It was June 11, 2023, and Mary's softball team was out celebrating the end of the spring softball season. Suddenly, the frivolity turned to shock as two male co-ed team players started fighting with each other, and one of them even ripped through a shirt. Although this dramatic fight looked more like a scene from "Days of Our Lives" than "Fight Club," Mary and her softball friends decided to leave the chaos and head over to Gossip Grill to end the night with one final drink.

Having decided that the night was likely over since the next day was a workday, Mary walked to the bathroom with her friend, Erika, and then planned to call an Uber. However, a woman at the far left corner of the bar caught her eye. Like a moment from a cinematic masterpiece, Mary and Shelley locked eyes upon one another. Despite the loud music and crowded bar, it was as if no one else existed in that moment but those two. As Mary returned from the restroom, she looked over to the area where Shelley sat, but alas, Shelley had disappeared. Thinking she was probably gone for good, Erika and Mary headed over to join their friends and close out when suddenly, Shelley intercepted them, introduced herself to Mary, and asked Erika if it was ok to "have a chat" with Mary. The rest of the night, Mary and Shelley talked, danced, and found out that the two had more in common than anyone else either had ever met. What were the odds that a woman from Washington D.C. had just happened to be in town for the week and went to the bar where Mary was just about to go home for the evening???

That night turned into multiple long distance phone calls, thousands of texts, and many flights back and forth to see one another. The two decided to date one another despite the distance, but in December 2023, Shelley made the decision to move to San Diego. On January 1, 2024, Shelley proposed to Mary at Tom Ham's Lighthouse with many of Mary's friends present for a pre-planned brunch that was complete with an engagement-themed menu. That night, the two went back to where they first met at Gossip Grill and celebrated their love and the softball friends who were such an intricate part of their chance encounter.

While some may call it luck, Mary and Shelley believe they were truly meant to find one another in a time when both were learning some of life's hardest lessons. Whether visiting parts of the country together, enjoying San Diego Wave Soccer games, hiking treacherous trails in various states, and sharing countess brewery adventures, Mary and Shelley have turned miles into memories, friends into family, and love into a lifetime.