The exact moment we met is unknown. Perhaps it was in the cafeteria during the 8th grade dance or somewhere in the halls of McAuliffe middle school. Those two middle schoolers had no clue how their lives would intertwine over a decade later. In high school, our paths would brush together but rarely cross. Though we shared mutual friends and ran in similar circles, there were but few chance encounters we shared during that time. During one of these moments where we both found ourselves at a mutual friend’s house, I remember feeling the sting of disappointment upon discovering that Mika’s friend Kelly had a boyfriend. The pictures for “Gardner” and “Genberg” appeared mere spaces away from one another in the yearbook, mirroring our high school lives. A decade later, we reconnected through Hinge. I remembered the kind face of a human I was once so curious to learn more about. Kelly was happy to match with someone she could be fairly certain was not a serial killer. We started dating, meeting awkwardly at Golden Road for our first date, and going out to kayak and eat pizza on the beach in subsequent dates. Through my romancing and gentlemanly charm, one thing became quickly clear: I liked Kelly way more than she liked me. Okay, that’s not entirely fair to the situation, but I love to tease Kelly by saying that. However, after a few months of dating, we both realized with greater clarity that our relationship was something special. I’ve never experienced someone who I could share in such a similar pace of life with. We’ve shared slow mornings, Palos Verdes exploration days, Fogo de Chão all-day happy hour, spontaneous San Diego days, movie nights, pool days, tears and laughs, hard days and the best of days. In our talks together, we’ve shared a similar surprise that the Lord in his splendor would have planned such a match for us. We feel his providence and his kindness for us. This “write your love story for a website” thing is pretty tough to do. In truth, there’s little I could write to truly express the joy I feel as our wedding approaches, or to convey all that I see in my future wife. In Kelly, I see a woman who is sharp and confident. She loves to tell the truth. She works hard and sacrifices for her family. She somehow thinks she has a better taste than me in music in movies (ridiculous, right?). She is the one for me, in so many more ways than I could ever write. I cannot wait to marry her on February 7th.