It started with an idea, a poetry book, and a toss of the dice. Mackenzie and I met around the age of eleven or twelve and, through various co-ops and sports, we spent our middle school and high school years within each other's social circles. After about a year or so spent in different states, our lives seemed to be heading in different directions---college in Tennessee for me, Camp Rockmont in North Carolina and an internship in Maryland for Kens. We had grown quite close throughout the one spring when we were 19 where we were both still in Tallahassee, so, the day before she left (yeeeaaaah not the best timing on my part), I told her how I felt. Needless to say, nothing came of that; we were in different places in our lives. Aside from a brief few days during a family crisis, we did not see each other in person for the next two years and only talked a handful of times. She probably thought I hadn't given a second thought to having a relationship with her after that first attempt, but I still hadn't gotten over her. One day in December while out Christmas shopping for my family, a particular poetry book caught my attention. I knew she had a love for poetry. For some reason, perhaps the Lord Himself, I saw this book and thought, "hmmm, this is something Mackenzie would like," so I bought it for her. Half ready to chicken out and give it to someone else, a very wise voice in my life encouraged me to send it to her. I did, and a few days later my phone rang with her caller id. Much too afraid to answer, I apologized for missing her call...yikes. A few voice memo exchanges later, we talked on the phone, then face timed. That night we spoke for at least six hours, trying to catch each other up on the last two years of our lives. At the end of that call I told her I still had feelings for her and asked her for closure. She said she was open to the possibility of being in a relationship, and the rest is history. Now I am nothing but excited to make her my bride!