I think a good place to start my story is a time in my life when I had this string of short term relationships. Nothing particularly serious. Definitely some heartbreaks and hard times but nothing was really clicking. I found myself in this cycle and finally hit a breaking point. I was done. I didn't want to date anymore. I wanted to be on my own and learn about myself and break the pattern that was quickly becoming habit.

I had a friend who was staying with me at the time and she had also noticed this string of dating going on. She encouraged me to take a break and in times when I thought I wanted to pursue something, when I thought I was ready to date, she quite bluntly told me that I wasn't ready. However annoyed that she was right, I stayed single. A couple of months later, my friend said it was like I woke up one morning and said, "I'm ready for a girlfriend."

Now at this time in my life I need to clue you in on some background. I was a graduate student getting my Physician Assistant certificate and Master's in Medical Science. I also, despite taking a break from dating, had a lingering interest in someone. It almost worked out. And then, with a slight slap in the face, it came to a screeching halt. Amidst all this drama, someone from my school had conned me into being a back up for a challenge bowl at the National Physician Assistant Conference, held this year in San Antonio, Texas. So thankfully, I got away for a week...And before I had even left, I told my friend, "I think I'm goign to meet someone at this conference."

So I finally get to the conference and just jump right in to all the events. The opening was awesome! The Spasmatics played-a Texas born 80's and 90's cover band and I had a great time with my classmates. Among all the events I found out that on Sunday there was a GLBT P.A. social event hosted by the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. A peer of mine said he'd be happy to go with me. So we went!

We arrive at this bar on the outskirts of downtown San Antonio-much like Tracks is located in Denver. There were some opening speeches and we had a couple of drinks and began enjoying ourselves. Maybe two hours in and maybe two and a half drinks in, I noticed a woman walk in with a couple of her friends, and I immediately thought, "oh wow!" We kind of did that thing where I know she saw me and I saw her and I was just watching her but I was stuck in a conversation. Now, I know that they were talking about me, but back then, I just thought that it was very apparent that she was ready to go and her friends would not let her.

So I'm watching this take place and I say to myself-if she doesn't come say "hi" to me in the next five minutes, then I'll go say "hi" to her. And within a minute I felt a finger "tap tap tap" on my shoulder and I turn around and there she is and she sticks her hand out and says, "hi I'm Dayna, and I just wanted to say hi." And I said, "I'm Johnna," and I shook her hand and inquisitively looked at her and stated "you go to school in Albuqurque." And she looks at me funny and I continue, "but you live in Denver." And she gives me this look like, "oh shit!" or "uhhh I don't know what I just got myself into?!"

Everything clicks and the lights go off in my head and I exhuberantly reference myself and say, "I'M DOCTOR HOT PANTS!!" Again, received with a strange look from Dayna, I then back-pedaled, "no no no! That's my MySpace name. You asked me out for coffee about a month ago. And you know I wrote you back and I never heard back from you and I know that you're a PA student and you were doing surgery and I'm a PA student too so I figured you were busy." And she says-quite flatly, I might add, "You never wrote me back." And I said, "no no no I did. I know I did. I remember!" And she said again, "ummmm, you never wrote me back." And literally with a wave of my hand I said, "well it doesn't matter. We're here now."

Just to interject...I went back to my hotel the next day and she was totally right-I did not write her back! Woopsies!

Back to the bar. So I meet her friends, we hang out, we talk. Not too long after we met, her friends decide they are going to take off and we continue to chat and get to know each other. Out of nowhere we find ourselves in the spot light of a drag show very much enjoying ourselves and we have our first kiss with the spot light literally focused on us. The drag queen even called us out, "awww how cute!" So embarrassing! But it definitely makes for a good story :)

Basically we spent the rest of the of the conference together attending lectures, going to lunch, going to dinner, hanging out with friends. At the end of the week we got each other's information. She happened to be living in Albuqurque for a five week psychiatry rotation so we decided to keep in touch via phone until she returned home to Denver.

So we went our separate ways and I guess when I got home I had all my friends waiting for me to tell them some big news. I don't know where it happened or who I told first, but suddenly everyone knew I had met someone at the conference. My past interest cornered me at a club soon after and quite bluntly called me out by saying, "you're going to give your heart to this woman." My response was, "I don't know, but I kind of want to see where it goes."

