On a warm October day in sunny San Diego, California, two individuals separately took their beloved pups to play at Ocean Beach. Both found solace in the ocean, but they found much more on that fateful day in 2021. Unknowingly, they sat not far from each other on the beach. Annalena sat with her friend, playing with her extremely high-energy but sweet dog, Nova, while Charlie lay on his towel with Kuzco, a giant, white Samoyed, reading a book.
After some time passed, Kuzco made his way over to Annalena and Nova. Annalena couldn’t have been more delighted to see the 75lb adorable, fluffy boy make his way over for some loving. Of course, now Annalena absolutely had to tell the owner of this good boy how beautiful he was. She called over to Charlie, asking him what kind of dog he had. They exchanged a few words, Kuzco went back to Charlie, and the humans went back to their respective spaces. Little did Charlie know; Annalena had turned to her friend right after the exchange and mentioned how cute Charlie was. It wasn’t 60 seconds later, and the big fluffy boy was right by her side again. Charlie kept calling Kuzco to come back to him, and he would return to Charlie, but then he would turn right back around and make his way to Annalena. Charlie kept apologizing for Kuzco. She laughed and told him it was one of the greatest compliments she had ever received.
After an hour, Annalena and her friend started to pack up their things. As they were packing, Annalena looked over to Charlie’s towel to see him reading a book by himself with his gorgeous dog not far from him. She immediately thought to herself, “That man has his shit together; I’m giving him my phone number.” She sauntered over to his towel, and when Charlie looked up, she realized he was even more handsome up close. She was curious about him and wanted to know more. Before she could get her words out, Charlie asked for her phone number. Filled with a new sense of joy, she gave it to him. They exchanged a few more words before Annalena and her friend finished packing and left the beach. She hoped Charlie wouldn’t be one of those guys who “plays it cool” and doesn’t reach out to her. There was something about him that she couldn’t let go, and she wanted to know more.
A few hours later, her wish came true when she saw a text from Charlie. There was an instant connection for both; a magnetism that drew them to each other. They hit it off so well that Annalena asked Charlie if he wanted to FaceTime to get to know each other more. It was that call that sealed the deal in their hearts. Four hours went by like it was four seconds, and they felt like this was exciting new love but simultaneously felt like they had known each other for years. Things just fit between them. It felt like one phone call, and they had become an integral part of each other's lives, and soon, they would be. It was a beautiful start to a genuine love story.