The short version is we were set up, mostly by Pam, Zach’s mom who also happened to be my colleague and friend. At the time of our introduction, Pam and I had worked together at Kuehnle Elementary in Klein ISD for over eight years and shared several mutual friends. Pam and some of our friends decided that Zach, her son, and I were perfect for each other and from then on, he began to be referred to as my fiancé. He was also told a similar story wherein I was referred to as his fiancée. The only problem with this scenario was we had never met each other. It was an ongoing joke that we both brushed off until September 6, 2017.

On that fateful day, Klein students had just returned to school following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Cy-Fair ISD, where Zach teaches band, had not yet begun their school year, due to the hurricane. Zach decided to use his time off to bring his Mom lunch at Kuehnle that day. One of Kuehnle’s secretaries at the time was a mutual friend of Pam and me and happened to be aware of the fiancé joke. She saw an opportunity present itself. The secretary met me in the hall while I was walking two Kindergarten classes from lunch to recess and told me that Pam needed me. I tried to ask what she needed and tell her I could be there in a few minutes, but she insisted I go right then. She took the classes from me while I went up to the front office. Once there, I found Pam in the hallway and asked her what she needed. She gave me a strange look and then the light bulb clicked when I told her who sent me. Pam then informed me that Zach was in her office and asked me if I wanted to meet him. At this point, I really didn’t feel like no was an option. As I walked towards her office alone, trying to quickly come up with what I was going to say, it suddenly dawned on me. I was one foot in the door when I exclaimed, “Is my fiancé here?” (What came next is one of those funny in retrospect situations.) Upon making my entrance, I caught Zach completely off guard and he began to choke on his Chipotle, which was made more painful by the bruised rib he had at the time. It took a minute for him to gain his composure and we briefly talked, I don’t even remember about what lol, before I left to return to my class.

So that was that. Life goes on, right? Wrong. That afternoon, I had a text on my phone from Zach. We had not exchanged phone numbers, so I was curious how he got my number. I later came to find out that after our conversation, he took Pam’s phone and got my number out of it to text me. What began as casual, periodic text conversation turned into frequent texting then phone calls and then a date. You can probably fill in the rest :D