“How did a gal from California and a guy from North Carolina wind up together in Oklahoma?” It’s quite simple actually: love and devotion, a bit of fate, and United Airlines. When we first met back in the spring of 2022, we were busy forging our individual adventures. To pragmatic over-planners like us, pursuing a relationship with each other made no rational sense. In a couple short months, Julia was bound for who-knows-where at the behest of the Army, and Austin was destined for a career in law in North Carolina. Everything was going according to our well-laid plans…but then our paths crossed. On the first date, Julia endeared herself to Austin when she dropped mustard on the table and Austin scared Julia by eating a dozen oysters. On the second, Austin’s beloved cat, Marbury, mauled Julia in a panicked attempt to flee. Despite these challenges though, we knew we had found someone special. It seemed as if the cruel hands of fate had sent us each the perfect person at just the wrong time, and we resigned ourselves to the reality that this was where our adventure together would end. But just as Julia packed her bags to fly back to California, fate intervened yet again as Julia's phone lit up with a notification that would change everything: "Your flight is delayed because of schedule interruptions." Just like that, Julia missed her connecting flight, and we’d been gifted one more precious day together. Apparently fate wasn’t done meddling though, and the next day Julia’s flight was delayed yet again. Faced with this very clear sign from the universe (and United Airlines), we decided to finally listen to what our hearts had been telling us the whole time: you can’t let this person go. To this day, we haven’t let each other go, and we are eternally grateful to United Airlines and its very faulty system. It only seemed right that Julia’s fortune cookie from the night Austin proposed read, “you are given the chance to take part in an exciting adventure.” It’s sure been an exciting adventure so far, but we know it’s just beginning.