On the first day of our Master's program, I met Katie, or should I say Katlyn, as she's known in professional settings. She wore a sleeveless, high neck, terra cotta top and she was way out of my league, as she remains to this day. She is tall, smart, caring, beautiful, essentially all the attributes that might attract a young man from across the classroom.

Some all-powerful force, Ellen Rubin as she's known on earth, paired me with Katie for our first project, so we were forced to spend some time together, which I was thrilled about; she might not have talked to me otherwise. That's where I got the chance to turn on the charm a little bit. By the end of that first week, I had convinced her to come with me to a Zac Brown Band concert in Saratoga. It was totally a date, but I didn't realize until after the fact that I was the only one who knew that. The story goes that I unsuccessfully tried to kiss her in the parking lot after we just finished pregaming with some strangers next to us; I still had my Ford Ranger back then so I was way cooler...so I thought.

We may not have kissed but we danced on the lawn all night, and there was no turning back in my mind. It took me a few more weeks and a few ice cream cones to convince her I was a worthy choice. To this day, convincing her to be mine is still the most impressive feat I've ever achieved.

First off, I am acknowledging my advantage here by sharing that I was the second one to draft my perspective - which may be one of the only times in life that coming in second is actually better.

So to clarify - the Zac Brown Band concert was not a date despite me packing us a dinner which included peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches, even though my preference is always strawberry jam - one of Nick's fatal flaws is a love for grape jelly.

And when Nick mentions that "charm" during our first graduate school project together, what he really means is that we instantly connected over how insufferable our third group member was - after dealing with this particular individual, it didn't take much to appear like Prince Charming. It also probably helped that I was instantly attracted to Nick's intelligence and work ethic.

But to me, the most important parts of "Our Story" are all of the moments in-between our first week together and now. Yes, I acknowledge how important that first week was - I will never forget Zac Brown, hours working on a project whose only value was giving me Langston's first nickname, more meals out than I have ever had in a week, meeting lifetime friends, and even beating him in our first Jeopardy competition - but building our life together day by day, in our home and with our family, is what makes me know that Nick is more than a "worthy choice," but is who I am meant to spend my life with.