Our story begins as many do, with a moment of great fortune and a bit of bad luck. It should come as no great surprise to those that know Val that once I met her, there was no turning back. The only problem was, at the time, she was living in Charleston and I in Baltimore. Oh that, and the fact that she had no interest in me, but that's a small detail. At about this same time my sister had just moved to the Charleston area, so it came to my attention that I should visit her more frequently. I made sure to let Val know I would be in the area and that my sister is often very busy so I might appreciate having someone to meet up with. I can still remember waiting on the access ramp to the beach on Sullivan's Island watching the minutes tick past the time we were supposed to meet. Of course now I know that Val isn't the type to be a no show, but at the time, you can only imagine my nerves. Apparently there was traffic, but eventually we got to go for our walk, where I think both of us were surprised at how well we got along.

Now at this point, I was all in. Val, on the other hand, had to think about moving to Florida and starting a new life at grad school and some other excuses. Oh, and she still wasn't convinced about me! That said, I continued to find ways to talk with her and continued to "visit" my sister. While it took me a total of 6 months to get Val to admit she may actually kinda maybe like me, it opened up a whole new chapter in our lives. One where, even though we were now (Baltimore - Florida) a 12.5 hour drive away we could still be supportive and kind and honest, and while I do not pine for the days of long distance I do think it was pivotal in shaping who we are together.

The next chapter in our lives involved a lot of car rides and plane trips but eventually I found a pretty compelling reason to apply to grad school at UF. Oh, and Val just happened to be going there as well… Grad school was a fun time for us, not because we were in a "party town" but because our flexible schedules allowed us to explore some new interests. Val's friend Will, (who I subsequently stole as my friend), introduced us to fish tanks. We started climbing, diving in the springs, and making trips to the keys for Val's research.

Exploring the last four (five? Yikes.) years with Austin has been such a joy. Upon first meeting him, all I could think about was, "wow he has HUGE hair", but I soon learned that his huge curls matched his huge heart. I am so incredibly glad he gave me no choice but to fall for him and as we settle into our new life in Greenville, SC I can't imagine having anyone else by my side.