Jaiden’s version: The story of how Eric and I met confirms my belief in fate. The two of us were each in Sea Isle for the weekend with friends. It really wasn’t a busy weekend there as the summer hadn’t officially started yet. My friends Jocelyn, Alexa and I went out to a bar called Ocean Drive, where we ended up meeting Eric & his friends. From the start, Eric and I just hit it off. Through our conversation, we realized that not only were we the same age, and grew up about an hour from each other, that we both graduated from Penn State at the same time. I always wonder if we ever crossed paths beforehand. After meeting, we spent nearly the entire weekend together and the rest was history. Since that very first weekend, he’s been my best friend and my love for him only grows every day! “Your soulmate will be the stranger you recognize” - when I met Eric, it felt like I found the missing piece I had been looking for all my life! And that same weekend we met, my friend Jocelyn hit it off with Eric’s friend Dylan and they will be getting married as well in a few months. How special is that.The picture above is from the night we met. Eric’s version:We met the way all old fashioned great love stories begin: in a bar. What was supposed to be a boys night out at the Ocean Drive in Sea Isle City turned into chasing a beautiful girl in a pink shirt surrounded by a group of her friends. Making our way into the group of her friends, Jaiden noticed my Penn State sweatshirt and screams with a high pitch , “Did you go to Penn State?” One drink led to another and before the end of the night we make plans to go on the boat the following day and our relationship took off from there. I’m grateful for the fun vibes of the OD, our group of friends that made that connection happen, and the decision to wear the Penn State sweatshirt that started the conversation with my future wife.