When we were each twelve years old, our families moved to Shanghai. Brought together by our church branch, our families were able to get to know one another (however, not so much Conner and I, because, as you can imagine, the tension between a twelve-year-old boy and girl carries its own unique kind of awkwardness). We had a few memorable experiences in Shanghai together, including but not limited to, a day at Shanghai Disney, Sunday school class, and the occasional dinner and board games. 8 years later, each of us had grown up -- Anne-Marie had a week left on her mission in Indiana, and Conner was the most handsome groomsman at his sister, Bailey’s, wedding. Josie, being the wonderful wingwoman of a sister that she is and who had attended Bailey’s wedding as a coincidental plus one, took the opportunity to set me and Conner up for when I returned home. She secured his number and starting cooking up a plan. A month later, Anne-Marie was home and just settling in. Josie and another friend conspired a conveniently timed reunion for the community in Shanghai for the last Friday in July. And so Anne-Marie and Conner were able to meet once again, with a month (and eight years) of tension filling in the gaps. We spent a lot of the night talking, and the rest of it flirting. By 2am, we had our first date planned for the next day. And it was the best date ever :) We went bridge jumping up the canyon, people watching and got ice cream and even snuck in a little bit of hand holding. A month later, we were both living in Provo for the start of the semester and starting to date more consistently. After not too long, we called it official, and we’ve been very in love ever since.