Mark and Lauren met at a bike rack and peddled off into the sunset.

Not exactly.

Mark and Lauren did meet at a bike rack when they were both working in Louisville, but as most good stories go, there have been some twists and turns along the way. Not much happened at that initial meeting, but in the coming weeks, Lauren pretended she was a daily bike commuter to impress Mark (she was not), and Mark made excuses to visit Lauren’s office (e.g. “I’m doing an inventory of the building’s recycling bins.”)

Sadly, Mark took a new job in Atlanta just a few months after they met, but these two were not discouraged. They spent a couple of years traveling back and forth, including weekends spent in Asheville, Nashville, and a hot and humid camping trip in Big South Fork. The time they spent together in those first couple of years was limited but jam-packed.

In 2017, they took the plunge and moved to Seattle together. Over the past six years, they built a great community of friends, traveled up and down the West Coast, and adopted two sweet pups from South Korea. In the process, they have learned patience, humility, and perhaps a sense of humor. In this past year, they made the move back to Kentucky where a familiar, yet exciting new chapter is unfolding.

They’ve lost count of the years they’ve been together, but they’re excited to put an official date on the books.