“When a story is written well, the events and plot twists feel surprising and yet somehow, inevitable.” David Noroña, our teacher, director, mentor, and now wedding officiant, said something to that effect when we were students in his storytelling class our first year of conservatory. The day we started dating, it felt exactly like that.

We met in May 2017 at the first rehearsal for a spoken-word theatre performance. I (Josia) remember distinctly how cute Amy looked driving up outside my house to pick me up … I (Amy) sadly don’t remember that moment very well, but I do recall our first rehearsal, and thinking that “Yoshi” was a strange name for a German guy, but he seemed really nice. Both of us had been on a journey at that point in which we learned that art is more than just a hobby in our lives, and were looking to pursue more serious training.

We said our goodbyes at Applebees after our cast party, not realizing that just three months later we would find ourselves in the same room as students for the inaugural year of Bethel Conservatory of the Arts. For the next three years we were on the ride of our lives, working hard and growing as actors as we laughed, cried, processed, grew as people, studied, danced, learned martial arts, and performed side by side with our classmates. As you could imagine, those bonds run deep. Nevertheless, in the first year our relationship was simply that of classmates and casual friends. We started to grow closer in our second year and through a (now fortunate) misunderstanding Josia became a ride-buddy for Amy, as she went to her annual family vacation on Presidents’ Day Weekend. Josia immediately bonded with Amy’s family and was promptly “adopted” and invited to join all future holiday gatherings (whether or not Amy could come).

Our relationship grew closer after that weekend, and we started to hang out at Amy’s apartment for games, food, and homework. Dating one another was still far from our minds, as we saw each other more as a brother and sister. We even gave each other relationship advice, tried to be one-another’s wing-man and wing-woman, and were there for each other as a support through heart-break and other hard times. Everything started changing when we were both cast in BCA’s production of “Nora” by Henrik Ibsen. Our characters, Christine Linde and Nils Krostad, were the ones that, after a long history of betrayal, duty and heart-break, find love and a happy ending. Their story surprisingly mirrored our internal worlds and changed us. Josia grew as a man, got a much needed haircut and learned to move on from betrayal and pain through forgiveness. Amy received hope for unconditional, fully accepting and unrelenting love.

Thanksgiving fell two weeks before our performance and we spend it in Eugene with Amy’s family. As we made the return drive down I-5, we fought through a historic snowstorm we’ve come to call “Snowmageddon,” and the five-hour trip back to Redding, turned into an eleven hour drive, punctuated by frequent stops to install or remove chains and wait for roads to reopen. Amy had the brilliant idea to ask each another 36 questions she found in a New York Times article online. Unbeknownst to Josia, the article was called “36 Question: How to fall in love”. Amy liked the questions, because they are both, fun and deep, and help to truly know someone and go beneath the surface. We learned many things about one another and to our surprise found how much we resonate with one another even in our differences. For me (Amy), I only knew that when we finally arrived back at 11 pm from our harrowing journey that should have been a nightmare, I was kind of sad it was over. That started a phrase that would come up again over and over in our relationship - that whatever we’re going through, and whatever we have to do, “I get to do it with you.”

The article’s title did not disappoint. Over the next two weeks we started seeing each other through different eyes. Confusion, denial, questioning, and attraction accumulated into a Sunday evening when the conversation of “us” could no longer be denied. We were no longer just classmates, no longer just casual or close friends, no longer just two people who ended up at the same place by coincidence. It was surprising, it was a curveball and yet when we looked back on our story, it was inevitable. We had fallen in love.

Now, a year and a half later, we’ve grown a lot. It turns out, three years of friendship and blood-sweat-and-tears conservatory training serves as a pretty solid foundation for a dating relationship! It has been full of adventures, growth, lots more road trips, big challenges that are outside our hands, and many small, powerful choices to show up and make the most of each day we are given. Now we get to say “I do” for forever, in a small circle, in the forest, surrounded by friends and family. It’s the next chapter of our story, the surprising and the inevitable, and we are so grateful that “we get to do it with you.”