ALEXIS: Years ago, I heard about this concept that by the time you hit your mid-20s, it’s likely you’ve already met the person you’re going to marry. I thought that was a bit ridiculous, considering that by the time I reached 25, I had moved to a completely new state, so the likelihood of maintaining a connection seemed slim. However, being a romantic, dreamy Pisces, I always kept an eye out for a scenario like that.

This now brings us to Barret. About five years ago, I remember exhaustedly sighing over the dating scene and turning to my best friend Megan to ask if Ed, her boyfriend at the time, had any eligible bachelor friends. She said there was only one she’d consider for me, but she didn’t think he wanted a family. Since that was a big priority for me, it nipped that idea in the bud. As time went on, Megan and her boyfriend became fiancés and then got married. I was one of her bridesmaids, and that eligible bachelor was one of Ed’s Best Man. Naturally, I was dating someone at the time, so I didn’t pay much attention, but apparently, I caught Barret’s eye during the wedding festivities. A couple of years later, Megan nudged Ed to check in with Barret about his stance on starting a family.

BARRET: It was at a beach house I rented for my birthday where Ed asked me, “Do you think you want to start a family?” I had previously been on the fence but was becoming more open to it as I got older. I said, “Yeah, I think so.” So began a long process of Ed and Megan trying to arrange a hangout with Alexis and me when I was in Atlanta. At their baby shower, I finally got the chance to speak with Alexis. Suddenly, something I hadn’t been worried about became a lot of pressure, and I stumbled through a five-minute conversation in the kitchen. I guess I was more nervous than I thought I’d be. After a few months of back-and-forth on Instagram and some text messages, I asked her out for coffee on a weekend off from work, even though I was a five-hour drive away. We had our coffee date, and I made the ten-hour round trip. It was the best decision I ever made.

ALEXIS: Of course, I had known about Barret in the periphery of my friendship with Ed and Megan, but he had always been “Ed’s best friend Barret.” So, it felt a little strange to meet him on a date, but as soon as he started talking about growing up and his familial ties to Norfolk, Virginia—a place close enough to my hometown to feel familiar—I was immediately drawn to him. We spent a couple of hours drinking now-cold coffee until we had to leave, and he walked me to my car. In a specific moment when I was talking about my dreams of traveling or living abroad and creating a homestead lifestyle, he got so excited by what I was saying that he had a literal “aw shucks” moment. He said, “That sounds really good,” and then turned to kick the curb. That was the moment I knew.

BARRET: We covered a lot of common ground quickly, as both of our best friends were married and orchestrating our matchmaking. It was almost like an arranged marriage, where our personality traits had been assessed for compatibility ahead of time. Talking to and being around Alexis felt easy and natural. She’s often joked that we wasted so much time and could’ve started this years ago when our paths crossed multiple times, so now we have a lot of time to make up for!

ALEXIS: So, what does this have to do with having already met someone you’d one day marry by your mid-20s? Well, as time has gone on, we’ve discovered many moments I like to call “passing ships.” We realized we lived in similar areas, worked on the same TV show in 2013 in Wilmington, North Carolina (we even found a document showing both our names from that day!), and learned that the rooms we stayed in for Megan and Ed’s wedding were right next to each other. So, whether it was a random moment in the 1990s in Southeastern Virginia or a few days on a TV show, I most definitely met the man I would marry by the time I was 25.