Celebrate with us!

Dustin and I attended the University of Akron at the same time, and also happened to be in the same major. However, we wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for Tinder! Go figure. I had seen him working out in the rec center before, and led with that when I messaged him. He always likes to joke that we wouldn’t be together if I didn’t make the first move, which is probably true. But I did, and we are! We quickly became the very best of friends and almost immediately endured COVID together! We had the luxury of being close to each other for about a year and a half before I moved out of state to obtain my Masters in Illinois. It was a very tough transition to distance, but we made it work! We would meet halfway in good ol’ Fort Wayne, Indiana and spend a weekend together, and I would drive back for holiday breaks. We thought a year would be all we had to endure, but it could never be that simple. While Dustin attended NEOMED in Ohio, I would be attending Midwestern in Arizona. It was like a cruel joke that we would now have to do distance over 2000 miles apart. But, again, we have made it work! It is a struggle everyday to not be able to come home to our best friend, but we know that we are working towards a better future and secure careers. Optimistically, we should only have to do distance for another year or so!

The morning we got engaged, we went skydiving. Which is always funny, because when the statement is led with that, one assumes Dustin proposed in the air or something. But the truth is much cooler than that. We have always been home bodies and not overly public with our relationship, so it made sense to do it on our own in my apartment. During our 4-year anniversary gift-giving, Dustin asked me to stand and close my eyes. When I opened my eyes, there he was on his knee asking me to go through life with him. My response was a high-five, as it should always be. And maybe a few tears.