In 2018, life was busy, unpredictable, and full of moments that didn’t always feel like they mattered—until one day, one of those moments changed everything. It was the kind of meeting that didn’t feel like the start of anything at the time. It was during a casual conversation on Caitlin's 18th Birthday to talking on Instagram that neither of us expected to mean much. But somehow, from that first moment, something felt... easy. Natural. We didn’t fall for each other right away. That’s not how this story goes. Instead, we became friends. Good ones. It started with the small stuff—liking each other’s posts, exchanging the occasional message, a funny meme here and there. And then the messages got longer. Deeper. We started sharing real parts of our lives. The kind of things you don’t tell just anyone. We didn’t realize it right away, but looking back, that friendship was the quiet beginning of something so much more. There was laughter. Late-night chats. Support during the hard days. Slowly, without even trying, we carved out a space for each other. We learned each other’s favorite songs, the things that made us smile, the parts of ourselves we kept hidden from the world. People talk a lot about falling in love at first sight—but sometimes, the best kind of love comes from growing into each other, slowly and honestly. That was us. It didn’t rush. It didn’t demand. It just became. So no, we didn’t know it in 2018. But that year gave us something unforgettable: the beginning of a friendship that would quietly, patiently, and beautifully grow into love. And that’s how our story began.