It was basically love at first sight and I never knew what it was like until I saw her. I still remember in the University’s’ gym, full of people, playing indoor soccer, across the court, we locked eyes for the very first time. How could I not notice the most beautiful girl in the room, knee brace creaking sounding like it needed some WD-40, falling every play because her balance was off from a torn ACL. We didn’t officially meet until months later but it was at that moment that we both still recall to this day first noticing each other. I continued seeing her there playing with her team and there was even a time I walked past her and she looked at me so I gave her a little smile and she smiled back and tucked her hair behind her ear. I didn’t think I had a chance but months later the opportunity to recruit some girls for our beach soccer team came and I thought of her but was scared to ask. My friend agreed we should ask her to play so I manned up and sent her a DM on Instagram asking her if she wanted to play on our team. She agreed and so we officially met playing beach soccer in early 2015. After getting to know her and playing together I asked her out and we went on a couple of dates later that year but I guess things weren’t meant to be then but that’s a whole other story! I still thought about her occasionally and even in 2016 when in Basic Training for the Army I used that thought as motivation to get through the challenges I faced. In the end I’m happy things worked out and I’m glad I get to marry my best friend in the whole world.