KIM AND ANDREW

I knew I liked Kim when she asked me if I wanted some extra cheddar on my frozen pizza - now there’s a pickup line for a slovenly slob like me. We both liked leftover chinese food and birds and living without televisions. It was a good fit, like most of these CouchSurfing matchups have been. So far I’m convinced that the community has no spoilsports.

It just so happened that she already had a CouchSurfer staying, Andrew, and he met us on that wavelength also, a special state of mind where it’s easy to share and speak your mind and lay around on the floor with judgement reserved. He was an English professor and made for a fantastic Cranium partner. He’s deep into words and trivia, and that’s a world I’m happy to swim in, too.

We were in Valparaiso, Indiana (Valpo to the affectionate), but I’d had a long day and Kim’s day was longer, so I didn’t get to see much of it. We just stayed in and played board games and drank mead and listened to music. Kim had a golden retriever Charlie who was a therapeutic friend - it’s so nice to get some of that unconditional canine love after a month spent mostly alone. Kim said she babied him, so I had a good time playing alpha male, wrestling him and pinning him and playing some vicious tug of war. He had that goofy golden retriever smile on the whole time, and it was infectious.

The whole thing is infectious, really. Don’t you want to CouchSurf now? Are these the boogiemen you imagined?