We grew up within the same 5-mile radius in Iowa City — we were born in the same hospital, we went ice skating at City Park as kids, we had formative memories at Mercer Park pool, we shopped at North Dodge Hy-Vee, we worked in Coral Ridge Mall as knucklehead teens — but we didn’t meet until the winds of fate blew us together 1,941 miles away from home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Eva lived in a warehouse in Oakland’s Jack London Square industrial district, and Schuyler was part of the opening staff of a new cafe within walking distance. On Eva’s first visit the tall, kind barista asked her how sweet she liked her mochas and she was so smitten she went home to write her very first Yelp review. On Eva’s second visit, she paid with her University of Iowa Community Credit Union debit card and the same barista stared incredulously at it before asking, “Why do you have this?” and proceeded to show her the Iowa City tattoo on his leg. We soon realized that our lives were brimming with near-misses and single degrees of separation and became fast friends. After a few months of meeting up every week for Taco Tuesdays our friendship eventually blossomed into romance with the help of a few tequila shots, and the rest is history.