Sometimes life takes you exactly where you’re supposed to be, even if you never planned it. In 2015, Dara Shahraki was visiting Sicily with her family - twelve of them in total - on a trip meant to reconnect with their roots. Dara’s mother had emigrated from Sicily to America in the 1960s, but she wanted her children to experience the island firsthand. One day, they headed to a more secluded beach outside of town, a spot Dara’s mother remembered from a previous visit.

That’s where they saw him. Santi Raimondo, a local lifeguard and, as Dara’s mother pointed out, the only blond on the beach. She called him over, reminding him she had seen him the year before. Then, with a bit of a wink, she introduced him to Dara.