True Love By Maia Cheli-Colando Photos by Heather Vihil
t nearly 30, it seemed Amy Miller had met most of the women she could date in her hometown, Sacramento — and that they were either friends already, or she was friends with their ex. Miller wanted a fresh relationship, to discover someone and be discovered without knowing all the “spoilers” in advance. A friend of hers nudged Miller to try online dating and even wrote up her profile for Plenty of Fish. In Eureka, Kellie Shaner signed up for the same site on a lark. She wasn’t looking to date, but she was curious to see news from friends. When she encountered Miller’s picture, something changed. The photo was of Miller at the beach, in sunglasses, her brown hair pulled back. She looked relaxed and appealing — so Shaner clicked through and said hello. Miller responded, and the women emailed a few times through the site, then began texting. Shaner tried to play it cool, spacing out her messages, but like the momentum of a falling rock it became easier to interact than not to. Shaner suggested they chat on the phone, and soon they were talking whenever they could. A few weeks later, the two women met for their first date in Redding. The restaurant Shaner had suggested was closed, so they
AMY MILLER, KELLIE SHANER
moved down the street to a bar. The usually gregarious Shaner was too nervous to talk much, even after a beer, but Miller just found that funny after all they’d shared over the phone. Their second date was at Moonstone Beach. Six months later, Miller transferred to Eureka. The following October, in 2013, Miller and Shaner were married at Moonstone with 85 friends and family attending. Shaner says that their cellular romance was the best start to a relationship she’s ever had. “We had no choice but to get to
know each other with four- to eight-hour conversations daily. There might be some random, silly things that I don’t know — but for all serious life-lesson things, I think I know pretty much everything about her, and I knew that before she moved up here. Definitely a solid foundation, and as much as it was hard to be far away, it was a good thing. The long distance was good.” It was a challenging year in which to plan a wedding. With Proposition 8 still up before the U.S. Supreme Court, lesbian and gay CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE ➤
NORTH COAST JOURNAL • WEDDING & PARTY GUIDE 2014
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