Prior to meeting Jess I was in a very dark place. To spare some of the details, I had lost who I was and didn’t really see a light at the end of the tunnel. It was probably the loneliest time of my life.

Thankfully, I had an incredible support system to help build myself back up. I had come to terms with the realization that life is too short to hold onto the past. Fast forward a couple of months and my life consisted of three things: working out, job hunting, and hanging out with friends. Near the end of 2021, I had an incredible opportunity to pursue a career with a degree I was just about to complete with my current company and on top of that I was spending all my free time with friends and enjoying life. It was incredible to think that nearly a year ago I was at my lowest, and now, I had found myself in what seemed like the highest point of my life. However, there was something I felt I was still missing, but just couldn’t put my finger on it.

Fast forward a few more months towards the middle of 2022, I am loving my new job, things are great with my friends and family and a few weeks before the 4th of July 2022, Dylan (for those of you who don’t know, that’s Jess’ brother) had hit me up asking if I wanted to come up to his parent’s house for the 4th. And you know what they say, rules be rules, so of course I was going to be there. What I didn’t know was that a plan was being hatched a few days prior to the party. Dylan wanted me to meet someone.

At this point I was in the best physical and mental state of my life, but I wasn’t really looking for anything (or so I thought). Still a little unsure of what I wanted I told Dylan “YEAH! I look forward to it, who did you want me to meet?” And that was the ringer. He said “I want you to meet my sister.”

“YOU HAVE A SISTER?” In the 5ish years I have known Dylan, and the occasional interactions with Pam and Todd at the time, I was astonished. I had no idea he had a sister, and I had been to his house multiple times, often unknowingly staying in her old room! So, at this point I didn’t really know what to say, since I was unsure if this was a test or not, but after thinking it over I figured he wouldn’t ask me if he didn’t mean it.

That’s when I found myself greeted at the door by not Dylan, not Sierra, not Pam or Todd but this girl I had never met before. I knew that I would be meeting Jess at this party, I didn’t know that this was her at the time, so I couldn’t be like “Hey! You must be Jess! Dylan wanted us to meet!” instead I just said, “Oh hey I’m here for the party”. Yeah, not my finest of moments...

Well, it turns out that it was Jess and I had missed the perfect opportunity at an introduction, like “Hey you must be the long-lost sister I ‘ve heard absolutely nothing about!”. Luckily Dylan re introduced us, for the real first time, as beer pong partners. I of course had to play my absolute best to impress this girl, because as we all know, beer pong skills are the defining factor when first talking to someone. But before doing so, being the very pale individual I am, I needed to apply some sunscreen. And thus, the famous “real” first words were uttered, “Jess can you get my back?”. And that’s the way the cookie crumbled.

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