It all began at our University's Rec Center. I had never expected it to be where I would meet someone who would change everything. One afternoon, I was wrapping up a set and needed some help putting up my weights, this was all during COVID when masks were a thing. Taylor was to the left of me doing some bicep curls and I asked him to help me. He was kind and polite and that was it... so I thought. It turns out we both finished up our workouts at the same time and we walked out together. He opened both doors for me and we had a small conversation as we walked out together. Taylor took off his mask and I came to realize that he was one of the most beautiful people I had ever met. He ended up telling me to have a "Good Night" and walked away. There was an unspoken connection, but I did my best to brush it off, chalking it up to a coincidence. That evening, I couldn't stop thinking about him. That one brief encounter replayed in my mind over and over. His kind smile, the kindness in his voice, his cute curly hair peeking out the side of his Scheels hat. It was a feeling deep down that I had never experienced and I spoke about this to my friends for OVER a month. I only had eyes for a man, whose name I didn't even know. I couldn't let it go. I was determined to know him. For the next month, I spent the nights prior picking out my gym outfits, talking about him 24/7 to my friends, and working out twice as long as I typically would hoping I would see him again. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of hoping, he appeared at the end of one of my workouts. My heart was racing but I was so determined to talk to him again. As I walked I quickly came to realize I didn't have a plan. What do you say to a man you had one conversation with? "I don't know if you remember me, but we walked out together about a month ago and I was wondering if I could have your Snapchat?" I said (how embarrassing that this was the best I could come up with) and not to mention I was trembling. Don't worry I blamed my shaking on my pre-workout. He did in fact remember me and added me back. We hit it off really quickly and spent so much time together. 3 years later, here we are getting married!! Looking back, it feels surreal how something so simple, something as small as crossing paths in the rec center, led to this. I never expected to meet the love of my life in my last year of college. What started with a determined effort to know Taylor turned into something I never want to let go of.
It all started October of 2021. I was curling in the corner of the make-shift weightlifting area that used to be a soccer court at the Ambler Rec center on campus in Lawrence. I was minding my own business when a blonde asked me to put up a 70 pound barbell for her. I put it up and that was that until luck had it that we walked out of the rec around the same time. I held the door for her and told her that 70 lbs was pretty heavy and she is strong for a girl (yeah I know I have crazy rizz). We had a quick chat while she was walking to her car but my buddy Gabe was waiting for me at the basketball court right next door. Well, that and I assumed that a hot blonde didn't have her eyes out for me so I just left it at a quick chat that night. Little did I know, she did have her eyes out for me. She was on the look-out stalking my every move at the gym for the next month. I envision it was like a Disney or Nickelodeon show and every time I walked around a corner she peaked out behind me quietly, but I'm not sure how it went down. All I know is she came up to me in late November that same year shaking from her "pre-workout" in her cute green workout outfit and asked me for my snap so we could get our lives started together. And that's all she wrote. Now three years later, we are best friends and inseparable at times. All while allowing each other to be unique and flourish and be our own person. I think this formula works quite well for us and I can't wait to use it for years to come.