Mal and I met in May 2012 as interns at NASA in Houston. I introduced her to all my “cool” (read: nerdy space-geek) friends, and we ended up spending the whole summer together. There were frequent trips to breathtaking Galveston beach, road trips to Austin, weekend parties, and some impeccable wingman work by my homeboy Logan. But sadly, fall came, and we each drove back to our respective corners of the country. And just like LFO warned me, summer girls come and summer girls go… But not so fast! I wasn’t ready to let this one go yet. I called her up two weeks later from Boston, and after several hours of convincing, talked her into giving it a whirl. So began a long distance relationship of nearly five years, criss-crossing the country between Boston and Berkeley and Gainesville, and racking up some serious frequent flyer miles. Long distance was tough, but we visited often and made it an adventure (warning for those traveling to the Bay Area: the BBQ comes with a tofu option--proceed with caution). After finishing/exiting grad school, we decided to do the responsible thing and backpack for three months around Europe and Southeast Asia before starting work. When we got back, we were ready to get married before beginning our next journey in Huntsville. Dad led a private ceremony for us on February 13 of last year. We were initially going to keep it quiet, but saying “wife” was way more legit than “girlfriend”, so it quickly became an open secret. We hope each of you can join us to celebrate!