(From Robin’s perspective) Mid July 2013. Senior week, the week of partying and celebrating your last year of high school. Me and my best friend did just that in wildwood. Her boyfriend was also there staying on the other end of the board walk with his best friend and a few others. We would meet up often and that is where I met my future husband. On the board walk in wildwood completely unaware that this week is what would start the chain of events that would change my life forever. I guess it’s worth noting that I had a boyfriend at the time. The whole week I would barely look at Alex but I remember he made me crack up all the way down the board walk by messing around with random people. Boys 🙄 I didn’t know that after that week I would start seeing a lot more of Alex because of our best friends. The next memorable night was a night at his friends house when everyone went to sleep and we stayed up talking about music and movies. We decided to watch one of his favorites that I had never seen. One of those awkward times when you’re watching the movie but so aware of what the other person is doing and wondering did they mean to inch a little closer or were they just shifting their body. I think we started on opposite ends of the couch and by the end of the movie we were right next to each other. After a few more group hangouts I was invited to his graduation party. The day of the party Miranda (the best friend I was talking about) told me that Alex told his mom that she is going to meet his future girlfriend. I laughed and thought who does this kid think he is, I have a boyfriend. He’s full of himself. I got to the party and got casually introduced to his family. Later in the night everyone started to leave including my best friend who I would cling to in these situations because anyone who knows me knows I have major social anxiety. I decided to stay… extremely out of character but I felt drawn to Alex. It was at this point when I realized I had to breakup with my boyfriend and so I did. Shortly after, we went on our first date. He picked me up in his beat up truck and took me to the marina and backed up to the loading dock. We sat in the bed of his truck looking out at the water and talked and laughed about everything under the moon. I remember how bad my cheeks hurt from smiling all night. We were out there half the night, and when it was time to say goodbye it was one of those goodbyes that lasted forever. There were maybe one or two other dates before I slept over his house and then never left. Everything happened very quickly but thats the way that felt right. On August 30th 2013 he asked me to be his girlfriend. The rest is history. It’s been 10 years now. We still learn new things about each other every day. Over the years we’ve come across memories growing up where we were in the same place at the same time without even knowing. We went to the same Sunday school (maybe same class) and the same Christmas Eve mass every year among serval others. I believe whole heartedly that it was fate that we ended up together and the universe kept putting us together until it stuck… & it stuck. “All along there was some invisible string tying you to me” - Taylor Swift