Fast forward. Those five weeks flew by and Dayna returns to Denver and it's Pride weekend. She comes home and we have a date Thursday night and she takes me to Japon, (we love sushi)!
So here's the thing...it was sooo awkward. We hadn't seen each other since we met and it was really our first date. It's so funny now because we talk about how we both were felt like, "oh boy! Maybe this isn't what we thought it was?! Maybe it was just a whirlwind romance in San Antonio?!" I don't know why it was so awkward. Maybe it was just our mindset. I think we had connected so well in San Antonio and we probably both had high expectations. But the truth was-we really didn't know each other.

Thankfully it didn't take that long for the walls to come down and we found ourselves back in that familiar, although brief, first experience of pure connection.

So the next night, sometime before going to the women's party at Tracks, and I kind of...well we all know what happens at Pride...So I made sure to ask Dayna to be my girlfriend before the weekend started. She said yes :o)

Basically this began our relationship. It was like any other relationship. We talked, we hung out. We had sleep overs. She met my friends and I met her friends, we went to dinner, blah blah blah. Within three or four months, those friends of course that still haven't gone away, questioned the significane of our relationship. "What do you think of her? Do you love her? Are you going to spend the rest of your life with her?" And I, in a very vulnerable state, didn't know the answers to the questions. What I did know was that I never saw us breaking up. I never saw my life without her in it.

Our relationship wasn't without bumps and it was certainly with many conversations involving growing and learning together. In the first year of our relationship, there were five months where we weren't even in the same country because of our medical rotations. During this year when we were in the same town we lived in a studio apartment together on Cap Hill. What better way to know if you're compatible than to live in a 400-square foot room together?! But still we persisted and celebrated our 1-year anniversary at a friend's wedding in Minnesota where pictures that were taken of us eventually became our "Save-The-Date" card. Not to mention...The Spassmatics played at the wedding too. Not a coincidence. I'm convinced.

Instead of doing things in the traditional way, we decided to buy a house together. We went from living in a studio together to buying a house. Funny. Over time of course. (We did not do the Uhaul thing. Kind of, well, sort of...) We were in love! And we knew we were going to be together. It just felt natural. So we found the cutest little house in LoHi in September of 2009 and were moved in by October 23. Life was super-fantastic!

Shortly after moving in we planned a house-warming party for all our friends and family to come and see our humble little abode that we were so excited about. The events that followed were like someting out of a movie. It was just this pristine morning. Her sisters were there, my best friends were there, we were just this small intimate group. It was snowing outside and there was a Broncos game on-we were just enjoying the little family we had created. As party time arrived, our realtor and mortgage-broker showed up and I was wandering around the house showing them how we had settled in. I was in my comfy jeans and my "to-die-for" t-shirt and Marvin the Martian slippers when I realized that everybody was in the kitchen and Dayna was standing at the end of the hallway saying, "come here honey."

Me and my Marvin the Martian slippers scuffle down the hallway and I'm like "do do do" and I think, "how sweet, Tawny is going to take pictures!" So Dayna is like, "come here!" I get face-to-face with Dayna and am completely clueless and still do not realize everyone is in the kitchen with us. And Dayna says to me, "I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." She starts to get down on one knee and I say, "what are you doing?! What are you doing?!" And she says, "Will you marry me?!" and shows the ring in the classic fashion. And I just start crying and am speechless and she stands up and we hug and she asks, "so, uh, is that a yes?!" And I was like, "YES!!" Marvin the Martian slippers and all.

So less than a year later, we were married down on the Auraria Campus and we are still enjoying our cute little house in the Highlands. It's funny because I have been speaking to some friends about this-we have been married for five months now and coming up this spring we'll have been together for three years, and I'm just completely in awe at how perfectly hand crafted she is for me. We are both physician assistants, she's more calm, I'm more hyper. We talk nerdy to each other. We really, really complement each other. And there's no way to describe how perfect it all was and all is. Meeting your soul mate or "the one" is not always butterflies in your tummy and dreamy glances across the bar. It just is what it's supposed to be.

If I can give any sort of encouragement to any person of any gender, of any orientation, it is to spend time learning about yourself, learning how to take care of yourself, learning how to pursue your own dreams and desires so that when the time comes that your perfect match taps you on the shoulder, you've already taken care of the learning you need to do as a person and you can now learn together as a couple.

So when you feel yourself upset or jealous that someone took the girl you like or because you got turned down by the boy you wanted, step back and take time to work on your own growth and just let love happen. Because it will. I promise.

Johnna