Cole and I first met at a Broncos playoff watch party on January 17th 2016... or rather I showed up late to the Seahawks playoff watch party and everyone decided to stick around to watch the Broncos game that was on after. So how did I end up at this Seahawks turned Broncos watch party? Earlier that morning I had run into my sorority sister Kaylin who had asked if I wanted to come over to her boyfriend - Blake - ’s watch party he was hosting with his roommates. So I show up with a grocery bag of random beers I scrounged together from the depths of my fridge and walk in to this watch party as the only other woman besides Kaylin in a house full of frat boys… I could smell a set up a mile away. You see, our sorority had a date party that was just a week away and I had mentioned to Kaylin earlier that morning that I had yet to figure out who I was taking as my date. So there I stood in the entryway, knowing that my only other viewing option was to go home and watch by myself, I steeled my nerves and decided to stick around to watch my Broncos with a bunch of random frat boys. After settling in to my folding chair for the duration of the game, I prepared myself to tune out all the bro-y football commentary that I was about to endure… and to my surprise I found myself rather interested in what the boys were talking about. I heard my share of funny stories and memories and tall tales regaled about each of the boys I had yet to meet. They talked about their recent class of pledges and how excited they were to invite them into their chapter. The conversation weaved from school to clubs to their home towns so effortlessly and I had never felt so immediately welcomed into what was obviously a very close knit friend group. But what I had started to pick up on was that all conversation seemed to be directed towards or encouraged on by this one very cute guy in the center of the room… I wish I could tell you I remember exactly what he was wearing, or the way he had his hair styled that day (in all likelihood he was wearing a hat if you know him haha), but truthfully none of that is what captured my attention. What I can tell you about this yet to be named cute man was that he had a smile that made me want to smile and a laugh that came from deep down in his belly. He made every effort to include me in the conversation and find things that we had in common that we could talk about. He was confident and vibrant and witty and if that frat house had a gravitational pull he would have been at the epicenter with the way he drew me out of my shell and pulled me into the conversation. At this point I was starting to feel rather grateful for Kaylin and Blake’s little set up scheme and had decided that I would text her after this party and ask her for Mr. Charismatic’s number… and I would have too! If she hadn’t beat me to the punch. “So Jenna who are you taking to next weekend’s date party?” she asks knowing that I didn’t have a date. “Oh yeah that, I’m still working on that one,” I respond… And you see folks, this is where the story starts to differ. I could have sworn that after admitting to not having a date that Kaylin quickly exclaimed, “You should take Cole!”… however, my soon-to-be-better-half insists that upon hearing me admit that I was in need of a date he didn’t lose a moment before he shot his hand into the air and declared “I’ll take you!”… and honestly unless one of the others at that fateful watch party has a clearer recollection of one of the most pivotal days in my life I guess this is a debate that will continue on through out our life together.