Stephanni, as a relatively new widow and Mark (me) who had invested deeply into living in the friends-only zone, initially met online in a Widow/Widowers (WW) group. I reached out via Facebook Messenger and Stephanni responded quickly.

From our first telephone call, we established a remarkable comfort. We traversed from introduction to being friends in a little less than an hour on the phone. From that time forward we chatted frequently and were often amazed at our matching life philosophies, curiously parallel thoughts, and similar observations with usually the same conclusions. We quickly began to finish each others’ sentences by using the same words simultaneously. It became a little eerie. Woo woo kind of stuff. As that continued to occur, we laughed and wondered ‘How does this keep happening?’

We first met in person when I traveled to Saint George to speak at a WW conference. We arranged for an adventure early one Friday morning in January 2020. I chose the activity – photographing a desert sunrise — while Stephanni was responsible for choosing the location. She selected the perfect place.  In fact, this beautiful sacred outdoor spot was the setting for our eventual wedding.

Totally oblivious that Stephanni didn’t love early mornings — but for some unknown reason agreed to our rendezvous, I picked her up in the dark forty-five minutes before sunrise to watch, experience, and to take pictures. I noticed from the moment we began to drive away it felt a lot like a reunion. We were remarkably comfortable immediately.

Our photos from that excursion are exquisite.

After the WW conference, I arranged a trip back to Saint George for a visit. We rapidly transitioned into best friends by mid-February 2020. Our forever commitment to each other occurred shortly after that.

Stephanni is a remarkable soul. We feel incredibly fortunate to have been led to each other by what appears to be a divine influence. It would not be right to say that I tricked her into falling in love with me, that just wouldn’t be true. She is 100% aware of the authentic Mark and adores me despite my imperfections. To say that I love Stephanni despite her imperfections would be incorrect. I’m sincerely not aware of any. Investing time with each other is an absolute treasure. We enjoy every minute we get to be together.

Stephanni is very important to me. I’m anxious to share the details of my world with her. We talk for hours every day, laughing often and enjoying our time together even when it was only by telephone or video calling. Early into becoming suddenly single, I realized that to find someone who would happily fit into my realm would be like looking for a Unicorn. I rapidly decided that I was not interested in going Unicorn hunting, yet in some remarkable way our paths crossed, and we are now travelling down the same road together. Stephanni and I are an amazing and lovely amalgamation of adventure, intensity, gratitude, fidelity, curiosity, intellect, humor, energy, kindness, generosity, loyalty, and great love.

She is my number one priority, and I am hers. We subscribe to the understanding that our relationship takes precedence. An investment into Stephanni’s comfort or happiness is a deposit into our alliance and has a positive consequence on me. And vice versa. Conversely if we were to say or do something hurtful or disparaging, it would impact both of us because the bond would be damaged. Stephanni and I are a team. We have learned that some things matter, most things don’t. Love, honesty, and kindness matter — a lot.

I feel humbled to be part of the Stephanni and Mark extravaganza. It’s kind of like a forever party of goodness and joy. Really, it’s true.