Walking into Kinesiology Lab, I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I saw my lab partner, María, across the room, kneeling down, shuffling through her backpack, and looking a touch frazzled. I inquired and María informed me that she was just slightly stressed because she was leaving straight to the airport after class and hadn't scheduled her Uber yet. With an abundance of time on my hands (not), I offered to drive María to LAX as soon as class was over. I was just being friendly. My crush on María certainly had nothing to do with the kind gesture. I tried to play it cool and went on with class like nothing was out of the ordinary. As soon as class was over, we speed-walked to the parking lot and jumped in my truck. Once again trying to play it as cool as possible, I opened the center console and invited María to pick a CD to listen to on the drive. And then María played the coolest move of all. Her choice of music was impeccable. Led Zeppelin III was the decided album, and immediately, "Immigrant Song" was playing loudly. As if María's taste in music hadn't completely convinced me that she was special, we spent the whole car-ride talking about all sorts of meaningful things. There was no silence. Only incredible dialogue that captured my full attention in the dead-stop traffic of the 405 on an afternoon in LA. After Led Zeppelin III had played through a full 43 minutes, María stepped out of the truck, grabbed her bag, and made her way to her terminal at LAX. Over the course of those 43 minutes that were full of stories, laughter, listening, and some vulnerability, I realized that this was the start of something truly special. From the moment María stepped out of the truck, there's been no doubt-- m+m are best when they're together... and I've never looked back.

I don't think I knew Matthew was the one in one single moment. It was more of a collection of important and intentional moments over the course of months of getting to know each other and really just being amazing friends and study buddies. I really wanted to get to know Matthew, the smart guy with the long blonde hair and cool vans. So, naturally I sat next to him in class and pestered him with questions about his day, his weekend, his family, his friends, his goals, what he got on his test, etc. After many "hang outs" spent memorizing all the muscles for our kinesiology exams, I realized that I really loved spending time with him - I felt confident, seen, and comfortable. I fell for his ability to care for others, to serve, to work hard, to ask challenging questions, and to empower. I fell for his humility, his humor, his authenticity, his passions, and of course, his ability to grow an awesome stache. I am thankful he has made me a much better version of myself since day 1.