It's a date.

We first met when Austin was a freshman in college and I was a sophomore at Northern Michigan University. We lived across the hall from each other for the year, but never exchanged more than a "hello."

During our senior year of college, we often ran into each other at a coffee shop in Marquette called Babycakes. We sat and talked several times that we ran into each other. One of these times I asked Austin if he would like to get coffee "on purpose" since all of our other interactions were by coincidence. He agreed. We had our first date in April 2017 at that same coffee shop. We drank coffee, and looked into each others eyes, and never talked to each other again. Well... at least not for some time. We had a very nice time, but it seemed like bad timing as neither of us knew what we would be doing the following months after graduation. So yes, you could say that I made the first move. And yes, you could also say that our first date was... inconclusive.

We like to say that we "re-met" on December 31, 2017. At the time, I (Eliza) was living in Grand Rapids and I decided to visit Marquette for the New Year to see friends. I went to Water's Edge Church that day, and I sat behind Austin! The embarrassing part is that I couldn't remember his name for the life of me. I spent the whole service hoping I could remember, but I never did. After church I grabbed one of my friends and said hi to Austin and exclaimed, "HI! Have you two met!?" at which time Austin (thankfully) stated his name. I invited him out with my friends and me to celebrate new years afterwards, and the rest is history.