Vincent

In the month or so before Vince and I decided to meet, which was about a month after we first met online in blogs, we exchanged a lot of photographs. We also snooped like mad on each other's websites and all over the Internet for anything the other might have forgotten to disclose. We talked on the phone, Vancouver to New York. We made videos. I have always hated to be photographed, so making a video of myself was a big, big step. I just watched it, and watched his, thinking I might post them, but I can't. I don't think either of us wanted to be caught by surprise. I was terrified of being a disappointment and I was equally terrified that the chemistry of our emails (epics), phone calls, videos, would not hold up in person.

But the minute I saw the tall man walking out of a door at Newark International, the minute I touched his hand, I knew. There was a gentleness and an innate strength in this man that I never wanted to lose. I knew that everything would be OK.

That was three years ago today.

The picture above? That was a clincher. It was studied in detail. Analysed by friends, staring at the computer. Anybody who could do that, who could think like that, was tops. It was funny, it was supple, it was accomplished, it was free. I fell in love.

And I haven't fallen out.