Like most teenage girls, our first rendezvous was to Starbucks at the Mall of America. We didn't think much of it as our eyes locked for the first time. We ended up skipping the sales to walk for hours and buy a meal we would be too nervous to eat. Eight miles of conversation and mall-laps later, we decided a second date was in order.

William picked Nicholas up in his sporty little hatch. They talked the entire ride to the bike trail along the river. They talked the entire bikeride. And while they stopped to get ice cream. And during the hike up the mountain. And at the picnic on the banks of the Mississippi. And the drive back home. Basically they were talking more than either of them had in the past week. Then they texted while they were getting ready for their night at the Aster Cafe, the venue of their wedding they never thought would take place.

We thought it was foolish; William was in St. Cloud, Nicholas in Rochester. We met on a whim, a coincidence a mere crossing of paths while stealing a bed in our childhood homes. Moving two hours from the person you are falling for and still choosing to be in that relationship by dedicating the next forty weekends to them is not exactly a coincidence nor what normal would choose to do. It was a calculated and well focused formula (what isn't with William). It was oddly perfect for our foundation in a relationship together and our new jobs.

We realized driving two hours to see one another was absurd; it was time to look for new jobs and new opportunities. William finished his stay as a Stearns County law clerk when he found a firm in St. Paul. Shortly After Nicholas found a choral director opening at South St. Paul Secondary School. With a mere 15 minute drive time between jobs, we figured we had two options: move back in with our respective parents (blahh), or find a place of our own (best idea for two grown men). We found the cutest white little house with a fenced in yard (important later) after one quick trip with the realtor. Just after we get married will be our first year in our home!

We acknowledged on that first date walking around the mall that we weren't animal people. Especially dog people. Dogs were gross: they smelled, they shed, they are an extra obligation we didn't want to worry about... ...until one day we looked at each other and went down the "what if" rabbit hole. A weekend passed and by the following Tuesday Linus came to his forever home! He is part beagle and part terrier who loves to soak in the sun (on the couch, even though we said he would never be allowed here). Then we got to thinking; if Linus is home alone all day, he probably gets lonely. So then came the little pit bull Maximus! In short, we have become the over-the-top dog loving family!