Married Couple Discover They Went to Preschool Together in Class Photo (Exclusive)

• Natalie DeLaere and husband Colin have been together for almost 10 years and married for four
• During Colin’s family’s recent move, an unearthed class photo revealed the married couple were actually preschool classmates
• Natalie tells PEOPLE what it was like discovering the man she “met” 300 miles from home was actually living less than three miles away for years prior

Natalie DeLaere couldn’t have imagined what she’d discover when her mother-in-law paid a visit with some of her husband’s childhood mementos in tow.

Natalie and Colin have been married since 2020 and together for nearly a decade. While both grew up in Fresno, Calif., the pair didn’t cross paths until college — or so they thought.

“We went to different schools K-12. I would consider them ‘rival’ high schools. We both committed to play sports at a college in Southern California and made our way down there after graduating high school, about 300 miles away from home,” Natalie tells PEOPLE.

“Our college was fairly small and we ended up meeting and clicking right away. After chatting, we discovered our parents back in Fresno lived less than three miles away from each other and had several mutual friends, such a small world!”

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Recently, Colin’s mom visited the couple with some items of his she found in their attic as the family prepared to move out of their home.

“My mother-in-law flew with a bag to Arizona, where we now live, full of my husband’s childhood belongings … awards, photos, etc. I was going through the bag, and that’s when I noticed his preschool picture.”

Natalie pulled out the photo and scanned it to see what her husband looked like at that age. She was shocked to see a very familiar face standing next to him — her own! The two had no idea they were in the same preschool class, let alone standing side-by-side in their class photo.

“It was honestly surreal and hilarious! We cannot believe it took us four years into marriage to discover this,” she says. “We thought this whole time we first met when we were 18 years old, but we were actually little kids! My husband was actually not even 4 yet, since he was young for his grade.”

Not only was the couple surprised by the discovery, but their families were also delighted by the surprise.

“Our families kept talking about how weird it was that not only did we attend preschool together, it was especially weird that we were standing right next to each other in the class photo!”

The couple, who are Christian, “totally believe the Lord let us discover this photo a few years into marriage for a good laugh and story to tell.”

“We ended up falling in love with each other so quickly and started dreaming up our future together. Our life together now is better than I could’ve ever dreamed up, and it’s crazy it took going away for college to meet the love of my life … who just so happened to live down the street,” Natalie says. “Let alone find out we went to preschool together. It makes our story even more special than it already was, and makes you think soulmates are always connected.”

Natalie and her husband enjoyed the special discovery quietly for a while. A few months later, she shared it on TikTok to show her friends.

“I posted with the intentions of my friends seeing and being mind blown like we were. It ended up blowing up more than anticipated,” she says.

Natalie admits “there are very split reactions” to their story. “Some people think it’s a sweet story and small world connection. Others, however, think I’m lying and say, ‘There’s no way you two don’t remember each other,’ or ‘How was this not discussed while dating?’ ”

After talking about it, the couple realized their earliest memories date back to kindergarten, and the time before just never came up.

“Of course, we have had discussions of our upbringings, schools and classmates from kindergarten to high school. With that said, it’s very 50/50 of people in my comments saying if they remember preschool or if they don’t. For us, it’s a no! But man … it’s a fun story to tell and I’m glad it touched more people than expected.”