2021- June 9th at Mayo Clinic. Ethan and I were both students (Occupational therapy and Physical therapy) That summer of 2021, we were both on clinical rotation at Mayo Clinic. I was in a group with two other women and an instructor, and he was in a group with two other male students and an instructor. We were in the same pod to do documentation, and days went by without any exchange or hello despite being in close proximity. One day, I turned around to him and his classmates and said, "This is kind of awkward here. We are all going to be working within feet of each other, so I think it best I introduce myself." They all quickly stopped what they were doing to say hi and introduce themselves, and this is where we officially met. Over the summer, I would pass him by in the halls, by his desk, and he would exchange glances and hellos- even treating the same patients together (nervously, might I add). Eventually, I asked him to hang out for ice cream with my friends (the other students), but he said no, he was preoccupied with a presentation he had to do that week) After some missed attempts to spend time with him, I checked his social media and saw he was Catholic. So, I asked him to mass, and the rest is history really! August of 2022, I went to live in Ibarra, Ecuador and we stayed in touch the whole time. He had bought a ticket to Charlotte, NC to stay with me over Christmas and despite a rocky several weeks, when he went back home to Minnesota, we had officially started dating. In spring of 2023, he moved in with me in an apartment in Rochester, MN for my fellowship in Hand Therapy. After graduation, we moved to Charlotte NC in April of 2023. Since then, we have traveled to Scotland, Ireland, Japan, Hawaii, Montana, Las Vegas, California, Wyoming, New Orleans, Colombia, and Ecuador with more adventures to come. 🙂