Elizabeth Gregory, a Bryn Mawr College grad, and husband Charles Aoki met at a Paralympian sports competition. She intended to commute home with him. But he never told her the train they awaited was going the opposite direction from her residence. Emma Grillo sorted out the geography, and the connection it precipitated, in The New York Times.

Akoi, who is absent feeling in his extremities, met Gregory through a mutual friend at the 2017 wheelchair rugby national championships in Phoenix. She was attending as equipment manager for a competing team.

As the meets ended, groups were disbursing to celebrate.

Gregory ended up accompanying Akoi to a train platform to wait unknowingly for transport going away from her residence.

As they bided their time, however, Gregory noted that Akoi was “very handsome.”

In return, he thought she was “super funny but honestly kind of sassy.”

They started dating in 2017, navigating separate locations.

After hopscotching across the country — he in Washington; her in Houston (Bryn Mawr classes were remote); he in Alabama; she in Texas — they got engaged in 2021.

Their 2022 wedding was in Minneapolis, site of ongoing educational pursuits for both.

More on traveling Paralympian Charles Aoki and his wife Elizabeth is at The New York Times.

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Here’s wheelchair rugby athlete Charles Aoki at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, victorious over Team New Zealand.