I just wanted to give fair warning that if you can't stand the ramblings of a totally hopeless romantic, you should probably stop reading this thread, because that is pretty much what this is going to be...
I have been a member on Fauna for a good bit of time, but always more of a lurker rather than a poster, since a great majority of my time is spent as a moderator on other boards. Not to mention my animals, work and my band. I have never really had any problems finding someone to be with, however finding the RIGHT PERSON to be with is a whole other story. As I am sure a large predominance of you have run into at one time or another, its not necessarily a bad thing for your reputation to be known around town as the "guy with the really huge snake," but when people find out its not just a clever euphemism, they generally tend to walk away... quickly.
As such, I figured I may as well resign myself to the fate that I'd probably never really meet "the one" and the only way I’d ever get even remotely close would be by giving up my animals or perhaps just kidding myself and "settling."
Perhaps it was whimsical, a shot in the dark, but I figured that this forum would be as good as any other to try to see if I could meet someone, because "what is the worst that could happen?" Anyway Jessica (DoraDay on here) and myself started talking back and forth on PM's, and then email, and then finally on the phone. We decided to meet up one weekend, and I'll admit I was really nervous- and this is coming from someone who performs on stage! I got there, and I rang the doorbell, and when Jessica answered the door, the first thought in my head was, "Oh my god, she's freakin' gorgeous!" It just got better and better from there. She has all sorts of awesome animals, loves camping, loves animals, and we have so much in common, that it is borderline scary. I have to keep reminding myself that we met not that long ago, but it really feels like I have known her my whole life.
I was just talking to her not too long ago and I mentioned that I have always been a pretty happy person, but the happiness, warmth and love that I feel when I am with her makes all prior experiences in life seem depressing by comparison. Everything I do with her is just 100 times better. She makes me feel like I am on top of the world and totally complete.
It is almost like the feeling you would get if you had a 10,000 piece puzzle and you finished the whole thing except for 1 piece. You can see just about the whole picture, but it’s not the same. Let's say you frame the puzzle and leave it like that because you are really proud of all your work putting the 9,999 pieces together and it still looks really cool. Let's say that a few years pass, and then one day, BOOM! Staring at you, from underneath the refrigerator is that last piece, and you put it in the puzzle, and you are finally DONE. You can see the whole puzzle, the whole picture, and now it has a newfound beauty, completion and perfection that you never really knew it was missing.
Jessica is an absolutely awesome and wonderful person, in every single way perceivable and conceivable. I just wanted to thank everyone on here for making such a site possible, and Jessica for being such a wonderful person! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
P.S. Picture of us camping attached....