Thank you, Tori Miller. Kate met Tori when they both presented at a communications conference in San Antonio, TX during Kate's first year of grad school at The University of Alabama (Roll Tide). After getting back to school from the conference, Tori asked if Kate would want to go out to the Tuscaloosa Strip for Wine Wednesday at Gallette's. It was one of the last weeks of school, and Kate just had a couple of papers to finish to wrap up her first year, so she said, "why not?" Tori let her know that she also invited a few people from work (Red Lobster). Kate thought nothing of it. They walked up to the line that wrapped around corner of University Blvd and Wallace Wade Ave, stretching halfway down the street toward Bryant Denny Stadium. Spotting a couple of out-of-place-looking guys Kate met (now) one of her closest friends, Caleb "Leb" Butler, and the man who would become her future husband, Christian "I wear flip flops and hoodies to bars in the middle of April" Abbatiello. Once they made their way into the over-crowded (not COVID-19-Compliant) bar and got themselves a yellow-hammer each, they found the one table outside that was not taken by desperate undergrads who were avoiding their finals. It was clear Kate wasn't exactly excited to be around people she'd never met before (not to mention, they ran out of wine about 30 minutes before they got in). Christian could tell she was a little uncomfortable, so he tried to make small talk. As the night wore on, small talk turned into discussions of movies, which sparked a mutual point of interest: the fast-talking, black and white classic, "His Girl Friday." And just like that, sparks flew Later that week, they matched on whatever dating app was big at the time, he sent her a Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson GIF, and at that moment, she knew he was the one for her. "I gotta say, you saying His Girl Friday is one of your favorite movies definitely made me like you more" - Christian.

Thank you, Kaelyn Fillingim! Kate and Christian hung out for the month before he left to go back to Colorado. They watched movies. She helped him pack his house up (she incidentally met his brother and dad while helping him pack). He supplied the witty remarks, and she supplied the clever comebacks. Their friendship developed over those 4 weeks until it was time to say good bye and go their separate ways. Although Christian and Kate had 1,200 miles and a 1-hour time difference between them, they managed to keep up with each other through texts. He'd describe the dry Colorado weather, she'd describe the quiet Alabama campus. They somehow never seemed to run out of topics of conversation. One day, Kate was telling Christian about one of her girlfriends' (Kaelyn) 21st birthday trip to Las Vegas in August before school was supposed to start (shout out to Kaelyn who invited Kate on the trip and made everything possible). It just so happened that Christian's brother, Joseph, lived in Las Vegas at the time, and Christian was thinking about taking a trip, himself. How about that? The two of them just happened to be going to Vegas around the same time. Which brings us to the first proposal: "Hey you should drive out to Bama with me. I need someone to drive with me...and Leb's an atrocious driver so..." And with that, the pair met again in Las Vegas, drove 10 hours together to Colorado Springs, and then 21 hours to Alabama in a 2006 Mustang (with a stick shift). If you ever question whether or not you should be with someone, go on a 31 hour car ride with your significant other. You'll find out real quick. Luckily, Christian and Kate still liked hanging out after that.

Kate and Christian fell in love over a 31 hour car ride. They also fell in love over every quote, every character, every minute of every movie they watched together (even the boring ones Kate fell asleep watching).