This must be the place <3

John loves to tell people that we met at Veridian Events, where he was hosting his 10-year high school reunion and I was working as the Event Coordinator. While that's a fun coincidence, it's not actually how we first met. I had recently taken on the Event Coordinator role in early April, after the departure of my colleague. While going through the event calendar, I noticed an event scheduled for August 12th, 2023 labeled: "PHS John." I remember thinking, "Who the heck is PHS John?" Fast forward to the end of April 2023: I had just finished bartending an event at Veridian and decided to go out for a drink with a few coworkers. We ended up at Inner Circle Vodka Bar. After maybe 15 minutes of sitting there, I notice a guy doing continuous laps around the crowded bar. Suddenly, it felt like I had tunnel vision- he was the only person I could see. So I stopped him and asked, "Why are you walking laps?" and then followed it up with, "What's your name?" John thought I was trying to make fun of him and jokingly told me his name was Tommy before walking off. (Yikes...embarrassing, right?) A few laps later, he decided to come back and talk to me. He told me his real name, and we started chatting. It wasn't until a bit into our conversation that he realized he was hosting his reunion at the venue where I work. And the rest is history. :)