We technically met back in middle school, though we barely knew each other then.

Fast forward to 2019, when Madie and her nursing school friends would study at Escape (the brewery Skyler works at). That’s where we reconnected and slowly rebuilt a friendship—despite both being with other people at the time.

Eventually, we each ended our previous relationships, and that is when the flirting started. One day, our friend Greg suggested the three of us hang out together and at the end of our time Skyler gave Madie his business card.

She later told him that if she hadn’t already liked him, the business-card move absolutely would not have worked—but she called him that same day anyway. She still keeps the card in her wallet, so clearly it worked out in his favor.

Our first date was anything but typical: a ten-mile hike, Madie meeting Skyler’s parents while helping him fix a porch light, Skyler meeting Madie’s roommate Sarah, and finally a garage kiss after a few rounds of darts. Dinner and a movie just wasn’t our style.

A month later we officially titled ourselves a couple by signing a contract in blood (just kidding) while going on a road trip to Big Sur.

Three and a half years after that, Skyler proposed to Madie in the waves at Pismo Beach.

And the rest of the story is still being written.