Our story starts like many others—but with a few extra hijinks along the way. You’ll often hear that we “met” in college. The truth is, Chance first met Erica over the phone while she was telling him about how she “almost” got robbed outside a Walgreens. Not long after, they finally met face to face at Chance’s graduation—while he was dripping head to toe after jumping in the river, per Texas State tradition. We knew of each other, but somehow kept missing the normal, everyday encounters. From there, we became fast friends, helping each other through the trials of ending relationships, surviving COVID, raising goofy-goober pets, and figuring out how to be independent adults. That friendship turned out to be more valuable than we ever expected, and romance didn’t arrive until much later. We had both come out of long relationships. Chance was learning the rhythms of independence and bachelor life. Erica was learning to put herself first and discovered her own perseverance. Before anything else, we needed to know we were truly the right fit—and deep down, we both knew. Chance was cautiously interested, but once Erica makes up her mind, she pursues it with passionate intensity. Undeterred by the finiteness of life, we decided to move forward hand-in-hand with whatever time we had. Since then, we’ve made multiple career changes, multiple moves—from Round Rock to San Antonio—welcomed a puppy and two kitties, and built a new home together. And through it all, one thing has been clear: we’ve made the most of our time—and we can’t wait to spend the rest of it together.