Reference Check Follow Up

"Hi Paige!

My name is Zachary Grover and I am one of the Community Directors on our selection team! I am attempting to complete a reference check for you, but it seems the email I have is not going through. Can you confirm the email for me?

Sincerely,

Zach Grover"

This was my first exposure to Zachary Grover. I'd made a typo, and he introduced himself to me via email to get the correct info. Mortifying.

I didn't know then that Zach was the flame to my candle, but there he was, already in my inbox for the first of what's now been a few hundred thousand times.

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Zach and I met in person for the first time on October 27, 2022 in Snyder hall; the Assistant Director team at MSU had set up an all-Community Director lunch, as I started the same day as two other new staff members, and they wanted us to have a 'cohort model' for our training and orientation. This goofy looking guy comes bouncing up behind me mid-bite as I'm already shitting my pants terrified of a room of 30 strangers and says "Hi! I'm going to be your tour guide tomorrow!"

One of my fellow new co-workers and I exchanged looks, and chuckled to ourselves as he walked away.

The next day on said tour, I was captivated by Zach's enthusiasm for everything. MSU's architecture, history, little quirks--you name it, Zach had a fun fact for it and some corny joke to pair.

It was such a breath of fresh air to be around someone goofy, fun, and so into life; I simply could not get enough.

You bet I was making conversation any chance I could, and was secretly thrilled when he gave me--and my new coworkers--his phone number...even if it was just to help us all get acquainted to MSU.

Zach offered one day to pick me up and drive me to a meeting we had together, and while I was not only grateful because I would have been so lost I'd have missed the entire meeting, but I was also excited to get to see what he was like without a large group around to expect his jokes.

To no one's shock, Zach is still funny without everyone around to watch, but he's also astronomically caring and kind. He picked me up, bought me coffee, and got us to the meeting with only a minute to spare.

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A few weeks went by with minimal conversation, but I asked him one night what he was up to. My absolute worst nightmare came true when he informed me he was watching Star Wars, and started to go in-depth with how political the spin-off show was he was watching. *sigh*

I informed him that I'd never seen Star Wars--or Lord of the Rings for that matter--and I swear you could hear him miles away shouting "NOOOOOOO" into the abyss. He insisted I drop what I was doing and watch Lord of the Rings immediately, but I decided instead to give him 30 minutes and then I'd be over to his apartment to watch them with him!

I've never seen him thrown for such a loop since.

WE GOT THROUGH 5 HOURS OF THESE GOD FORSAKEN MOVIES BEFORE HE FINALLY LEANED IN FOR A KISS. I swear the world stopped spinning for a moment, and the rest is history.

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Kind of, but that's only just the beginning! 12 days later Zach asked me to be his girlfriend, and 17 months later to marry him.

We've made so many good friends, took vacations together, gotten professional massages(!!!), traveled out of state for a professional conference, started a garden, have eaten approx 350 Babe's sandwiches, raised two beautiful cats, driven around 20,000 miles just within MI alone, have curated over 500 books, dedicated over 400 hours to Minecraft, celebrated birthdays, holidays, marriages, and love galore, and now we finally get to celebrate our own love!

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Thank you for making it to the end of "our story." We're so happy to share our love with the world!

TLDR, Paige made the first move and Zach is a simp. ;)

The Girl Across the Room

Well, here we are. Who would have thought, I, Zach, would be typing out my pre-wedding story. Nevertheless, I found her.

My and Paige's story started with an email, yes, but for me, I remember sitting in Snyder Hall on October 27th, sitting in a staff meal and the new CD on the block sat right across from me. I remember thinking, whoa, she's gorgeous. Then within a week, I found myself hanging out with this new CD, taking her to meetings and to grab coffee, until one fateful night.

If you've already read Paige's side, I urge you to hear me out. Lord of the Rings is truly a cinematic masterpiece.

One night in early November I was watching Star Wars, as any self-respecting nerd does, when Paige texted me asking what I was up to. Naturally, I started bragging about how I was watching Star Wars. Paige admitted that she had never watched it.

"A CRIME," I thought.

Then the worst possible thing happened.

Paige told me she had never seen Lord of the Rings.

I told her we needed to correct that as soon as possible, to which she responded, "I'll be there in 30 minutes." Half thinking she was joking, I started to panic-clean, and thank goodness I did.

Paige showed up and I asked the sensible question, is this a watch with commentary or no? She said no. So, we sat, and watched Lord of the Rings, in silence (Paige disagrees). All the while I was sneakily scooting closer to her on the couch, turns out that my sneaking lasted a little longer than I'd planned... until halfway through the second movie (about 5 hours later).

I remember the day I truly knew that Paige was my person. We were sitting in her apartment and we challenged each other to make playlists for one another. As we were listening to the songs we picked, one song, Evergreen by Jake Wesley Rogers came on, and I sat there and I knew, this person--this absolutely wonderful human--was who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

(She is right, I am a simp)

Over the next year and a half we have been working toward love! We've experienced so many things. We have grown a garden together and found such love in gardening. So much so that even the video games and board games we play are all about growing together (hint hint, you'll probably see garden-themed things at the wedding).

Our love story is really reflected in the story of a garden. We grow together! We have had some amazing days in the sun (Picnics, Lights at the zoo, experiencing some of your weddings) and we have also learned to grow on cloudy days. That is what makes me love Paige all the more daily: through even the toughest winter, she is my Evergreen.

So, you made it to the end of my POV of our love story. I am excited to tell you that this actually isn't the end, but the beginning. We close this growing season and start the next, and geez louise, I cannot wait to get planting.

Thank you all for being here and being part of our story.