Matt and I first met July 19, 2013 in Galesburg, IL at the local YMCA, which was graciously hosting us that evening on our journey across the country. Matt and I were both interns for the Million Dollar Marathon, a cross-country run that was raising funds and awareness for Above & Beyond Cancer. I had been on the road with the crew for just over a month and the 19th marked Matt’s first time meeting most of us. My first impression of Matt was that he was arrogant. I didn’t realize at the time, how intimidating it must have been to come into a close-knit group as an outsider. He was trying to not come across as shy, and I was unfairly judging the new kid. Fast forward 6 days. We were in Lexington, KY, and I was warming up to Matt. We’d had a few opportunities to chat and he was quite intriguing to me. His arrogance suddenly seemed more like a quiet confidence, and I found myself wanting to know more about his story. I also learned on day 6 that Matt could play the guitar… :) Another 5 days down the road, we arrived in Washington D.C. This was a special day for many reasons, but also because my mom and Melanie joined us! That evening after a fun dinner, a group of us headed out to find …show more content…
This accomplishment was met with such an emotional finish, and Matt and I bonded over the unknown of what our futures held. Neither of us had jobs, but we both had big dreams. Our group of interns was tasked with driving the Sprinter vans back to Des Moines. The trip took a couple days, and I tried to be around Matt as much as I could without being totally obvious that I had a huge crush on him. It turned out that Matt had a slight crush on me, as well, and on the night we returned to Des Moines, he asked me to go on a proper date with him the following night. August 5th we had our first date, and the rest, as they say, is