On July 26, 2024, a group of young adults from the Porch (a young adult ministry) were playing pickleball and we both went. Luke automatically stood out from the other guys I played with that night. He was outgoing, kind and so much fun to talk to. We played the last game of the night together, but we never got to finish the game because the lights went out. That night, I jokingly told my friends that I had met a guy at pickleball and if we would have gotten to play the whole game, I'm sure we would have fallen in love and gotten married. A few weeks later, the Porch had a young adults retreat in San Diego that we both attended. We got to play some more pickleball and talk throughout the weekend. That's when Luke started to catch feelings, even though to my embarrassment I had a huge piece of cilantro in my teeth when we were talking one night. Several weeks went by and we kept talking at the weekly meeting for the Porch. Luke got me a birthday card, walked me to my car and I was confident he liked me. The next week he ignored me almost all night and gave me a high five when he left. I was convinced I had been friend zoned. Turns out he was sick and the next day he asked me to go on a date. Our first date was on October 26, 2024. Luke graciously drove an hour to Casa Grande to pick me up and to take me back to Scottsdale. We went miniature golfing, ate lunch and even got stalked by a clown as it was Halloween weekend (I'm serious, we had to hide from him and book it out of the shopping area). He then drove me all the way back to Casa Grande and he missed a few turns on the way home because we were so caught up in our conversations. It's a day I'll never forget. A year later, turns out I wasn't joking when I said that the guy I met at pickleball and I were going to get married. :)