Abby and Tessa met at Pacific University in September of 2018. Abby was a freshman set to pursue a career in Speech Pathology and Tessa was a sophomore pursuing a career as a teacher. They first met each other when Abby joined the handball team. During that first shared practice, they didn’t talk very much since both Abby and Tessa tend to be introverted. Neither thought much of it until they met again through a twist of fate. Tessa needed volunteer hours for one of her education classes and when she explored the Work Fair at Pacific, three different opportunities stood out. After thinking about it for a few days, Tessa decided to volunteer at Free Orchards Elementary School in their library. Meanwhile at the same time, Abby needed to find a Work-Study job. She didn’t have a car so her options were limited. However, one job stood out to her despite its logistical challenges. Abby made a deal with her aunt that Abby could borrow their car if she walked the one mile to their house from campus. That way she could then drive to Cornelius to work as a library assistant at Free Orchards Elementary. Tessa started at the library about a week before Abby, and could only be there for a couple hours a week. Similarly, Abby was only scheduled to be there a couple hours a week. Somehow, the hours overlapped and they ended up both working the library at the same time. On the first day of seeing each other in the new environment, there was a bizarre pause as time seemed to slow to a halt. It was entirely unexpected to see each other there especially since they hadn’t really interacted up until this point. Still, there was something about the moment that demanded attention and scored itself into memory. Later that same day, a student asked them directly, “Are you best friends?” They didn’t know how to respond then, and they also didn’t realize how that one question foreshadowed their whole future. Fast forward to March 2019, and five women Handball players are flying to Tucson, AZ for a Women’s tournament. It was during this trip, as Abby and Tessa were the only two introverts, that they really had a chance to bond together. By the end of the tournament, they were best friends. Next school year, Abby and Tessa had dorm rooms on separate floors on campus in Burlingham Hall (B-Ham). As the fall semester went on, there were several late night movies and shows and study sessions. Since Tessa had less roommates (3 others compared to 5 others), Abby often found herself up on the fourth floor with Tessa, Chelsea, and Charles. Chelsea frequently encouraged Abby to stay and hang out all night long. Soon, not much encouragement was needed, as both Abby and Tessa began to question if they felt like they were more than just friends (after looking back on it, they were more than just friends a lot longer than they realized). Now almost 8 years after those fateful first days, here they are getting married. They have been through many major life events together, including a global pandemic, graduating college (twice), starting their careers, moving houses multiple times, and adopting a cat. The bond they share will stretch and bend and tangle, but never break as they work together to weave the next chapter of their lives.