How we met
Have you ever heard of the “red string of fate” ?
Some love stories begin with a spark. Ours began with a thread—quiet, steady, and patient.
There’s an old belief that people who are meant to find each other are connected by a red string. It can stretch across years, across cities, across entire chapters of life. It can tangle, twist, or take the long way around. But it never breaks.
Ours started years before we ever spoke. We grew up just minutes apart. Same middle school. Same church. Same friendship circles. Same everything… except actual conversations. We were basically background characters in each other’s lives, moving through the same spaces without ever really meeting.
Then one ordinary Friday night in high school, things finally lined up. A friend introduced us in her garage, and something subtle but unmistakable clicked into place. No big spark—just a shift, the kind that makes you pay attention.
We became friends first.
Everything else unfolded naturally: late‑night talks, concerts we barely had money for, day trips to random places just because, and eventually prom night—where Andy asked Bri to be his girlfriend in the In‑N‑Out drive‑through. As classy as teenage love gets.
From there, the years filled themselves in: college weekends traded between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, and our first tiny apartment where we learned that love grows in the everyday stuff—shared meals, shared messes, shared life.
The red string stretched, but it never snapped.
"Even though we didn’t formally meet until later in our young lives, I have always felt that Bri and I share a connection that spans through our entire past.
It’s like we’ve always been around each other, I’ve always had a place for her in my heart without even realizing it."
- Andy
The Proposal
In 2025, life pointed us toward Japan. What was supposed to be a simple family trip turned into something much bigger—everyone knew except Bri. Before the trip, Andy asked Bri’s father for his blessing, a gesture rooted in cultural respect and love for her family.
On Valentine’s Day in Kyoto, after wandering through markets and side streets, we returned to a small ryokan tucked away from the city. We made warm tea for each other and exchanged Valentine’s treats, completely unaware of what was coming next.
Then Andy got down on one knee.
There was a moment of shock, then everything settled into a yes that felt meant to be.
