I moved to Bismarck in July of 2020 and started working at Costco with my friend Jessica. After a few months, she invited me out for drinks to celebrate her friend Jeff’s birthday. Jeff happens to be Justin’s ex–brother-in-law, though I didn’t know at the time how important that connection would become. That night I was wearing a Wisconsin Badgers hoodie, and Jeff thought it was the strangest thing because he said he knew someone else who also liked that “very unpopular team.” I very politely let him know he was very misinformed — the Badgers are amazing and everyone should love them. A few weeks later, Jessica and Jeff’s wife decided Justin and I should meet. We started texting and talked for about two weeks before finally meeting in person at a Halloween party I was hosting at my apartment. Within five minutes of Justin walking through the door, I accidentally hit him in the head with my freezer door while grabbing ice — which, ironically, he had kindly brought because I forgot to pick some up on my way home from work. Somehow, even after getting bonked in the head within minutes of arriving, he didn’t run out the door. Honestly, who stays after that? After tacos and drinks at my place, the party moved to O’Brian’s. By the end of the night, Justin showed what a gentleman he was by making sure my slightly tipsy, low-blood-sugar self got home safely. From that point on, we were pretty much inseparable. Looking back, our story feels like one of those moments where two people find each other when they aren’t really looking. We bonded over our shared love for the Wisconsin Badgers, but what meant even more to me was that Justin never ran away from the chaos of my medical world. His support from the very beginning made me fall for him pretty quickly. And life gave us a chance to return that support. About five months into our relationship, Justin broke his leg badly at work and had to have major surgery. Just like he had been there for me, I was right by his side through it all. From Badgers hoodies and freezer doors to surgeries and life’s unexpected moments, we’ve been showing up for each other ever since — and that’s how our story began.