The beginning: It was a spring Sunday in Carbondale, IL. Sofia moved into her new apartment the day before with the help of family. Sofia's mom, Carla, stayed with her for the first week to get acclimated to her new home in preparation for the start of PA school at SIU Carbondale. Carla and Sofia were heading out to Target when they were stopped by her neighbor moving in next door. A young, kind gentleman met them on the sidewalk outside of their apartments who introduced himself as Sean, a classmate, and expressed his excitement to have a classmate as a neighbor. Sofia and her mom then headed off to the glory land, Target.

Shortly after Sofia and her mom got home from Target, Sofia was on the floor elbow deep in the bottom of her clogged vacuum in attempt to clean it out when a knock on the door sounded. Carla opened the door to Sean standing with a plate of fresh cookies his grandma Phyllis had made. Never one to pass up a cookie, Sofia pulled her arm out of the vacuum and welcomed Sean inside. They made small talk for a while which ended in an invitation for Sean to come back for dinner.

Later that evening, Sean came over for dinner around 9pm after Sofia had texted him multiple times, "Sorry for the delay, 30 more minutes!" Sean would soon find out that Sofia is never on time...for anything. And Sofia would later find out (after 1 year dating) that the same night she held off dinner for 2 hours, Sean was without TV, wifi, food, or any form of entertainment, as his apartment was still packed away in boxes (poor Sean.) Yet, he patiently waited while sitting on his thrifted couch, staring at the wall for the text to come "dinner is ready!"

He showed up at Sofia's door and spent the rest of the evening conversing with Carla and Sofia. After Carla went to bed, Sofia and Sean stayed up late talking, laughing, and getting to know each other as classmates. They were relieved to fall into such an easy friendship at the start of a challenging course of study.

We shared some of the hardest years of our lives together, under extreme stress and anxiety, and yet we formed an inseparable friendship and bond we look forward to treasuring forever. After a lot of contemplation, we decided to begin dating, accepting the risk of progressing the relationship. We ultimately decided that a trial of life together would be better than not at all. Thankfully, it was the best decision we ever made.

Looking back, it is so apparent God's hand in our relationship. From the accidental apartment unit swap (Sofia wasn't even supposed to be in that building), to our ability to continue our relationship in Cape Girardeau during clinical rotations, to our unifying values, similar humor, friendship and life dreams.

Our story is our favorite love story, and we are excited to have you be a part of our biggest leap yet!