We both went to Stevenson High School and knew of each other, but somehow never crossed paths beyond the occasional hallway sighting. So we graduated, lived our separate lives, and let an entire decade go by. Fast forward to our ten-year reunion in 2022. Kerry somehow got roped into helping host the reunion, while Sam simply heard the words open bar and knew he'd be there. So we both bought tickets and arrived with our own friend groups. Kerry had spent the morning tailgating, which should tell you everything you need to know about the confidence level she had... until it came to actually talking to Sam. We spotted each other throughout the night, and we each wanted to say hello. Unfortunately, neither of us had quite enough liquid courage to actually make it happen. Near the end of the reunion, Kerry overheard Sam and his friends saying they were heading to Woodie's afterward. Suddenly, despite everyone in her group being ready to call it a night, Kerry’s friends found themselves headed there. (Shout out to Kelly, Andrew, and Mitch for not being able to say no to party Kerry!) Once inside, Kerry claimed the very first table by the entrance, so Sam literally couldn't walk in without seeing her. Not her most subtle move… Luckily, Sam's high school buddy, Dan, was sitting at Kerry's table, giving Sam the perfect reason to come over. Neither of us remembers what was said (it was 1 a.m., after all), but considering we're getting married, we'd say the conversation went pretty well. The next morning, Kerry woke up at the wildly unnatural hour of 8:30 a.m. As many of you know, Kerry being up before double digits is probably the most unbelievable part of the story. Still riding on leftover liquid courage, she sent Sam an Instagram message that read: "I thought you were going to ask for my number last night." Then, realizing she'd just shot her shot with a guy she hadn't spoken to in ten years, Kerry did the only reasonable thing to do... she put her phone on Do Not Disturb for the next eight hours and pretended none of it happened. Meanwhile, Sam was sleeping on his friend Angie's couch when he saw the DM. He immediately texted the group: "I NEED HELP. Kerry Cummings just messaged me. What do I say?!" After unanimous approval from the group chat, Sam replied that he had wanted to ask for Kerry's number the night before, but had one too many drinks to do so. More importantly, if he hadn't completely blown his shot, he'd love to take her on a date. Kerry informed him he was still in the game, sent him her number, and Sam planned our first date at Sheffield's. It lasted four hours and we even almost went to a concert together that night. Lucky for us, every day still feels as fun and spontaneous as the first. Looking back, it's funny to think that after ten years of never really crossing paths, all it took was an open bar, strategic table placements, the invention of Instagram DMs, and a little help from our friends to get us to today. Turns out we didn't miss our chance in high school - we were just ten years early.