Our story begins in January of 2020. Sophie was the new girl on staff at Carmichael Gym and Jalen was looking for someone to cover his shift at work. Sophie was about her bag, and was taking every shift she could. Jalen knew this, and decided to reach out to her for some help and was surprised to be met with a “sorry i can’t take your shift.” That semester passes, and it is now October 2020, 7 months into a coronavirus-ridden world. Carmichael Gym opens back up with limited attendance, and Sophie & Jalen have a 5pm shift together. Sophie would spend the shift roaming the spaces, engaging with staff, and stories about her life. Jalen spent the shift sitting at the check-in desk and just listening, exhausted from preparing for his first powerlifting meet set to take place in a month’s time. The two learned a lot about each other in this time, and began a budding friendship. Over the next several months into 2021, Jalen, who was wrapping up his junior year, spent his time focusing on what life would look like post-college and also growing deeper in love with the sport of powerlifting. Sophie had started getting into powerlifting with a friend around that time, and was shocked at how strong Jalen appeared to be. The two were good friends at this point, and now also began bonding over this shared hobby. It’s now May of 2021, and Sophie wants to have a massive 20th birthday party, as any kind of celebration for her 19th birthday was taken away due to the pandemic a year prior. She invited every friend that she knew, Jalen included. The party was a great time and definitely one to remember. More importantly for Jalen though, this was when he realized he may have eyes for Sophie. This takes us to October of the same year, where the pair made the decision to give their friendship a new title, after spending nearly the entire month of September together; Getting to know each other on a deeper level. Three years have passed since then. We’ve moved in together, adopted two of the cutest kitties and a puppy, started traveling the world, and in August 2024, upgraded our titles once more to fiancé & fiancée. We love each other so effortlessly, and early on realized we had such similar visions for what we wanted in life for ourselves and future family. We find compatibility in big, fundamental ways, like how we want to raise our kids, and in small, cute ways too—like our love for oatmeal raisin cookies and pineapple on pizza.