. His testicles were dangling around, remarkably stretched. The heat probably was to blame for that.
  At any rate, Kelly was welcomed by cock and balls. We gave the guy a nice and cold beer, and chatted it for a few minutes. It was a great way to start, with a friendly naked guy.
• Our camp, BRCU, was awesome. We had two big domes, one for partying (with our DJ, dance floor and lights) and the other one for chilling out (full of kiddie swimming pools, overflowing with stuffed animals). It was home for a few days, and it really kicked a lot of ass.
• There was a lot dust wind. Of course there’s dust, it’s a dry lake bed. And the dust is a pleasant experience as long as the wind comes and goes, or is a breeze.
  On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the wind was strong. It was also consistent, starting at around 10am and dying down sometime around 11pm. Ridiculous, crazy and annoying.
  What’s one to do? Well, you can either find shelter, or you can spontaneously dance.
• I’d always heard the myth that there are a lot of orgies at Burning Man. Well, let’s just say that -without participating!- it’s not a myth.
• On a somewhat related note, and once again without being involved in it, I’ve learned about more and more people into polyamory. I guess my upbringing makes it something that would never work for me, but that my open mind makes it acceptable as long as it’s not shoved into my face.
• Our diets consisted of a lot of canned foods, like Spaghettios. All we used was a couple of plastic spoons, and not even half of a very small camping propane tank.
• The one thing I enjoyed the most this year is easy for me to decide on, and probably easy for you to guess: having Kelly with me.
  We spent most of our time together, sharing our experiences and caring for each other. Every single moment worth remembering involves her as an integral part of that memory, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love sharing my life with her!
• The second “best” thing this year was on Saturday morning. We rode our bikes into the “deep playa”, and checked out the random art installations that were there. There’s stuff out there that you can’t see from far away, but it’s definitely worth the shot journey. It’s far away enough from everything else that you don’t hear the incessant music, which is a welcome change.
  While cruising around, we found plenty of art pieces, ranging from a collection of statues to a huge guitar. We’d ride up to something, check it out, look around aimlessly until we saw that there was something out there, and then do it all over again. It was a very wonderful way to spend a day with Kelly.
  I’d like to share about one of the things we found: a typewriter on a tall desk, with a tall chair. There was roll of paper, and the machine seemed to be in very good working condition.
  I climbed on the chair, and while Kelly took some pictures, I figured that I might as well write something. Without difficulty, a love note was born. When I was done, I handed the note to Kelly. She smiled, and climbed on the tall chair to write a note to me.
  The notes that we wrote to each other will be a good addition to a little scrapbook that Kelly is making, but even if those were lost, I’ll never forget how we spent our time together. The fun, the playfulness and the love are things that I’m grateful for, and they sometimes make me wonder how I ended up being so lucky.
• Sleeping in a tent is nice, even with an air mattress. But it’s not nice enough for Burning Man, when your body needs good rest after battling playa whiteouts, climbing on art pieces and cars, dancing, walking and riding bicycles.
  We’ll try to rent an RV for next year, and hopefully we can share with a couple more people, to lower the cost, and share in the awesomeness of having some more comfortable living quarters.
• I’d never really gone and hung out at Center Camp, but this year we went there a handful of times. We had some iced coffee, and sat around enjoying all that goes on.
  The Center Camp scene is apparently what most people stereotype Burning Man to be: hippies hanging out, people doing Yoga, drum circles, dancing. And in a way, the stereotype is true – but with a twist.
  Most people’s stereotype includes the above mentioned activities, and that’s it. My stereotype goes a bit further, and involves the reason why people are doing such things. So of course it’s true that people are doing all those things that some people label as lame, stupid or childish. Of course they’re doing what they want to do. It’s obvious that all they want to do is enjoy themselves, and that there’s at least one place where they can totally freely do it, and that’s at Burning Man.
  I don’t really want to go deeper into how people could have fun in the “default” world, because that’s not what I’m trying to get to. My point is that I don’t understand the criticism of people doing things that they enjoy.
• I took my Canon 40D camera, and took a few pictures. I didn’t have it on me at all times (in fact, I had it with me very little), but when I did, I think I captured some decent photographs. If you’d like to check them out, head on over to my Flickr.I feel like Burning Man is my yearly test of how my photo skills are doing. It’s a good reference point to look back and compare, and -just like last year- I can say that this year’s pictures are better than last year’s. This is a nice feeling!
• Our “exodus” took us 5 and a half hours, with 2 of them being spent on the exit line from Black Rock City to the highway. We left on Sunday, because we were exhausted and ready to get home to our dreamy bed, and anxious to be able to spend at least one day snuggling in the morning. We got home, enjoyed the wonderful feeling of a hot shower, and went to bed.
• On Monday, Labor Day, we woke up 11 hours after having gone to sleep. And then we spent the rest of the day cleaning up, and enjoying each other. We had no regrets of having left on Sunday and missing the Temple burn.
  Our Burning Man experience ended on a high note. Additionally, we would have been dead to the world for the entire week if we had to do all the cleaning we did on Monday during the week, after very busy and stressful times at work. So busy, in fact, that it’s my excuse for posting this almost a whole week later!

Last weekend, Kelly showed me some of her yearbooks from her youth. We found the one for her senior year, at McQueen High School. The year that I was there too, as an exchange student.
As we opened it, the first thing we saw was my writing. On the top of the back of the cover. Basically, the “first” place where one could ever possibly write. And here’s what I wrote:

Kelly!!! I love you woman! You are one of the first sexy women who talked to me! I feel sooo special :) Have fun in college, don’t get naked and drunk at the same time (or you’ll get pregnant), but still have fun forever. You’ll hear more from me!!! (he he)

Whoa! As we finished reading it out loud, we looked at each other and laughed out loud. The words “you’ll hear more from me” echoing, and changing meanings as our history replayed in a flash: It all started with occasionally chatting on the internet, to seeing each other here and there… several months of no contact, and then starting again with chatting online more and more. From there, things translated into the real world, and we started hanging out more and more, falling in love slowly to recently end up becoming quite inseparable.

