Nahal and Dan met through a mutual friend—despite the odds not exactly being in their favor. Nahal doesn’t typically do the night scene, and Dan’s training was supposed to start around that time, so technically… this wasn’t supposed to happen. But when it got delayed, their paths crossed anyway. For their first date, they skipped the usual dinner plans and went flying instead. Somewhere between takeoff and landing, Dan decided Nahal was basically his perfect copilot. Nahal, on the other hand, noticed that Dan was funny, refreshingly humble, and (at the time) had a strong commitment to his sideburns. What started as a “this probably won’t go anywhere” situation quickly turned into something neither of them expected. Things got real when Nahal flew out to Salt Lake City during Dan’s training—a trip that proved this connection could handle distance, time apart, and airport goodbyes. Over three and a half years (and a lot of miles) later, they’ve mastered long distance, built a life together across cities, and somehow made all that time apart bring them even closer. Turns out, when something is meant to be, it has a way of finding you—no matter the timing, the distance, or the plans that almost kept it from happening.