Over six years ago, Lora showed up to Jerzee’s Sports Bar to start her Tuesday night bartending shift. The only other employee scheduled that night was the new bouncer, who she noticed was reading a book. Not passing up an opportunity to potentially discuss a good book, she asked what he was reading. It was an umpire’s handbook to the rules of baseball and all inquiries ended there. She went back behind the bar to serve the few people who ventured into downtown Athens for a drink on a Tuesday night in January, while he sat outside checking IDs.

By the end of the night, around 3am, Lora was exhausted and was the worst conversationalist in the world as Daniel asked her questions and tried to talk to her while they waited for their money. Her minimal and monosyllabic answers were somehow enough to get him interested!

Over the next month, they increasingly spent time together at the bar with the rest of their friends on staff and by March, they were headed on their first official date. They drove an hour and a half together to Loca Luna in Atlanta for Spanish food and salsa dancing and never looked back ❤️