Our story begins with a lot of luck, an app, and one wonderfully pushy friend who stole Lauren’s phone and started it all. Without any of those things, Lauren and I would have never met. We’d shared the same town for three years and never once crossed paths or made friends with the same people. One night and two right swipes later though, we were connected. The internet can be such a beautiful thing. We first met in person at Local Culture Frozen Yogurt in Starkville, settling into an easy pattern of going out around town. When Lauren got her internship in Dallas and set out for a wonderful three month adventure in Texas, we both felt that at some point a choice had to be made. Two months later I flew out to Dallas to join her for a week. A small choice and a short trip that we both knew would mean so much more. Two graduations, two new jobs, a new house, a few new critters, and three and a half years later we made a much bigger choice on another small trip to San Diego California, setting in stone the decision we had made years before. A decision to travel, to grow, to explore, to be happy, and most importantly, to do all of it together.