Shauna and Jesse have known each other for years at a distance, as they both attended NKU and were heavily involved in campus life. Besides the occasional hello at a party and following each other on social media, they never spent a ton of time together. Fast forward to August of 2020 when Shauna shared an Instagram story of a Leon Bridges performance from the DNC, and Jesse replied with a fire emoji. (So yes, technically, he slid in the DMs.) They started catching up via Instagram messages, and soon switched to text messages. At the time, Jesse lived in Johnson City, Tennessee, and Shauna lived in Covington, Kentucky. Over the course of the next few weeks and months, the text conversations continued with many long messages just getting to know one another and catching up on where life and a pandemic had taken them. Due to the long distance and the uncertainty of **the world** at the time, this text message/pen pal set-up allowed for the foundation of a genuine friendship and an exciting escape in their day-to-day. They both knew secretly that this could be a really good, natural (albeit unexpected!) fit. After a few Facetime calls and a few short hangouts when passing through each others' neck of the woods, they finally decided to see if there was something here. More specifically, Shauna said 'What are we going to do with all these text messages?!' After weighing the options (we try dating, or we don't and we're both really sad :( ), they began dating long distance for a year or so, meeting up every other weekend in different places, taking turns on who traveled. Shauna and Nora joined Jesse and Newdy (and Galaxy, miss her!) in Johnson City in August of 2022, and for almost two years, they lived in East Tennessee, traveling to Asheville and Knoxville for concerts, walking the dogs downtown, hanging out at Atlantic Ale House, and adjusting to a slightly slower life together. In April of 2024, they moved to Louisville, Kentucky, bought a house, adopted a third dog (Stevie!), got engaged, and generally have loved being closer to family and friends to build their lives here together. We are so excited to make it official with you all in April 2025, exactly one year after we spent our first full weekend in Louisville together!