He he, indeed, Kelly. And I still think she’ll hear more from me.

Well, hello there. It’s been a while since I posted. Since last year, in fact. So, let me catch you up to speed.

I’m in love. Let me tell you who I’m in love with.

Kelly  has been part of my life since 1999. It’s really quite the story. We first talked on AOL when I was an exchange student. You know, the typical A/S/L kind of conversation.
I remember the first day we met face to face. I was playing soccer with the school team. She had just finished her cheerleading practice, and she came over to say hi, in her uniform and all. We awkwardly shook hands, and she walked away, giggling. Seems like so long ago!

However, between then and 2006, our interaction was little and infrequent (me living in Argentina between 2000 and 2003 certainly didn’t help). We’d run into each other here and there, but never “hang out”. Her circle of friends and life intersected mine in the smallest of ways.

In the beginning of 2007,  when my (ex)wife kicked me out of the house, I forced myself to re-establish relationships and friendships. Kelly was one of them.
I sent her a message over Mypace, asking her if she’d like to meet up and catch up. I honestly wasn’t looking for a hot date, I was just trying to reach out and make some friends. We met at Bully’s, had a burger and talked for a few hours. We caught up. We said goodbye. Nothing more.
After that, things get blurry. We chatted online frequently, several times a week. We joined Twitter at about the same time. We rode our bicycles in the Reno Critical Mass meetups…
Since she would often talk about how much it sucked being single, I tried to hook her up with every one of my single friends. She gave them all a shot, but nothing ever came out of any of the encounters.
As time passed, we became good friends. Even though we’d rarely get to chat in person, we’d talk over the intertubez quite often, about all sorts of different things… from superficial silly things like the weather and sharing links to YouTube videos, to deeper and more private things that involved feelings, thoughts and all that stuff that makes you feel like you know someone better, and that they’re letting you in on something that only a few know.

Fast forward to the end of November of 2008, and I was single again. After putting 1 and 1 together, I asked her out on a date. She said yes right away, which I took as a good sign.
The day came. A nice dinner, a few glasses of fine wine, and 5 hours later, I dropped her off at her house, and that was the beginning of the transition…  going from good friends, to falling head over heels in love. This moment was marked with a most intense and welcome good night kiss.

Within a few weeks, we made it “official” and changed out status on Facebook to “in a relationship”. We did it together, in the living room of her house. It was quite the romantic moment. Gotta love technology!

She invited me to her family’s house to have Christmas dinner, which I took as another very good sign. If I was good enough to be introduced to the parents -on Christmas day, none the less-, I wasn’t just a passing thing.
My Christmas present from her was a framed picture of her school portrait. To most people, this might be the lamest thing you could come up with, but I found it to be an excellent gift. The gesture told me “I want you to think of me, I want you to remember me”. And I do just that, as I get to see her smiling face on the corner of my work desk, every day from Monday to Friday, from 8am to 5pm.

 Less than a month after our first date, I realized I was madly in love. Luckily, I found out the feeling was mutual. Despite such a short time of actually dating, we talked about how it felt as if we’d been together for much longer. I guess being good friends before moving forward has worked pretty well for us.

Kelly is a teacher, a traveler, a peace lover, a dreamer. She’s just awesome, and there are no words in any language to fairly describe the things about her that lead me to being so twitterpated. Just take my word for it.

A few weeks ago, she went back and read through my blog, from the beginning in 2005 to today. In case you didn’t know, there’s a lot of history here! I posted while I was married, I posted while I was going through a divorce, while I dated other people and anywhere in between. And Kelly didn’t take it negatively. She’s not jealous of my past. She sees it the way I see it: Such was the bumpy path that took me to where I am now. These were the experiences that shaped me into who and what I am. There is no shame in admitting one’s mistakes, or finding out about someone else’s path.
Likewise, I am not jealous of her past, or online writings. Her blog has a lot of history, stories of being happy with someone else, and then broken hearted. Stories of being loved, and of lonely.
I enjoy reading her blog posts, always have. Her few latest posts made me feel like I needed to start explaining what’s going on with me and her, before it’s too late and I have a long story to explain (several paragraphs later, I feel like it’s indeed to late, and this is becoming a novel).

There are so many good things about Kelly, that this post would never end if I were to list what they are. So, instead, I’ll take a more pragmatic approach. If I explain what I don’t like, and make a list, then you can safely assume that anything that is not listed, I like. Simple logic, it would seem.
So here it goes: 

There’s only one thing I don’t like about Kelly. What is that thing, you ask? I’ll show you a picture, and explain: 

The first time I had to make some toilet bowl stew at Kelly’s house, I found myself looking at the toilet paper. My first reaction was to take it out, and place it the way I like it – with the paper rolling out from the top.
But then, I thought to myself “this is it!” This was the first thing that I didn’t like about Kelly. And I smiled to myself, with my pants around my ankles, and gave in to her bizarre ways of buttock hygiene.

She will probably find out about this shortly after I hit the “publish” button, and tell me that I’m a huge dork. And then give me a kiss. And tell me that she loves me. Because that’s what she does. And guess what I’ll do?

That’s right. I’ll tell her that I love her too, as I return the kiss.