Jodee and I were introduced by a mutual friend, don’t worry, I know the traditional implication of that phrase. To be more precise, I was on Facetime with said friend and was immediately and inexplicably taken by a photo of her, as it would come to be, possibly too immediately. In the time it took to hang up the phone, I had reached her instagram, opened the messenger, and sent the most eloquent and elaborate phrase I could think of: “howdy <cowboy emoji>”. It was pure and utter luck that she was having the time of her life on a trip to London and didn’t mind getting a message from a wannabe westerner.

Getting to know Jodee was effortless, our first conversations were like water, flowing, refreshing, and perfect. I knew that I had to meet her, in person, as soon as possible. We had planned a Saturday of record store hopping but I couldn’t wait even 24 hours to see her. I raced to her dining hall the night before, riding on a  thrifted penny board with a top speed of 5 miles an hour, shrieking to a stop outside of Boston University’s infamous Warren Towers.

The date before the date is where I realized she was unbelievably more perfect in three dimensions than two. We spent the night eating mozzarella sticks while I made attempts to balance a salt shaker on a pile of its innards, much to Jodee’s chagrin, who informed me I was violating a very well known salt based superstition. The following day initiated the date after the date, one which I fumbled so poorly, it's an absolute miracle I’m typing this today. For some reason I break danced (broke dance?) on the train, cried, sprayed her in the face with a soup dumpling, and tipped an UNGODLY 10%. Nevertheless, love triumphs over all, and here we are, 7 years later.

Our journey has been inclusive of three apartments, two cats, one hamster, and zero hours spent bored. If I were to sift my favorite story from a boundless story sea, it would probably be our stay at Pawtuckaway State Park in New Hampshire. I’ve always loved the outdoors and wanted nothing more than to share my love of camping with the person I could so easily share everything with. It was a weekend turning to frost, 60 degrees during the day and 40 at night, what I thought was the perfect weather to hike to a nearby fire tower. We departed for our leisurely walk and realized 6 miles in that we were meant to drive to the trailhead and NOT hike there. Another few miles brought about my favorite inside joke, our desire to hail an “Uber Helicopter” to avoid hiking back to the campsite. Somehow, we persevered, and spent the return expedition discussing our past through the future, from college worries to outlandish goals, all of which I have seen Jodee overcome and achieve. She is my inspiration, my partner in crime, and the funniest person I have ever met.

I was not looking for a partner, and I definitely was not expecting to get an Instagram DM from a stranger when I was spending spring break in London with my friend Amanda. If I was looking for a partner, I wasn’t expecting them to come in with an opening line of “Howdy”, but I showed Amanda, and figured it couldn’t hurt to respond. He was a friend of a friend anyways, was artistic and an engineering student like I was, and lived right in Boston too.

I wasn’t expecting DM-exchanging to morph into him riding his penny board to BU the night before our first date because he was too excited to wait to meet me, sharing mozzarella sticks in the late night dining hall and showing me his salt shaker magic tricks. On our first date the next day, he breakdanced on the green line, tried on neon blazers at Goodwill, and squirted his soup dumplings all over me at dinner. I was full of second-hand embarrassment and wonder from this boy who didn’t seem to care what anyone was thinking about him, and lived life the way that he wanted to. I went home pretty sure that I would never be able to keep up with him, but I found that I couldn’t stop thinking about his mismatched socks, sporadic dancing, and insane storytelling. Even though I wasn't sure that I could be the high-energy match that I felt like he needed, that didn't matter to Andrew. He saw me for exactly who I was, in a way that I didn't know someone could. I fell in love before I knew what was happening, and he pulled me out of my shell into the person that I never thought that I could become.

This first date led to a life better than what I ever dared to dream up, full of countless camping trips, movie nights, train rides, and memories that have defined my late teens and twenties. We have grown so much as a couple and individuals from those early days, but the whimsy and excitement at the core of our relationship has never changed. I will never forget texting my Mom about Andrew a few days after we met, telling her how excited he is about life and how happy it makes me to be around him. She responded, "Most of the world is grey and cynical. He sounds like he is more yellow than grey!", and she was right. He has turned my life "more yellow than grey", his energy infectious and seeping into every pore of our life together. Even when life is hard, our life is never hard because he colors it yellow.

I would say that I never thought we’d be here over seven years later, but I’d be lying. Looking back now, I knew from that first date that Andrew was who I would spend the rest of my life with, and the rest of our life cannot come soon enough.