Brock and I attended rival high schools in West Virginia and never actually spoke to each other. We knew of each other through our respective sports—volleyball and football—but we never exchanged a single word. Coincidentally , I had no idea how connected our families already were. My driver's education teacher was his cousin's husband, and my siblings and I all had his uncle as our principal. Fast forward to the summer of 2019. I had just finished my freshman year at George Washington University, and Brock had completed his sophomore year at West Virginia University. I finally worked up the courage to reach out to him. He later told me he was completely dumbfounded that "Maxine Cassell sent him a message." We spent the entire summer talking while I was training in Oklahoma at the Olympic Training Center, and he even helped tutor one of my friends in calculus. As the next school year began, we both happened to be home in West Virginia, over Brock's birthday weekend. He took me to Dolly Sods, followed by an impromptu stop at his house to meet his parents. Afterward, he dropped me off at my brother's house, where my brother immediately asked if we were dating. Ironically, my brother and Brock had played against each other in football years before. Brock and I looked at each other, said yes, and that was seven years ago. Over those seven years, Brock made countless trips to Washington, D.C., to visit me—even after I popped his tire by hitting a barricade on Memorial Bridge! We spent summers in Florida while taking classes and making the most of our breaks together. During one trip, we were looking through old family photos when we discovered Christmas pictures of both of our families at the local bowling alley. The best photo was one my dad had taken of me standing next to my mom, watching a little boy—Brock—bowl in the lane beside us. In August 2021, we were fortunate enough to visit my dad in Michigan. That trip holds a special place in my heart as it was the one and only time my dad and Brock were able to meet before my dad passed away that October. Since then, life has been a whirlwind. We've finished our master's degrees, moved to Virginia, gotten engaged, and now we're settling into our very first home together in Delaware. Looking back, it's amazing to think that two kids from rival high schools who never spoke to each other would end up building a life together.