Kind of looking for a little bit of an adventure, I suggested that maybe we drive to the local state park.

Then we get there, and we start the fire, cooking bratwursts.

There was only one unit being used, and it was this guy,

it was almost like he'd been living there for a while, and he looked like Legolas.

My friend was joking that he was the most attractive person she'd ever met living inside a tent.

Eventually, he wanders over. He repeatedly refers to himself as homeless.

His name was Sam, and he had just ended a long relationship, and I had done the same.

Because of that sense of temporary presence, we kind of began to talk about that.

It was getting much much darker, not only into the evening but thunderstorms.

We could see the lightning in the distance. It's really possible that we're gonna have a tornado.

That wasn't a problem for my friend and I because we just lived five miles away, but it was a problem for this guy.

I invited him back to my place. He laughed, and he said, "How do I know you're not gonna murder me?"

And I said, "I don't know. Are you gonna murder me?"

We got back to my place. Eventually, I asked, "Why are you living in a tent by the river?"

That seems kinda ludicrous for a 26-year-old man.

And he said that he'd been dating a woman for a very long time. They were living together.

She had cheated on him. He loved her very, very much but couldn't imagine being with her any longer.

It was better for him to leave and live in a tent and fish after work than to live in that house with her.

After my friend left, I kinda said to him that he should stay. I laughed, and I said, "Nothing's going to happen between us."

There was only one bed in my apartment. We got in bed together, and yet I felt really comfortable and at home with him.

I was set to start a job about a month later, and we kind of continued our relationship for two weeks until I left.

When I got to Alaska, I met someone that I care very, very deeply about, and I feel like this is the relationship, truly, that I think will last... I hope for the rest of my life.

It's strange to think that I could like someone briefly and then like someone else a whole lot more,

but I kinda think that's the beauty here; it's that Sam didn't have to be this thing that lasted forever and ever.