Caleb’s college best friend married Allyson’s college best friend and that launched them onto the path they are on today.

It all started with a pair of best friends from Knoxville, TN: Garrett and Sheridan. In 2014, Garrett and Sheridan moved to Nashville, TN for college. Garrett went to Lipscomb University and Sheridan attended Belmont University. These two universities are conveniently located on Belmont Blvd. approximately 2 miles apart. Garrett’s roommate was Lucas. Lucas had met Caleb at an orientation event. Sheridan met Becky at Belmont and later introduced Becky to Garrett. Becky was one of four piano pedagogy (peh · duh · goe · jee) students. One of those students was Michaela. You may be wondering where Allyson was while all of these friendships were being established. Well, she was in Los Angeles attending audio engineering school making completely different friends. She doesn’t come into this story for at least three more years. Back in Nashville, Garrett, Sheridan, Becky, Lucas, and Caleb are becoming good friends. Around 2017 Becky decided to try her hand at matchmaking. Her initial thought was Caleb and Michaela were both good homeschooled Christian kids who might hit it off. No. The answer is definitely NO. (The boys involved in the matchmaking would like to note that they had no knowledge of this activity taking place. They were, and sometimes still are, very clueless.) However, Becky’s next thought struck gold! Lucas and Michaela were also good homeschooled Christian kids who would absolutely hit it off. And wouldn’t you know it, they did!

2017 was also the year that Allyson packed up her life in Los Angeles in preparation to move across the country to finish her education at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Summer of 2017 is where our story truly starts to take place. Michaela was looking for a new roommate and Allyson needed a place to live. While scouring the Rooms for Rent page on Facebook, Allyson came across a post by Michaela. Allyson messaged Michaela to schedule a video chat. Approximately 18 minutes later, both had decided that neither were serial killers or an immediate threat, so they proceeded with the apartment application. Meanwhile, Lucas and Michaela were just beginning to get to know each other. (Allyson likes to take credit for the two becoming “official”.) Lucas, Michaela, and Allyson became very fast friends. In fact, Lucas and Michaela were Allyson’s closest friends in Nashville for about 3 years and she is incredibly grateful to them for the role they have played in her life.

It is worth noting that neither Caleb nor Allyson has a specific memory of when they first met. Allyson may have thought Caleb was cute upon seeing him for the first time, but this was almost always overshadowed by his immense love for debating and cuddling. (No seriously, he will cuddle with anyone. It’s strange in Allyson’s mind and to this day she does not understand it.) Contrary to how she acts now, Allyson has never been a fan of physical touch. Caleb is one of four people permitted to hold Allyson for any length of time beyond a normal hug. Now that we have established how Caleb and Allyson became acquainted our stories divulge into two different experiences: His and Hers. These are the most noteworthy experiences Caleb and Allyson had while getting to know one another before their story melded into one.