It was a hot August day when we met eyes across a crowded team meeting at Loiederman Middle School. It was then that I propositioned Paige with being the school's new Cross Country coach. We were both excited; I to have filled the vacancy and Paige to have a new opportunity and challenge. We talked a lot about practice times, schedules, and rosters. Eventually, the season ended but the conversations didn't. We bonded over our mutual love of games like Connect 4, Mancala, and Battleship, which led to a casual competition (I am proudly winning 61 - 60). We spent more time coming up with excuses to stop by each other's classroom or leave things in each other's mailboxes than MCPS would likely deem a good use of taxpayer dollars. One afternoon, we decided to go to happy hour at Stained Glass Pub. None of our co-workers were able to go but we went anyway. We were informed the next day that if only two people go to happy hour then it's not happy hour, it's a date... a notion neither of us shied away from. The rest, as they say, is history.