During our sophomore year at St. Lawrence University, we met through mutual friends living in the same dorm. A smile in the hallway here, a friendly hello there, but nothing connected until we both became Orientation Leaders for the freshmen arriving in the fall. We quickly became close friends, hanging out on the weekends, grabbing lunch between classes, and participating in various on-campus activities. Our friendship continued into senior year and continued to grow. The "friend zone" started to dissolve sometime in February of 2017, and the feelings were happily surprising (for our friends, too!). Right before we graduated (literally the day before the graduation ceremony), we decided that we wanted to continue our relationship into the summer, despite working at two different camps - one in the Adirondacks, and one in New Hampshire. We made it work, and continued to grow as individuals and a couple. So, when Zack accepted a job in Denver and moved out west that October, we continued to stay strong and knew that our feelings wouldn't falter. By the following summer, Zack was back on the East Coast, and Tory was infinitely grateful. With Zack in Somerville, and Tory in the North End, we were able to continue to grow and work on our careers. We moved into our apartment in Somerville in the fall of 2021, adopted our cat in the fall of 2022, and Zack proposed in May of 2023! The rest is history...