If you believe in timing, our story is a pretty great argument for it. Our journey began long before we actually "met," stretching all the way back to daycare. We spent our earliest years in the same sandbox, blissfully unaware that we were looking at our future spouse across the reading circle in the Twiddle Bug room at daycare. As we grew up, life took us on separate paths. Jessie spent her early years in Catholic school while Jared attended public school. Even when Jessie made the switch to public school in sixth grade, the "close calls" continued. We walked the same hallways in middle school, attended the same high school, and even navigated the same college campus. For over a decade, we were total strangers sharing the same zip codes. It took a little help from technology to finally end the streak of missed connections. Jared eventually took the plunge and reached out with a casual: “Hey Jessie, it’s been awhile.” “Awhile” was an understatement, but it was exactly what we needed. What started as a simple check-in quickly turned into a never-ending conversation. We found ourselves trading sarcasm, stories, and laughter at a pace that felt entirely too easy. The connection wasn't just new; it felt familiar, like we were finally picking up a conversation we’d accidentally paused years ago. Our first official date (or our long-overdue reunion) was the moment we knew this was something special. Jared arrived at Jessie's house with his best friend in tow—his black lab, Sadie. He was greeted at the door by Jessie, her two cats, and her own dog—a fellow black lab also named Sadie. The "Two Sadies" hit it off immediately, and honestly, we didn't have much of a choice after that! The dogs had spoken. That same weekend, Jared took Jessie out to his family farm in Leon, and from that point on, we were inseparable. Since that trip to the farm, our lives have been a whirlwind of humor, adventure, and the kind of love that makes all those "near misses" in high school and college make sense. We weren't ready then, but we are certainly ready now. We are so incredibly excited to welcome you into the next chapter of our story. We’ve spent a lifetime inadvertently crossing paths, and we can’t wait to finally walk down the aisle together with all of you there to witness it!