It was a random Friday morning in the lab, and I had sat at my desk to get some last-minute data analysis done before the 10 am Friday group meetings started. It was early 2021, and while lockdowns had ended for laboratory workers only a few months after they began, the boss still held his Friday group meetings on zoom to be safe. This had been going on for nearly half a year at his point – but little did I know that today, the course of my life was about to change forever. At 10am, I joined the group meeting and turned off my camera and mic as I waited for all my other coworkers and colleagues to join. Soon after I noticed a new person join – a girl with a zoom profile photo of her in a sweater laying down and hugging her dog, which looked like a German shepherd. “She’s pretty” I thought. The meetings would last 1, maybe 2 hours, but she never spoke or turned her camera on. That was normal for meetings like this – but every week I would login, see that photo, and think the same thing over and over: “Wow, she’s cute” A few months went by, and on another inconspicuous day in the lab, she came in. My desk was by the door, and she immediately came to me once she entered and said “Hi, I’m Darlene”. I was so surprised that I didn’t really say anything other than a couple of grunts, to which she took as an insult – as someone who was 5+ years into grad school, grunts had become sounds that came out of my mouth as a habit. I noticed her hair was shorter than in the photo, but she wore a similar sweater and jeans. She took a tour, put on a lab coat, and slowly started to ease into working. After a couple of hours, I noticed how smart, funny, happy, and driven she was – like some unstoppable happy force that was destined to make her world better, and I knew I wanted to get to know her better. Over the next couple of months, we saw each other a lot at work and slowly began realizing how much we had in common. She was a huge movie and TV show nerd, and we quickly bonded over our favorite media - Lord of the Rings, The Witcher, and Rush Hour. The conversation was seamless and easy – I could have talked to her for hours and hours and whenever I would make a joke, she would have this cute laugh that she would do, and I would find myself making it a point to get her to laugh so I could keep hearing it. Even today, I still love making her laugh for that reason. I considered asking her out, but I had been burned so many times that I didn’t think she would like me in that way. It was a very big surprise when she asked me out – and me, being so busy towards the end of graduate school and the idiot that I am, said no. I didn’t want to potentially start something I wouldn’t be able to properly invest in, and she understood that. But over the next couple of months, we continued to talk, joke and laugh, and the next thing I knew, I decided to ask her out despite my reasons, and the rest is history. Ever since then, when we’re trying to make mundane decisions, she would mention that story and joke that she knows better. But she truly does, and I’ve been blessed to learn about so many things from her, and I’m a better person for it. She makes me better, and it’s the greatest gift anyone has ever given me. I’m so honored to be able to call her my wife, and I’m going to be the best husband I can be for her.