It's almost unbelievable that David and Mary's paths didn't cross sooner. They both spent much of their childhood in the same small town, and navigated often eerily similar paths. But during the years when they would have attended the same school, their opportunities to meet were diverted. Mary's family would move away to Hawaii for a year while David was in school in Jefferson. When she would return to Jefferson, David's family would move to Italy for the year. That pattern continued. Mary unknowingly drove past his home most days growing up on route to her grandparents' farm. She didn't know they shared so many mutual friends through high school and college. It wasn't until later in life that they would meet at the least likely of places: Mary's parents' home. David was hired by the Harringtons to renovate their house in Jefferson. Mary was living in western Montana, and she would hear updates about the project and the great work the Bendickson boys were doing. The Harringtons slowly became more than just clients to the Bendicksons. They became friends. When Mary would fly home from Montana, David would be there, quietly working away. Both of them were introverted and said little to one another at first. But over time their conversations grew and the two would look forward to these brief interactions at her family's home. Tom and Gina Harrington began cooking elaborate lunches to serve the construction crew through the summer months, and when Mary was home during breaks from grad school she got to know David more and more over those shared meals. Years passed with these short interactions until the Bendicksons invited the Harringtons to a slip n' slide party at their house. Mary and David finally had the courage to start a friendship and relationship beyond the boundaries of the Harrington house project.