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WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
Bowen's Go For It Giveaway trip took him and his girlfriend of four years, Abby, to the awe-inspiring peaks and valleys of southwest Montana. It was a trip Bowen, a special education teacher, knew he and Abby, a nurse studying to be a nurse practitioner, really needed.
Over the past few years, Bowen and Abby overcame countless challenges together. From career changes to adapting to almost opposite work schedules which limited their time together, the couple remained strong but longed for a break from their busy day-to-day.
"The reason I wanted to go on this trip is to remind myself of what I've been fighting for. Through all the hardships, all the late nights, all the times I've had to sleep in the bed by myself because she was working third shift."
If it isn't clear already, Bowen has his eye on shared future with Abby. And any chance he gets, he sings her praises. "Everything I'm not good at, she finds a way to be good at. Things that I struggle with, she helps me through them," Bowen says with a grin.
"Then, it seemed like when I stopped doing that, the cloud of smoke and all the excuses I had before disappeared. And it was just me and ZYN. I got the Wintergreen 3 mg. Now I go through a can like, once a week."
The remoteness of a Montana trip appealed to Bowen. "When I was a kid, I used to go hunting with my dad. My favorite part was sitting in the tree stand right next to him and just letting time tick by. And I think that's something he passed to me: there's nothing to think about out there. You just relax. Everything else just escapes."
Montana's starry nights became a new escape from the pressure of work and school for Bowen and Abby. "We never really got a weekend or a vacation in the past three years. One of my favorite nights in Montana, the northern lights had come in. When it was just me and her, it was really nice to have that moment of tranquility and peace. The stars. I mean, I hadn't seen so many stars in my entire life. How quiet it was. You could hear a leaf fall."
Best of all, during an excursion to the Grand Tetons, Bowen and Abby shared a life-changing moment. "I've had the ring in my back pocket for seven months? Eight months? I was waiting for kind of that right moment. Suddenly, there was an American eagle flying between the peaks. Abby was so focused on photographing the eagle that I was like, this feels right. I got on my knee with the ring, and she was saying, 'I think I got it, I think I got it!' Then she turned around and saw me, and it was perfect."
Bowen sees his Montana trip as a new starting point. "When I look back on this experience, I'd call it the beginning. The last three years, I've been running around to get my life ready. Now I get to move forward."
When asked if Bowen wanted to share anything else, he graciously responded, "I really appreciate the fact that ZYN gave me this opportunity to see the light at the end of the tunnel of that rat race I was in, to see what I was working for. ZYN's always been there. And it's still Wintergreen 3 mg sitting in my back pocket."
