The following story is one of excitement, pain, frustration, connection and lastly love. It is told in three parts - in the three states where Sam and Alex's lives intertwined.

It all began in February 2016 with a bottle of NyQuil. Alex (as is often the case) was sniffing and sneezing and thought it might be a cold. So he valiantly rode his trusty steed (a bike) to the nearby Publix on Archer Road in Gainesville, Florida. He selected one item, a bottle of NyQuil, and placed it on the conveyer belt.

The cute cashier looked at the bottle, looked at Alex, and lovingly said "You better not get me sick because I have an interview tomorrow."

A few days later, Alex was shopping again and saw her stocking shelves. Being thoughtful, he asked her how her interview went. She had completely forgotten who he was and how he knew about her interview - BUT she didn't run away screaming (likely due to his rippling muscular physique). Somehow he ended up with her number!

They met up a few nights later at Miller Ale House and hit it off! They had numerous adventures around Gainesville, from a first official date at Boca Fiesta to a St. Patrick's Day extravaganza at Main St. Bar and Billiards. Unfortunately, Alex's research group at the University of Florida was relocating up to The Ohio State University in the fall of 2016 and thus Alex and Sam had to part ways. However, they promised to stay in contact.

Neither of them knew it at the time, but almost nine years later they would be getting married a few states up north in Asheville, North Carolina.

In the summer of 2016, Alex moved to Columbus, Ohio to attend graduate school at The Ohio State University. A little over a year later, in the fall of 2017, Sam joined the Hazen & Sawyer consulting firm as an environmental engineer in Cincinnati.


These two cities are 100 miles apart. A short distance, when one considers all of the possible places the two could have ended up in! In hindsight, this should have been the first major sign from the universe. They visited each other and did fun things - they saw movies, they saw an MLS soccer game, attended Super Bowl and holiday parties, and Sam even celebrated Alex passing his Ph.D. candidacy exam!


But, as if often the case, Alex was slow. He didnt see the wonderful woman that the universe had placed along his path. Sam wanted to date - but he wasnt ready to commit. She moved on to bigger and better things. She deserved better than that wishy-washy version of Alex Soderlund and continued to advance in her career and moved onto beautiful Charlotte, North Carolina in the summer of 2019. In the summer of 2020 Alex finished his Ph.D. at Ohio State and moved to work as an aerospace engineer in Albuquerque, New Mexico.


The two were simply on different paths in life - and this is where 99% of other relationships would end. But somehow this story has one more chapter...

In September 2021, Alex was on a work trip in Destin, Florida and stepped into a Publix for the first time in years. Not thinking much of it, he sent Sam a message of where he was and that it reminded him of the first time they met. It wasn't much, but they started talking again.

Within a few months, they realized how natural it felt to talk on a daily basis. And boy they could talk for hours. In late April 2022, an overwhelming feeling knocked Alex off of his feet - he was in love with Samantha Kufrin. He loved her in a way that he had never felt for anyone else. And so he told her! It turns out, she too had feelings for him and they began to date long distance on May 1st, 2022. Within a few months, Sam sacrificed her entire life in North Carolina and decided to move in with Alex in New Mexico. On September 26, 2022, both Alex and Sam started new jobs in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After living with one another and continuing to grow in their relationship for more than a year, Alex proposed to Sam on December 15, 2023 at the River of Lights Holiday Event at the Albuquerque Biopark.....and she said yes!

The thing is, it took almost nine years from the first day they met to join one another in marriage. You never know how life is going to turn out. Sam is the light of Alex's life. And Alex is Sam's drunk orangutan that wakes up too early on the weekends :)

Sam and Alex thank all of their friends, family, and pets that have supported them on this journey. They cannot wait for what the next stage in their lives will bring!