Mary and Josh met at our college orientation at UVA, in a small group of 15 or so folks who were together for all the sessions over the course of the few-day event. When our first semester started a few weeks later, we ended up in a class together. We were getting into groups for a semester-long project and Mary came in late to class (on the first day... classic). Josh told her we had a spot in our group and Mary replied, "Thanks so much, so nice to meet you!" Josh, having had multiple one-on-one conversations with her, politely played along. Soon after, we went for our first run together. Halfway through, Mary twisted her ankle hard — truly terrible timing, since the cross country season started the following day. Josh was immediately convinced he’d derailed her whole season on day one, but she bounced back quickly (...no surprise there). Those first two years at UVA, we became each other’s people — many more class projects together, library "study sessions," football games (Mary never lasted until halftime), and long phone calls whenever we were apart. The summer after second year, Josh stopped in Chicago so we could go skydiving together, and he stayed with Mary’s family. We were still just friends (despite Josh’s best efforts), but Mary’s family picked up on something right away. Word traveled quickly through both the immediate and extended family, and by Thanksgiving a cousin had started a full “Josh! Josh! Josh!” chant after hearing about his visit. Their manifesting must have helped, because very soon after that we (finally) started dating. When Mary was medically retired from the team and decided to take a trip to Switzerland over winter break, Josh offered to join her — and they’ve been by each other’s side ever since. Soon after returning to Charlottesville, COVID hit. That summer, we hunkered down together in Josh’s fraternity house (a fifteen-person home all to ourselves), working opposite halves of the day (Mary on Bangladeshi time) but still finding plenty of space for cooking, at-home workouts, picnics, and quality time. During our fourth year at UVA, we lived next door to each other on the Lawn, repeatedly (and not so discreetly) fostering puppies and testing the patience of housing more than a few times. After graduation, we moved to Boston and started our professional lives, surrounded by friends who made that chapter feel full and fun. Through annual trips to rural Rwanda to host a kids’ running camp, meetups during a five-month stretch of long distance from Redwood City to Kigali, and five weeks traveling through Southeast Asia with friends, we realized that every place felt a little more like home when we were together. Before heading out to business school for the next adventure, Josh popped the question down in Georgia this past summer, and this time it didn't take Mary quite as long to say "yes." We’re excited to gather all of our favorite people and celebrate together back in the place where we first met and fell in love! Thank you for being part of our story.