By Teresa Peneguy Paprock

MADISON, Wis. -- This is a love story, one that people around the world can share.

Kim and Jason Kotecki met when she was only 17 and he was 19. "We were going Christmas caroling, and she was wearing red long underwear, reindeer boxer shorts, and combat boots," recalls Jason. It was love at first sight. But he needed to woo her. With his special gift for drawing, he borrowed some childhood photographs and created a little Kim, and a little Jason, each approximately 4 years old. He began inventing adventures that the two would have shared had they known each other as small children. "I liked his gifts," smiles Kim, now his wife. Jason had a childlike spirit, she says (emphasizing the difference between childLIKE and childISH). Today, the two operate a miniature enterprise from their small Madison apartment. Jason's comic strip, Kim & Jason, runs in more than 100 publications, including Dane County Kids, starting this month. It's also available online (in 37 countries!) at www.kimandjason.com. In addition, prints, cards, candles (with scents like "Bubble Gum," "Cola," "Grape Popsicle," and "Fresh Dirt"), T-shirts, mugs, and other Kim & Jason products are available.

Jason is a one-man crusade against what he calls "Adultitis" - a condition marked by symptoms like "chronic dullness, high stress levels and an inability to smile." He speaks for audiences on personal, professional and spiritual topics. (The couple is deeply Christian and their business reflects their faith, with a percentage of their earnings going to support a number of charities that help children.) Jason's new book, "Escape Adulthood: 8 Secrets from Childhood for the Stressed-Out Grown-Up," has been published through Jason's small company, JBiRD iNK, Ltd.

The Kim & Jason strip has been compared to Peanuts and to Calvin & Hobbes. It features the two mischievous little kids; Kim's older sister, Katie; Kim's grandfather, Boompa; and Stinky, "Kim's favorite stuffed animal, a skunk reeking of Old Spice." Jason's secret is his ability to look back at childhood from an adult's point of view. (One strip features two scary monsters under Jason's bed. "I'm hungry," says one. "Let's eat the kid." But the other grumbles, "We can't. Not with that night light on.")

"Our mission," says Jason, "is to help adults return to childhood, and to help kids have better childhood." As we get older, he says, "We tend to take ourselves too seriously." Jason draws much of his inspiration from a verse in the Bible. "I was struck by Jesus saying that we are to be like little children. What did he mean by that?" Jason's creative work, he says, "is my own take on what Jesus was talking about."

©2006 Dane County Kids.