2,000 Miles Apart, One Heart

I was in Chicago for a three-day tech conference. On a whim, I updated my location on CupidMsg and started swiping. That's when I found her profile. Her bio said, "I will judge you by your bookshelf." Her prompt answer to "I geek out on..." was a paragraph about urban architecture that made me want to walk around the city with her immediately.

We matched at 11 PM. By midnight, we'd moved to texting. By 1 AM, we'd planned breakfast. By 9 AM the next morning, sitting across from her at a tiny diner on Michigan Avenue, I knew this was different.

I flew home to Austin on Sunday. By Wednesday, I'd booked a flight back. Then she came to Austin. Then I went back to Chicago. For four months, we racked up enough frequent flyer miles to circle the globe.

Last month, she accepted a remote position at her company. She's moving to Austin in three weeks. We found an apartment with a reading nook and a view of the skyline — because of course we did.

Long distance is hard. But when you find someone whose mind lights up the same way yours does, distance is just logistics.