Our journey began in the most unexpected of ways—over chicken wings and cat costumes.

In October 2018 we met in Boulder, Colorado, at a bar where Mateo was working. Julia and her friends had embarked on a scavenger hunt, their team playfully named "Caturday Night Fever," which brought them to The Lazy Dog Bar and Grill. Dressed as cats and ready to kick off their adventure, the group was greeted by their waiter: Mateo.

To kick off the scavenger hunt, they asked him a "Humans of Colorado"-style question: "What's your life story?" Mateo earnestly shared how he was born in Colombia, moved to the U.S. at age eight, and—with a little charm—casually mentioned that he thought Julia was cute. Caught off guard but secretly pleased, Julia laughed it off and returned to her chicken wings.

Later that night, Julia noticed Mateo was off the clock, lingering at the bar. Feeling bold, she struck up a conversation. We quickly discovered that we had a lot in common: our tastes in music aligned perfectly, we'd attended many of the same festivals, and conversation flowed easily. Before the night was over, Mateo asked for Julia’s number, and she obliged.

It wasn't until our first date a few weeks later that Mateo revealed a secret: he'd been dared to ask for her number. The dare might have sparked our connection, but what followed was entirely our own.

As for the scavenger hunt, Caturday Night Fever achieved a highly respectable 139th place. But in the end, we both walked away as winners—just in ways we never expected.

Since our fateful meet-cute, we have built a charmed life full of experiences fueled by our mutual love of adventure: snowy weekends spent on the Colorado slopes, dancing at raves from Miami to Croatia, cozy upstate New York weekends with family, barefoot on boats in Costa Rica, and sharing our daily joy with our beloved dog Rio.