Love is in the air

11 years ago, two quiet and slightly socially awkward young adults began working at a small Pismo retail store selling athletic shoes and apparel adorned with an iconic Swoosh. Over the next 5 years, alongside a cast of colorful characters, these two navigated intense customers, work romances, Black Fridays, and hilariously inefficient early 4am shifts while politely acknowledging each other’s existence. Okay that’s a lie, they didn’t really care for each other that much. Maybe the boy might have thought she was cute for a few seconds, before she opened her mouth and said some ridiculous nonsense. After 5 years had come and gone, and friends and coworkers came and went, these two found themselves seeing each other for the first time. Despite having interacted during and outside of work, there was so much more to each other than they had truly noticed before. Snapchat conversations turned to late night texts; late night texts to hours-long phone calls; and when the pandemic arrived changing the entire world in a manner of seconds, these two were able to foster a love that grew from nightly movie features over the PlayStation and weekly social distance visits that became much less distant each time. No one expected these two to get together. No one initially understood why these two worked together. But over these 11 years, Ryan and Sara came to understand that love blossoms in the most unexpected of places and during the weirdest of times. Although their initial working relationship has long since ended, they’ve discovered a stronger partnership rooted in trust, laughter, and complete understanding of each other. No clocking out for these two anymore!