Gabby and Ryan both studied kinesiology at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, CA. The first day of the fall semester in 2017, they were placed in the same group in a class all about making connections-- which means they had to talk to each other! Fun fact: the professor of that class had a 3-year streak of setting students up in her class! After realizing they had more than one class together, they began doing homework together in the dining hall and shortly realized that they had mutual friends. There was true trauma bonding over suffering in chemistry class. After a month of consistently hanging out, Ryan found the true way to the heart-- making gluten-free brownies for Gabby. Once the brownies came in the picture, it was game over. Over the fall break of 2017, they went up to Ryan's home in Mission Viejo, where they became an official couple!

During the spring of 2020, the world shut down, which means everyone had to move out of the dorms. Ryan moved back up to Orange County with his family, while Gabby remained and worked in San Diego. The navigation of long distance was never easy, but for sure made the relationship stronger. Ryan continued school at Zoom University, while Gabby got a job at a children's hospital in San Diego. Because Gabby's job was directly exposed to COVID-19, that prevented them from seeing each other for months. After the restrictions lifted, they began to see each other more often. Even though the circumstances could've been better, the distance helped strengthen the relationship and made the times they were together much more meaningful.