Max and I met at Vacaville High School during his senior year and my junior year. It all started in late September 2022 at the homecoming dance, where we were introduced through mutual friends. The conversation went something like, “Hey, Mea, will you take our picture?” What Max didn’t know was that I had already been “stalking” him on BeReal with my girlfriends; he was definitely on my radar! After that night, I asked a friend to send me his Snapchat so I could add him more subtly, avoiding the dreaded “mea.galgan added you by search” notification. A few days later, after cheer practice, my friend and I were hanging out in the parking lot when Max walked by after football and asked what we were doing. Not long after that, we started snapping and eventually FaceTiming every night. Even though we talked all the time, we were still awkward at school. Instead of having conversations, we’d just walk past each other with shy smiles and glances that somehow said more than words. I don’t remember exactly when the awkwardness faded, but by October, we were taking pictures together and getting In-N-Out after football games. From there, our connection just kept growing. By December, I was hoping Max would ask me to winter ball. Despite dropping every hint possible, he never did but he still stared at me the whole night and even followed me to In-N-Out after. (He denies that part to this day.) Somewhere between the cold soccer games and late-night FaceTimes, he finally realized I wasn’t going anywhere. On February 3, 2023, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Since then, we’ve been inseparable, going to Giants games, senior proms, concerts, road trips to Arizona, McDonald’s cookie tote runs, serving in youth group, failed beach days, many dinner dates to SF, and so much more. These are just a few memories, but they’ve meant everything. Here’s to a lifetime of adventures.