Let me set the scene for you: Brandon is in the Army and stationed in Georgia, while I was working at an elementary school and finishing college in Maryland. On June 4, 2022, I was out at Blue Ruin with Olivia and Nathan for her birthday. While we were chatting, Nathan mentioned that he had a friend who was single. He snapchatted that friend a photo of me and said, “I found your future wife.” The next day, Brandon followed me on Instagram—and I followed him back. Being who I am, I messaged him first and gave him my number so we could talk more. Not long after, he messaged me for the first time and said, “So I heard you’re my future wife?” — and that’s how it all began. We snapchatted back and forth for a few weeks before he came home from Georgia. When he did, we spent a lot of time hanging out with our mutual friends and getting to know each other better. At the end of his visit, we both agreed that long distance would be hard, and even though I was willing to make it work, he turned me down—so we stopped talking. A few months later, Brandon came home again, and this time, we spent nearly his entire two weeks together. Everything felt different, but when it was time for him to leave, he turned me down again. But what can I say? I'm a girl who knows what she wants. The difference was that this time, we kept talking. We FaceTimed constantly and stayed close even from afar. When Christmas came around, Brandon wasn’t able to come home. A few days after, I asked if he’d want some company in Georgia—and to my surprise, after being turned down so many times, he said yes. The next morning, I packed up and drove nine and a half hours to spend five days with him. We had our first date at an ice-skating rink, with car dinners and late-night talks. Before I left, Brandon asked me to come back the next month—and of course, I did. In February, I drove back to Georgia and stayed for a week. We went to Tybee Island for a night and had so many amazing dates. During that trip, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend. From then on, I drove to Georgia almost every month, except for the few times he was able to come home. Long distance wasn’t easy, but we made it work—with lots of FaceTime dates, road trips, and love. Now, Brandon is stationed in Maryland, and we’re living on the Western Shore with our sweet baby, Maple. Long distance still happens every once in a while because of the Army, but we make it work—and we couldn’t imagine doing life with anyone else.