We guess you could say that our story began in 2018 at Kent State University in an introduction to the Hebrew language course. Sophia had signed up for this course because she knew she wanted to head to seminary after she graduated from Kent and wanted to get a head start on Biblical languages. Abbey chose this course because she already had some knowledge of the language from her time in Hebrew school and temple, and she wanted to expand on that knowledge. For the first eight months of that school year, we did not really interact much. There was one moment in Spring of 2019 that Sophia remembers briefly chatting with Abbey after class. It was then that Abbey told Sophia that she could see her becoming a chaplain one day. That will forever stick out in Sophia’s mind, as this is now her chosen career path.

When finals of spring quarter 2019 arrived, Sophia needed to miss class one day and asked Abbey if she could grab her homework for her and bring it to school the next day. Well, in typical Abbey fashion, Abbey accidentally left Sophia’s homework at home that day. Abbey invited Sophia over to her apartment after class to grab that missing homework. Abbey only lived ten minutes from campus, and it did not take that long to grab a worksheet, but we ended up spending much of the rest of that day together at Abbey’s apartment. We talked about our shared interests, dogs, how we were both majoring or minoring in religion, and even our shared love for reggae music. We realized there was a reggae show in Kent coming up soon after, so Abbey asked Sophia if she would like to go together. From that day forward we have spent most of our days together. One of our favorite times together was when we had an opportunity to take a Biblical Hebrew independent study together, just us, where we learned Hebrew only from the book of Ruth.

We moved in together shortly after and would stay in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, until we would leave for Colorado a year later. We adopted a second dog named Capone about six months after we moved in together and introduced him to Sophia’s pup, Brody. The Covid-19 pandemic began around the same time and it led us take on additional new hobbies together. We adopted two, red-eye tree frogs during the pandemic. Abbey started experimenting with her cooking and introduced Sophia to new foods and gradually helped increase her tolerance level for spice over time. This is when we began to learn what we would continue to learn into the coming years – that a life together with our friends, our family, our animals, nature, music, good food, and meaningful conversation, is all we would really need.

In December of 2020, Abbey graduated from Kent State with a degree in Sociology with minors in Religious Studies & Jewish Studies. Sophia would graduate from Kent State with a degree in Religious Studies & Jewish Studies in May of 2021. Around the same time, we announced to our family and friends that we would be moving to Denver, Colorado, in August of 2021, so that Sophia could attend the Iliff School of Theology to pursue a Master of Divinity and become a hospital chaplain – just as Abbey had predicted a few years earlier. We pinched our pennies that spring, found an apartment in Denver, reserved a moving truck, packed our three-bedroom house, and drove across country with both of our families and our two dogs and two frogs.

Abbey had found a job at Jewish Family Service of Colorado as a job coach for those with disabilities, prior to the move and she began her work there three days after we arrived. Sophia began full time graduate school classes and an internship at a United Church of Christ in Denver. Since our arrival here in Denver we have both grown immeasurably. Abbey has received a promotion at JFS of Colorado and is now a supervisor. She is excelling and is hoping to remain in this career and continue to learn about the nature of nonprofit work. Sophia was officially hired onto the ministerial staff at the church last year and is now an assistant minister for Pastoral Care. Sophia will graduate from the Iliff School of Theology in June of 2025 and then will begin her last step in becoming a board-certified chaplain – Clinical Pastoral Education at a hospital in Denver.

Our time here in Denver has been full of highs and lows. We have met our closest friends out here. We have found communities who we are so grateful for. These communities have accepted us, have loved us, have been there for us in our grief, and want to see us continue to learn and grow. We have been each other’s “home” through the discomfort of being far from family, through the trauma of a car accident, and through the heart-breaking loss of our sweet yorkie, Brody, this summer. Our faiths -- though technically different -- have been a great source of strength and commonality for us as a couple. We believe that as we move into this next phase of our relationship, that the foundation that we have already began to build, will continue to sustain us into the future where so much unknown exists. We are grateful to the friends and family who have shown us support and grace along our journey and we commit to showing up for you in the same way!

"Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God." Ruth 1:16