Our story began in the small town of Elma, Washington, where a shy 14-year-old flute player developed a giant crush on the 16-year-old drum major who played trombone and the sousaphone. We were both in band, and while all of my friends knew about my crush, Tatton had absolutely no idea. That is until one of them decided to take fate into her own hands and tell him herself (looking at you, Hannah). For a week afterward, I received nothing but side-eyes and silence, so you can imagine my surprise when I got a friend request from the upperclassman I had admired from afar. Not long after, he called me (with a lot of pressure from his friends) and asked if I would go to homecoming with him. I was ecstatic. It was my first homecoming, and I was going with HIM! That night, while we were dancing, “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran began to play. During our very first slow dance, Tatton asked me to be his girlfriend. In that moment, our love story officially began.

Fast forward nine years. We were hiking the Skyline Trail at Mount Rainier with two of our closest friends (Maddi & Weston). The trail was challenging, but the day was beautiful and the views were breathtaking. At the highest lookout point, Maddi asked us to pose for a photo overlooking the valley. One moment Tatton was standing beside me; the next, he was telling me how much he loved me before dropping to one knee. I think you can guess my answer—and yes, I completely dissolved into tears. See the engagement pictures if you need the photo evidence.

On October 17, 2025, we celebrated our tenth anniversary together—our last anniversary before saying “I do” on September 1, 2026. In our decade together, we’ve grown up side by side. We moved into our first apartment together (a 275 sqft studio) in 2019. We survived our first (and hopefully last) pandemic in 2020-2021. I started nursing school in 2020 and then finished nursing school and began my career in 2023. We adopted pets who became part of our family (Migi in 2020, Hidari/Hida in 2021, Mirin & Ponzu in 2024, Miso in 2025). We bought our first home in 2021. Moved across the state to Ellensburg in 2025. Sold our first home in 2026. And now Tatton is finishing his actuarial science degree at Central Washington University, set to finish in 2027. Through some of the most challenging and transformative years of our lives, we’ve supported one another and built a foundation we are incredibly proud of. We are so grateful to have found each other so young. We can’t imagine life without each other, and I honestly can hardly remember who I was before loving him. We are beyond excited to finally get married: to celebrate the decade we’ve already shared and to begin this next chapter as husband and wife.