Nuestra Boda

The probability of Laura and I ever meeting was pretty slim, I’d say less than 0.1% if you’re into numbers. We grew up almost 2000 miles apart- Laura in San Diego, CA and I in St. Louis, MO. At 22 years-old, I had never been to California and Laura had never set foot in Missouri. In the spring of 2016, we each graduated with our Bachelor’s degrees- Laura at San Diego State, and I at Truman State in MO. Neither of us had our next steps lined up, but both of us had figured out we liked working with young people through our various volunteer and work experiences. Laura and I both decided to apply to the same educational non-profit called City Year, which gave young adults an opportunity to work in urban public school districts around the country. A good college friend of mine, who in hindsight deserves some credit for skyrocketing that 0.1% chance- told me about City Year’s Kansas City location. It seemed like a natural landing spot for me, just 3.5 hours driving from my hometown, friends and family. Laura, meanwhile, had decided it was time to see a different region of the country, and applied more broadly to the Midwest region on her City Year application. As fate would have it, City Year sent her to Kansas City, too. So in late July 2016, we both moved to KCMO to be a part of City Year’s founding year there. After a first-day orientation, we first met at the most romantic of locations: LiveScan fingerprinting. I thought Laura didn’t like me at first, given our first exchange was relatively short and dry, cut off when Laura was called to get her fingerprints done. It turns out Laura, being the keenly observant introvert, was just sizing me up. At the following week’s first full day training, I was headed out of the City Year office to lunch when Laura’s roommate called me over from across the street to join them at their picnic table. I plopped down across from Laura, and very quickly realized, despite my typical obliviousness, that this beautiful woman didn’t NOT like me. I’m sure I talked with other trainees at that picnic table, but I can only remember my conversation with Laura: we both double-majored. We both liked soccer. She was bilingual, I spoke some Spanish too. She studied abroad in Spain 6 months before I did. I had just turned 23, her 23rd was less than two weeks away. These were fairly superficial things, sure, but something just clicked. When Laura and I were then placed at the same middle school for the upcoming school year, I was excited, to say the least. Working long days in a difficult school environment, it became clear that Laura and I shared more than superficial interests. Watching Laura engage with her 7th graders with unconditional empathy, care, humor and fun, it was soon evident we held many of the same values, beliefs and passions too. By the end of that school year, we were officially dating, much to the enjoyment of one particular student who, having nagged us about it for months, screamed “I TOLD YOU!!” when we let her in on the tea on the last day of school. The time since then has flown by. We spent the following year driving across Missouri to see each other after I moved back to St. Louis and Laura stayed with City Year KC as a team lead. 2018 brought the big move out to CA, with graduate school for both of us in San Diego. In the years since we’ve gone through a lot of life together: Master’s degrees, starting careers in education during a pandemic, moving into our first apartment together, traveling to see family and friends here and abroad, and finally engagement (yes, we take our time). While we’ve never been in a rush to get married (yes, we’re 31 this year), we are super excited to take another big step on our journey together and celebrate with all of you. Thanks for reading, and thank you for being there with us along the way! Con cariño, with love, Connor Edward and Laura Victoria