Love is patient. Love is kind.

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I was the communications gal who didn’t understand a wit of economics, yet was quickly tasked with designing the executive summary for the SDSU National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Club. I started making extra calls to the marketing guru and grad student advisor (Cole) to understand concepts to work on the layout, design and execution for the club to succeed. It wasn’t love at first sight for either of us, but Cole and I both knew there was a unique friendship forming over cups of coffee and shared stories while working together. Fast forward three months - July 2019. I was in Ohio completing my internship & Cole was just about to move to Milwaukee for his job. He reached out to me amidst the big life changes with something along the lines of, “I think our friendship is just beginning and right now, I could use a faith-filled friend.” Cole settled into his job and apartment in Milwaukee & I went back to Brookings to complete my senior year. He swung into the Minnesota State Fair on his way to see family Labor Day weekend 2019. It was over a shared bucket of Sweet Martha’s cookies and a cup of milk I realized that Cole was my person, whether we wanted to admit it or not. We stayed in touch and I went to visit him a couple times before COVID hit. In the chaos of the world, it was difficult to make sense of what was to come of our futures, let alone one together. Cole defended his thesis from his apartment living room and I graduated in the basement of my childhood home in May of 2020. Cole decided to move back to Brainerd to work from home. I started my full time job with Certified Angus Beef from Minnesota.

Thanks to the pandemic, we were finally both in the same state and able to re-evaluate our friendship. Cole came to meet my family the weekend of July 25th, and the rest is history. A canoe ride down the Crow River, a tour around the farm and an evening at the Starlite Drive In made for the perfect “first date.” We spent as much time together, getting to know each other’s families and celebrating a couple weddings and birthdays before I moved to northeast Ohio in October 2020. They say long distance makes the heart grow fonder. Cole moved to Ohio in February 2021. Jumping into home renovation projects and learning more about what we dreamed our future would look like, Cole had me convinced a ring wasn’t coming for a while. On our summer trip home, we added Dolly to our family. But that wasn’t the only big plan Cole had for the trip. Cole told me he had a “work trip” in Otter Tail and would be gone all day. Turns out, he went to have lunch with my parents. What he thought was going to be a simple conversation turned into an hour-plus “interview” before my dad finally answered his question and granted him permission. On the night before my birthday, he asked Tanner (my brother) to take a Christmas card photo of us with Dolly in the pasture. In a blink, Cole was on one knee, asking me to be his wife. It was a dream come true and the easiest yes! (He will tell you the first words out of my mouth were “No. No way.” But I was shocked, convinced it would be a couple more months. Plus, he’s terrible about keeping secrets!)

While wedding planning fills a lot of our time lately, our favorite things to do together are spend time with friends, cook and entertain, travel and challenge each other to become better humans every day. Cole is teaching me how to love golfing, bow hunting and skiing as much as he does. I’m teaching the guy who once wore his cowboy hat to the pool what it takes to be a cattleman. There’s something so special about finding your person, in knowing that God put you together to balance strengths and weaknesses; to bring you into a closer relationship with Him; to dream with childlike aspirations again; to dance with you in the kitchen even when you’ve had a bad day. Our story is just beginning, but thank you for being a part of our lives. There’s a page that each of you have helped write and we are so excited to pen the first chapter of our story together on September 10, 2022.