Sean and Lauren met December of 2014 in Oxnard, California. Lauren and Sean were invited to a beach trip by mutual friends. Lauren fondly described him as “really really nice” in one of her journals from that time. Over the years, Lauren and Sean became closer friends, between different trips, parties, and gatherings with friends. Sean was working on his Bachelor’s degree in Northern California and Lauren soon left to complete her undergraduate degree in South Carolina. In the summer of 2019, Sean and Lauren went on another trip with close friends. Lauren became ill, just hours after landing in the city of choice, Denver, Colorado. Sean took it upon himself to help take care of Lauren in her time of sickness. They talked and learned more about each other in that week, than they had in the last five years. Lauren learned about Sean’s love of reading, and about his family. Sean learned about Lauren’s past passion of volleyball, and her dreams of a career in Speech. They found themselves talking more throughout the summer, with the very real knowledge that Lauren was leaving for graduate school in Phoenix, while Sean was returning to Sonoma, in such a short time. Lauren was gone for less than a week, when Sean bought his first plane ticket to visit Phoenix. During that trip, Sean asked Lauren to be his girlfriend and that’s when they began a long-distance relationship. Many trips back and forth and countless facetimes call later, Sean graduates and moves to Phoenix. He secured an apartment about 15 minutes away from Lauren, just one week before COVID hit. About a year later, Lauren graduated, Sean bought a home near her work and they continued living life. On June 11, 2022, Sean takes Lauren on an adventure that she will never forget. He tells her that he found a Geo-Caching/Scavenger hunt type website online, through the City of Phoenix. Lauren was suspicious at first, but once she saw the website, realized that it is too official to be anything but real. Lauren, Sean and Sean’s brother Brian, set out at 7am to begin searching for clues. We went to 4 different parks, searching for QR codes, answering trivia questions and having the best time. At the fourth park, Sean asked Lauren to read the final clues. Lauren began to read and quickly grew confused when she saw her name in the writing. Sean had created the entire website and hid all the QR codes with Brian the previous day. The last park was the place where Sean got down on one knee and asked Lauren to spend the rest of their lives together as husband and wife. Lauren gave a resounding yes, and they began wedding planning!

Lauren and I started dating in 2019 but what some may not know is that we've known each other far longer. We've found evidence that our first meeting as friends was in 2014, just under a decade of friendship. In the past few years we've often talked about our hopes and dreams, current and future. But just as importantly we've talked of our pasts. It often surprises us how often our past selves seemed to have narrowly passed each other by or would frequent the same places, do similar activities, or have common people in our lives. We often relate our story to the Taylor Swift song 'Invisible String' as it seems like there was some unseen connection pulling us close but never quite together. Looking back we can't help but think we did see each other earlier in life without realizing we were looking at our future partner. Possibly at the movies where Lauren worked as a teenager. Perhaps at a store in the mall, or sat at nearby tables in the same restaurant. We'll never really know for sure but I think it is entirely possible our invisible string had us crossing paths much earlier than the beginning of our friendship.