Some love stories start with fireworks. Ashley and Jay’s started with roller skates and birthday cake. At just nine years old, Ashley ended up at Jay’s birthday party at “Generations Skating Rink,” a guest of his cousin and completely unaware she was crashing what would become a very important day in her life story. They didn’t know it then—surrounded by arcade games and neon lights—but God was quietly putting them in each other’s path. Through the years, Ashley and Jay lived side by side without realizing it. They grew up in the same town, attended Bishop Verot High School, and later walked the same college campus at Florida State University. Always connected by a few degrees of separation, but never quite connecting themselves. Life kept moving—new cities, new careers, new adventures—but sometimes the best things are simply waiting for His divine timing. That time came in October 2021. Ashley and Jay reconnected during a time when Jay was serving in the Marine Reserves and working in Tallahassee. As their first date, Jay invited Ashley to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Montgomery, Alabama. Half-expecting a polite decline, he was surprised when Ashley said yes. She boarded a flight and stepped into something neither of them could have fully anticipated—a night that marked the beginning of something truly special. That night, what began as a simple invitation turned into the beginning of everything. Conversation was effortless, laughter was constant, and what once seemed like two parallel lives finally, beautifully, merged into one. Today, Ashley and Jay look back on that nine-year-old birthday party with a smile—proof that sometimes love takes the scenic route...with a few laps around a roller rink first.