01 . 16. 2026

Pemisin, known to many friends as 'Bandy,' met Zori while they were working at the O’Connell Center at the University of Florida. They were both part of the operations team, taking on “tidy crew” shifts—which meant trash duty and laundry—and “changeover” shifts, which involved sweeping hundreds of rows of bleachers and resetting the entire arena after events. Their first shift together was in the laundry room, where they hit it off right away and became fast friends. At the time, Pemisin was a supervisor-in-training, and Zori assumed that their friendship might earn her a break during the tougher shifts. That illusion quickly disappeared when Pemisin asked her to redo an entire section of bleachers because it wasn’t clean enough. She swore she’d never work a shift with him again—but despite that vow, they kept running into each other, and their bond kept growing. What started as friendly teamwork turned into something much more. Now, Pemisin and Zori are inseparable, and they can’t wait to celebrate the next chapter of their journey together.