On my first solo assignment for National Geographic magazine, I found myself lying facedown on the plush carpeted floor of a bedroom that just so happened to belong to a deer. That deer’s name is Dillie. And Dillie is a diva. She loves being filmed—she’s used to it in fact. Her 24-hour webcam allows people all over the world to check in on her as she snoozes on her queen-size bed.

But that day she did not want to be filmed. Instead she wanted kisses. She fought her way through to my camera, until she could get to my face and then proceeded to lick me for 10 minutes non-stop.

And that was the exact moment that I fell in love