It was just a summer job before college—a way to parlay a limited set of athletic gifts with a halfway decent relationship with his high school tennis coach. But it turned out to be so much more. Joshua Rosenblat, then 18 and looking toward his freshman year at Northwestern University, clocked into a small tennis shack set in the massive shadow of Northmoor Country Club’s clubhouse. What would it be today? Feeding forehands to an octogenarian searching for a whiff of a more youthful existence? Or would it be summoning the patience to corral a dozen six year olds excited to be away from their parents for an hour? It turned out to be the latter, according to the schedule. But someone new would be joining him to lead the class. Someone named Hannah Rudman. When an introvert and extrovert meet, there’s the potential for magic or disaster and not much room in between. And, Josh, the introvert, tried as hard as he could to ensure disaster.

Hannah, excitedly, introduced herself to Josh, and, before Josh could return the favor, Hannah did that for him. “You’re Josh Rosenblat, right? You’re going to Northwestern,” she said. She had done her research, a harbinger of her constant preparedness as a scholar, teacher and friend. Josh had done his, too. He was just less open about it. What followed was a weeks-long courtship of errors. They’d hang out with friends and flirt but things would ultimately go nowhere. Josh would reach out on Facebook but leave text messages unread. Hannah would seek advice from friends on how to deal with this lame dude’s communication habits. Josh would talk only about Hannah with his friends after pre-college meetups. And, then, during orientation week in Evanston, Josh’s aloofness paid off in a way. Credit here must also be given to a longtime friend of Josh’s and eventual dear friend of Hannah’s as well: Jared Gupta. You see, Josh and Jared haven’t always been on top of their “shit,” as the saying goes. So when tickets were released for a freshman-only Second City performance, the two friends figured they’d just be able to show up and get tickets to one of the most well-regarded comedy troupes in the country. Oh, how wrong they were. When they caught up to their ticket-holding friends standing in a blocks-long line, they explained the situation. And Hannah saw an opportunity. “Jared, take my ticket!” she said, practically shoving it into his hand. Then, Hannah was off with Josh to Andy’s Frozen Custard, where they laughed harder over the frozen treats that Hannah would later find out she was allergic to than they would have watching improv sketches.

From then on, Hannah and Josh became Hannah-and-Josh; best friends whose love grew by the day even as physical distance often became a constant in their relationship. It took nearly a half decade and world-altering pandemic to get them to the same place once again, growing their lives together rather than alongside each other. And they can’t wait to celebrate with the friends and family who have been there through it all. To be continued…