Among the angst of getting ready to move from Kalamazoo to Omaha, my coworker took it upon herself to help me make some friends Omaha. Via text, Caroline introduced me to her sorority sister Natalie. Although Natalie & I never met due to simultaneous job transitions, she quickly increased my network of friends in Omaha through many introductions via Facebook. One of these was to a handsome guy named James. They say "timing is everything". Luckily, Natalie messaged everyone during a time where I was in town for work. I decided to see what everyone was up to and by the afternoon I had plans to go to a hockey game with James & some of his friends. As anyone would, I gathered as much information on everyone I was introduced to by scrolling through their Facebook pages. I especially wanted to know, what was the relationship status of that James guy. Alas, his profile picture was with a girl & it looked like he & Natalie were pretty "close". Although that didn't bode well for my chances, I decided it was best to make friends in the new city first & worry about the rest later. While at the hockey game, I met James, Tom, & Matt. Trying to find common ground, I wondered how everyone knew Natalie. After all, Natalie had been very helpful in making my move feel less intimidating & lonely. James quickly responded, "We had been dating". Ugh! What a quintessential foot in mouth moment...but also a glimmer of hope! Although they invited me out after the game, I passed as I needed to pack for her morning flight. Weeks went by and James and I went without talking as I was busy getting to know the city and getting situated in my new house and job. However, the other friends Natalie had introduced me to were primarily James'. This made it pretty convenient for me to make sure James and I would wind up at the same place. Our friendship grew as well as our interest in one another and by March we were officially dating. And we lived happily ever after...mostly :)

I knew Tara was going to be in my life long term after meeting her a few times. However, I just figured she would be a great wing-woman; She was enthusiastic, funny, and willing to give me a hard time. I thought "this girl is something!" She is going to make so many friends and I’ll reap the benefits as she’ll inevitably bring them around me. To my surprise, that did not I happen... Instead I invited her to hang out with my friends. Whenever we had something going on as a group I invited Tara because she was a great person to be around. At the time I didn't realize that Tara was persuing me. I thought we were friends enjoying each other's company, and I might have declined a "date" to a country concert... Who likes country music anyway? After a little bit of time and finally realizing that she was into me, I said to myself, "You're an idiot, Tara is special, she is everything you could ever dream of. She smart, beautiful, kind, and you should do everything possible to be with her." From that moment on I have been excited to spend the rest of my life alongside Tara.