greg and michele's paths crossed many times in life before they were ready to meet. when they did discover each other, there was no doubt in their hearts and minds -- or the hearts and minds of the people who love them -- that they were meant to be.

their educations at u.c. berkeley overlapped by three years. they both lived on the same side of campus, hung out at a lot of the same spots, and shared the same tastes in adventures. on more than one occasion greg admired cute young women and their dogs, hanging out at the bear's lair on a friday afternoon. michele used to take her dog buddy to the bear's lair on friday afternoons.

the one year michele took off from burning man was the first year greg went. michele quit attending the weekly qool parties about the same time greg discovered them. they've seen a lot of the same films, like to hang out in a lot of the same ways.

they both are big fans of spacelounge, the dance collective that throws parties at burning man and in san francisco. and at one point in time, a little over 2 years ago, they only had one friend in common...

it was sunday on president's day weekend. spacelounge was throwing a party at pier 23. greg had been in northern california visiting a sick relative and all weekend had the sense that he needed to be at that party. he drove 3 hours home from willits, left his brother and sister-in-law-to-be at his house, and headed alone down to pier 23.

michele and a group of girlfriends had plans to attend the same party, and traveled in seperate cars. greg was hanging around out back of pier 23 under a heat lamp where he met cb. the two chatted and had a nice conversation, and cb went off to find her friends.

a little while later greg came 'round to the front of the bar, where cb introduced greg to all of her friends: stephanie, jim, michele... at one point everyone else drifted away, and michele and greg stood chatting for 45 minutes. the two of them would notice each other a lot throughout the rest of the night on the dance floor, and it was all pretty innocent until stephanie mentioned to michele, "you two would make a cute couple."

later, after the music had stopped and most everyone had left, greg was searching for michele. realizing she had already left, he grabbed his belongings and headed for the street. as he was walking up the sidewalk a hand waved from a car exiting the parking lot. he yelled, waved, and insisted that the car stop long enough for him to catch up to it and say goodbye.

greg gave her his card, and she emailed him the next day. they were dating by the next saturday, and three weeks into it, they both realized what they had found. they've been giddily, happily, madly in love ever since.