It all started back in North Middle School, 7th grade in Mrs. Haas' Spanish class of all places. We sat on opposite sides of the room, but the moment I saw him, I just knew I wanted to get to know him. That same day, our teacher decided to assign everyone new seats. I remember silently hoping and praying to be seated next to him, and next thing I remember hearing is "Jessica, your assigned seat is going to be next to Emmanuel". From that day forward, I saw it as my chance and I made it my mission to befriend him. I didn't know where it would lead, but I knew I wanted to find out. Years later, we graduated and believe it or not, we were once again seated next to each other in the graduation line up. Life eventually took us to different high schools, and we lost touch for a while. But every year, like clockwork, we'd wish each other a happy birthday on Facebook just to keep the connection alive in some small way. Then came the fall of 2018. We reconnected and decided to meet up right before Thanksgiving. Our first official date was on November 10th, 2018 and the rest is history. What started with a seat assignment in middle school turned into a love story years in the making with growth, laughter and the kind of bond that feels like it was always meant to be.