Matthew and I first met when we started medical school at UAB in 2017. We interacted a few times in the first semester, but didn’t really become friends until later. My first memorable interaction with Matthew was right before our cardiology final in January 2018. Our test was delayed, and I was sitting in one of the upstairs study rooms trying to pass the time. Matthew comes into the room and says hi, then proceeds to ask if I was trying to study. I said no so he asked if I wanted to watch some YouTube videos he and his friends had made a few years ago. Honestly I really wanted to just sit in silence but before I could say no, Matthew had sat down beside me and opened up his laptop. After we watched 4 episodes of his hit mini series- Guardians of Greenwyche- he then proceeded to show me videos of him doing various dives and flips into the pool until it was time to go take our test. Later that night as I was reflecting on what an odd experience I had today, I concluded that while Matthew was weird, he would probably be a fun friend to have around. We quickly became best friends, often studying together and exercising at the gym together. We even went to med prom together our second year, which was technically our first official date. Late nights studying together in Volker Hall gradually became late night donut runs and weekend trips to the mall. We started dating during our 4th year, and at the end of that year, we learned that we would be doing our residencies in Virginia (me) and Maryland (him), and we began the long distance chapter of our relationship. Trying to visit each other with both of us being on an intern schedule was not easy, especially because Matthew was still in Birmingham for his first year. Sometimes we waited up to 2 months to only get less than 48 hours with each other. But we were determined to make it work, and things got mildly easier our second year. I say mildly because one of us was making the trek up and down I-95 most weekends (IYKYK). When I finished my residency, I decided to take a leap and moved to Baltimore in July of 2024. On June 5, 2025, Matthew asked me to marry him at the Ivy Hotel in Mt. Vernon. This was a day he had started planning over 6 months prior, and had spent many hours planning every detail to ensure I had the best day. I have known Matthew for 8 years now. In our almost 5 years together, we spent 3 of those in a long distance relationship. We have taken many trips together, from New York to Iceland to Paris to all the way to Malaysia and so many places in between. We have hundreds of photos together, thousands of text messages, and countless shared memories. We have spent endless hours on FaceTime / phone calls- sometimes just a few minutes as we drove to and from work. Now we get to spend every evening, every mundane Sunday afternoon together, and I’m so excited that I’ll get to do the rest of life with him by my side.

I spent most of my life hoping to marry my best friend, although I had always tried to force it in reverse, feelings then friendship. My relationship with Audrey snuck up on me. I fell in love with her very slowly and then all at once. I don’t remember the first time I met Audrey. It’s quite possible we first interacted in elementary school at one of the state wide music or academic competitions we both participated in. Instead I remember a few weeks into getting to know her that my impression of her was that she was particularly fun. I found myself unintentionally going out of my way to spend time with her. Over time, we spent a lot of late nights in the study rooms of the school, 50% studying and 50% goofing around. Over time the percentage of studying became even less. The conversations got deeper and the hangouts moved off campus. After the first year or so, we were practically best friends. People would come up to me and ask me where she was, which I thought was a strange thing to ask of me. Many thought we were dating and maybe in a vaguer sense of the word we already were. I don’t remember an exact moment that I started to think about her differently. We began dating after 3 years of friendship, and the friendship never stopped. Everything changed on Match Day. Once we realized we would be spending at least the next 3 years apart, the relationship was forced to become a lot more serious. I had previously told myself I would never do an extended long distance relationship. I spent the next year on more flights than the rest of my life combined. Every weekend we could see each other became an adventure, and airports became both the happiest and saddest place on Earth. Airports gave way to I-95, which was particularly notable form of torture, and every weekend one of us would risk our lives trying to get to the other. Life didn’t feel stable until Audrey moved to Baltimore. For the first time in a while, I felt like I could relax. For all the excitement and thrill of the last 3 years, this one had been the best. No matter what was going on that day, Audrey was there. I spent many months planning a proposal. It involved no less than a hundred hours of prep work, 3 trips to Delaware, 3 secret meetings at a hotel downtown, 8 private lessons at the Peabody Institute, 155 printed pictures with one irritated Walgreens employee with a fortunately good sense of humor, a printed script with lines for the hotel employees, and one really good friend who flew all the way from Atlanta just to film (thanks Taylor!). And now, whatever is going on, I know Audrey will always be there; looking back, she always has been. One day, before we were dating, my car had one of its numerous setbacks, this time due to a deep pothole on a backroad. My tire blew and I immediately thought to call Audrey. I could’ve called anyone but she was my first instinct. What should’ve been a brief ride home turned into a whole day. That day turned into many more and I realized I never wanted them to end.