His Version:

In late 2020, I moved to Porterville, California, for a school assignment as part of my Ph.D. program. I knew no one in town and wanted to make friends, but little did I know that I’d find my love instead. I was walking by my apartment and saw this blonde hair woman shuffle out of a car with an annoying little dog. She looked upset and beautiful, so I mustered all my courage to walk over and say ‘hi,’ but she quickly shot me down with the reply, ‘people mind their own business around here’ and saw her walk into the apartment next door to me. I was shocked and reasoned that she must have had a bad day and would give it another try the next time we crossed paths. I saw her a few days later walking her annoying dog and went outside to talk to her, she was much sweeter this time, and the two of us started talking, and I learned that she grew up in the area. My heart was in a flutter, and I knew I wanted to speak to her again, but how? Then I realized she had that annoying dog with her all the time and thought, ‘I should get a dog.’ That’s when my cute and lovable dog ‘Astral’ came in to help unite our love.  

Her Version:

In 2020 I moved with my sweet little angel dog pepper, to an apartment in Porterville. Sometime in fall I was driving home from work, crying my eyes out. I had just experienced one of the hardest work days of my career. When I pulled into my parking spot, I saw this man walking towards my car and I panicked because I was a Hot Mess!! Pepper started growling and barking at him and I was just trying to get home. I said hi and walked away,  just a side note, I was not rude or mean, just upset at life.

A couple of months later I was getting my life ready to move to Texas and I woke up to a shoulder tear. I was devastated, all of my plans went out the window. My plans weren't going to work out, what was I going to do now? I took pepper for a walk one day and saw this little white dog barking at everyone, and to my surprise there was also that very nice man I met. He made his way over to me, said hi and that's where it all started.

On the hardest day, in one of the most challenging seasons of life, I met the love of my life and I am so thankful!