We first met in Arizona, living in different parts and attending different schools. Our paths would cross time and again through college, but always at a distance, and always just in passing, never knowing what the future had in store. After graduation, we set out in very different directions, upon new endeavors into the world of adulthood. Somehow, strangely enough, we both found ourselves in the City of Angels. It started with a cup of coffee--a simple morning of sweet nostalgia and shared memories of home. Neither of us were looking for anything beyond that, and certainly neither of us expected it. So it was a pleasant surprise when we felt that cliche something 'click' between us, and when we stumbled upon all the strange coincidences of our lives, and when we found the conversation to be so perfectly effortless that we just didn't want it to end...so it didn't. It carried us through the morning as we explored the city together, into the afternoon and evening. It was an experience so unlike any other, for both of us--finding someone who had not just most, but all of the qualities we had hoped to someday find in a companion. It was too soon to say it, but something in both of us felt it, even then: this was the real thing. Days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, and months to years--years that saw us grow together, and alongside each other. We went through so many journeys together in that time, taking those steps forward, knowing what we both hoped the future held for us...and finally, everything seemed to fall into place, piece by piece. On a beautiful, mid-December morning, we embarked on another journey that retraced our steps through that very first day we spent together. Of course, as with any meticulously-planned event, there had to be a hiccup or two along the way. But a magical day ended with a magical night--at last, just the two of us--and a proposal beneath the soft light of a white Christmas tree.