When I first moved to Arizona, I threw myself into school and work. I was so focused that after a while, I realized I needed to get out and meet people. Volleyball was something familiar and fun, so I joined a local Facebook group for players. It took a few months, but eventually, I signed up for a league. On the first night of that league, I noticed Tyler. I actually thought he was the owner of the volleyball company at first. Nonetheless he had a great smile and I even pointed him out to my mom when she came to visit and watch me play, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. A few weeks later, some friends from my first team were putting together a new team and invited someone named Brett to join—who just happened to be Tyler’s best friend (and, spoiler alert, our officiant!). Through Brett and over time, I started getting to know more people in the friend group. I’d get invited to go out, but since I was under 21 at the time, I couldn’t always go. Then one day, they invited me to the AVP Beach Volleyball Finals in Phoenix. It was on a Saturday—and if you know my job, you know weekends are basically off-limits. But after days of convincing and peer-pressure, I called off work. Honestly, it was the best decision I could have made. That day at the finals, I somehow ended up sitting next to Tyler nearly all day—and we spent most of the day just talking. We connected over bucket list adventures we both wanted to try, including high speed go-kart racing. Naturally, we decided to go the very next day. We invited others, but conveniently, no one else could make it (wonder why?). So, Tyler picked me up, but when we got to the track, there was a three-hour wait. Instead, we went axe throwing and bowling, and he dropped me off afterward. The next day, we went to dinner and a movie. The day after that, we watched Ted Lasso. From that very first day, we were inseparable—even though Tyler still claims he had no idea what was happening.