The first time I saw Casey was when she was a bridesmaid at Brenna and Forrest Walsted's wedding. Even though Casey was 17 at the time, I thought she was 15. A month later, our church's college group went on a summer lake retreat. Casey arrived later than the rest of us (I'm sure she had a good reason, but now is a good time to point out that she's usually late), but I still remember the exact moment I met her, and it might be because unlike most, she used her full name: "Hi, I'm Casey Glynn." While it definitely wasn't love at first sight for her, I knew I was looking at the most brilliant person on that trip. From the day I met her in June of 2017, I used any excuse I could to talk to her. She eventually seemed interested in having conversations with me but definitely not interested in me romantically. Despite this, I had a massive crush on her, so I decided I'd roll the dice. I went to a rare book store and got a collection of short stories from the 20s. I then created a cipher from the book, which asked her to meet me at a coffee shop. On December 21st, I gave her the book as a Christmas gift. Not to my surprise, she declined. Even though I thought it would be awkward after, I still saw her every Thursday, and she still seemed interested in having conversations with me. We grew closer and closer as friends during that spring. By June, I was convinced that we had a special connection. When I brought this up to her, she rejected me again. In that moment, I promised myself I wouldn't ask again because if I did, it would have just been creepy. Later that summer, Casey mentioned that she wanted a surprise party, and of course I volunteered. Her friend and I planned a big party at Houndstooth to celebrate her 19th. When watching a video of the big "surprise" moment, Casey said she saw the humility of Christ in me, which is apparently pretty attractive to her. After that day, she started flirting with me more, so I rolled the dice, and she finally said yes.

I honestly don't remember the first time I met Samuel, let alone saw him. The only strong memory I have of him during the lake retreat is that he played chess a lot. But in the weeks to follow, as he started striking up conversations with me, I knew he was different in the best way possible. In the fall, a mutual acquaintance of ours let it slip that Samuel had a huge crush on me and planned on asking me out. Upon hearing this news, I was devastated, as it meant I would have to break this poor guy's heart. When he gave me the book with the cipher, I knew exactly what I was in store for, yet I was surprised at how hard the cipher was. Y'know when you reject someone, and it's usually pretty awkward afterward? For some reason, it wasn't like that with Samuel. And slowly, our friendship deepened, discussing things from theology to our own personal past (I won't lie though, sometimes it was annoying how much he wanted to talk to me, like c'mon dude, let me talk to other people!). As spring became summer, Samuel invited me to his little sister's birthday/graduation party. There, I met his family, and once again I was devastated. How could I like a guy's family so much, but not the guy himself? So when he brought up the idea of "us" again, I sadly rejected him, wishing there was something in me that could have said yes. At the end of summer, I took a mission trip to China. While I was there, God worked on my heart, helping me to heal from a lot of buried pain. When I came home, I didn't talk to Samuel that much, but after he threw me that surprise party, I knew I was in serious trouble: I finally caught feelings for him. The week before Samuel took a leap to ask me out a third time (fun fact: he asked me if I was flirting with him and even though I obviously was, I still said no), I remember talking to my dad and telling him, "If I'm going to date Samuel, it's game over. There's no way I could date him and not marry him." And so, here we are, getting married.