The unplanned, unexpected, and seemingly mundane moments in life can present you with the most astounding beauty imaginable. That’s precisely what happened when I met Steph for the first time on a mid-November night at a sports bar in 2014. Never one for being set up on blind dates, I reluctantly went out of respect for my friend who set up the arrangement. You can ask Steph and she’ll tell you she felt exactly the same way about that night. I often think back to that moment in time—seemingly a trivial and casual decision—and wonder what my life would be like today if I hadn’t gone. All I can say is thank God I did. Our story is not in any way linear. The amount of things that had to happen to each of us, both good and bad, that ultimately led us to each other would be pretty unbelievable to us if we hadn’t experienced it ourselves. However, we also have a shared past. We went to middle school across the street from each other and attended the same church for 20 years without once ever having met. We virtually lived in each other’s shadow for two decades and never once connected. But this serves as proof to me that God held off on allowing us to meet until just the right moment. Nothing happens on accident, and I hope our story and our love serves as a testament to that fact. It may be cliche to say this (but I don’t really care because it’s true), but Steph is my soul mate, my best friend, and I am beyond excited to say it—my future wife. A lot of people say that love is complicated—there’s no doubt that can be true. But love is also simple. At least my love for Steph is. It really boils down to this—there’s literally no one on this planet that I would rather be with at this moment, the next moment, and all the moments of my life than Steph.