It all began when the Kortz family started grade school at St Mark's. Mariana Kortz and Neela Montgomery were in the same grade and became good friends. Mariana had a sister close to Sara's age, so they had double playdates. Sara and Neela would go over to the Kortz household; there she met Thomas. He was an awkward type. But it was love at first sight for Sara. He had a pet lizard that he wanted to show off-like it was some kind of trophy. He would show Sara how the lizard could crawl up the stairs and chase her around to pet the lizard. This would become one of Sara's key memories of Thomas.

A few years went by, and they started altar serving together. Sara wanted to try to strike up conversations, but Thomas gave her short responses. He was focused on the job at hand. That didn't stop Sara from trying to make herself noticed. Thomas became more aware of Sara, but continued to go about his life.

Fast forward to October 2022 when Mariana Kortz hosted a Halloween party and Sara and Thomas crossed paths again. Thomas learned that Sara lived in the same apartment complex. After the party, Thomas followed Sara on Instagram. That next February, Sara reached out to Thomas asking to carpool to his sister's Super Bowl party. Unfortunately, Thomas was traveling for work. He was in multiple exotic locations, which stirred up conversation through DMs on Instagram. Sara invited Thomas out when he was in town between trips. It started with going to the pool and walks around the apartment complex. Thomas became more interested an invited Sara out to Barnes & Noble and a walk in the park. His sister was hosting a Lord of the Rings movie night that August. Sara cleverly mentioned that she had not seen the first Lord of the Rings movie, giving Thomas the opportunity to watch it with her. He invited her over to watch the movie, and they shared their first kiss. Thomas immediately took her out to dinner that week. Thomas asked the waiter if he could take. a picture of him with his girlfriend. Sara overheard 'girlfriend' and clung to that title. They have spent every day together since. Their love is full of laughter and energy.

I had just finished my traveling internship when Sara and I started to see each other more frequently. We had meetups at the apartment pool, Sommer park, Barnes and Noble, and walks around the neighborhood.

My heart warmed to Sara very quickly in our time together and the chemistry was perfect and natural. I realized quickly how in tune we were to each other. In my view, finding real love is about meeting a person who has genuine care for the other, and we had that from the start. There was so much to explore and build upon in our early talks, and I enjoyed being in the presence of Sara's light-hearted soul.

When I eventually had her over to my apartment for our "first date" watching Fellowship of the Ring, I felt very comfortable being close and felt in that moment that we belonged together. Our first kiss permanently fixed my heart to hers. And between that night and our next dinner date, I lost sleep thinking about how happy I was. We spend every day together living the best life, and I'm happy to call Sara my closest friend. She is the best person to share laughs with, discuss life goals, plan road trips, watch tv shows, and share a meal anywhere from a nice restauraunt to a fast food drive through.

I'm so lucky to have found my soul mate, and I know we are going to have a beautiful life together. What I have with Sara is more than good chemistry, we think alike and we can feel each other on a deep level. I adore Sara, and I smile every time I see her walk into a room. What she's best at is winning over my heart just by being herself. It feels like we've been a couple for many years.