Tom: “We met online. About six weeks later I decided to move from Vermont to Alaska. She followed me. Then we moved here.”

Emma: “Is that how you tell it? We met online. He invited me to Saturday brunch, which I thought was odd. We went on a couple of dates, which were pretty pleasant. He invited me to Rhode Island to visit his family which I thought was, you know, too soon. He told me he wanted to move to Alaska. I had just finished nursing school and decided to apply for jobs up there. He invited me for the weekend just before he was leaving. He was so taken up with the packing and excitement of riding his motorcycle to Alaska I didn’t have the nerve to tell him I’d applied for jobs out there.

“He drove out of the driveway and I thought, whoa, I have to tell him. He’d told me he wanted to drive over the new Lake Champlain Bridge. So, I gunned it to the bridge. I got the New York side. No Tom. I stopped for a creme. No Tom. I drove back over the bridge. There he was, heading to New York. I got to the end and turned around. He did the same thing. We passed each other on the bridge. Then we found each other.”

Tom DuBois, first generation millennial, told me how he met his wife. Emma, younger by a turn, turned it into a romantic comedy.

I asked Emma how long it took for her to realize that she was in love with Tom. “Six hours. That first date we had brunch and took a walk and he asked me to come over for dinner. He wasn’t expecting anyone, so we had to go food shopping first. He didn’t even ask me what I wanted. That’s when I knew he’s the one for me.”

Tom studied culinary at Johnson and Wales. He cooked the evening we spent together. He has taught culinary, and high school, and special education. After their year in Alaska, living on separate islands, Emma chose Santa Fe as where they would live next. She is an OB nurse at the hospital here. Tom is a VISTA volunteer working in the B2C program (Birth to Career). Eight weeks ago, the couple got married. They are a happy pair.

How will we live tomorrow?

“I’m pretty sure most Americans don’t have any idea about tomorrow. If they do, they’re worried about tomorrow and struggling today. The wealthy do not live in the moment.” – Emma

“The hopeful in me thinks we’ll continue as we are, but it’s hard to imagine that happening in the current media climate. People worry about social capital; it would be good if people just take care of each other.

“Isn’t it interesting that we even need to find a commonality. In every other species, just knowing that we’re the same species is enough. Our brains have become bigger than our penises. – Tom