Valentine’s Day seems like a good time to share how Justin and I met. It’s a long story, and I’m wordy, so I’m breaking it into a few parts!

One of the main driving factors to my move to North Carolina from Michigan was the weather.
See, I’m from Illinois and for some moronic reason I decide to head more north for college, despite hating the dreary and grey days of winter. So, I spent 2 years in Michigan, pretty unhappy.
I went to beauty school during high school. That may be a foreign concept to you, but it was a trade school that allowed me to both complete the 1500 hours required to become a cosmetologist, as well as completing the bare minimum required to graduate high school. This program was encouraged for students who knew what direction they wanted to go in life, if they offered it at the trade school, or for those who didn’t see college in their future for whatever reason. So at 17 years old, I had just graduated high school and also became licensed to do hair. It was wonderful. I had dreams of going to NYC to do hair for runway shows, or becoming an educator for a product line I really loved. I was encouraged by my instructors that I was a good teacher, so I thought that could be a good path for me.
My dad, though, strongly encouraged me to go to college. Reluctantly I applied to one single college in Michigan, after the application due date in fact, and was accepted. I left a few months later.
By spring of my sophomore year in...