Jeff: The summer after graduation was spent planning an epic road trip to move to Los Angeles. Shortly after completing an internship, I decided that I could take on California and make it work. I may have jumped in with both feet not knowing what was about to happen. My first couple of months were pretty slow for work. There was always a chance I was going to fail and come crawling back home and accept that I needed to take another stab at life. Luckily I pressed on and started to get jobs and make it work.

In the mean time, I was in constant contact with Jennie who was still finishing up school and also trying to decide what to do with her career/life. I may have said on several occasions that I would welcome her with open arms in California. I guess I made a pretty convincing argument. Somewhere in 2008, almost a year after I had gotten there and set up shop, Jennie joined me for what would prove to be quite the adventure 3,000 miles away from home.

Jennie: When I was a senior, Jeff and I were long distance. It was hard to find a time to chat, I was busy as ever, and I didn’t have a clue on what I wanted to do when I got out of school. So I did what anyone does – I applied to go to Beijing to work at the Olympics, a 2-month delay in starting real life. I found out I was accepted to the program in the fall, and in the winter of 2008 I decided after I got back, I would move to California to join Jeff. Adventure seemed like the most reasonable way to take on Real Life, and I am glad that I took the leap, knowing Jeff and I had been dating only a year when I moved across the country.