It is hard to know where to start when talking about our love story. It wasn't the typical boy meets girl...they fall in love...the rest is history type of stuff. It involves a lot of heartache...and time spent apart...and beyond but what we know now is we are here...for a reason and so this is what we will share with you. When Chris was 19 and I was 18 we had an off and on relationship ultimately ending with me saying something to the effect, "you are moving to Korea, I am not staying with you, are you crazy?!" Apparently, I broke his heart as I did the only thing I thought sensible. How can people long distance date, so young, while one is at his first duty station and the other is in college?...impossible. Fast forward some time, some marriages, some babies (sweet Declan), some life, and on a random midweek day I got to thinking, ya know...I haven't heard from Chris in a while...I wonder how he is doing. He had just got back from Hawaii that day and we met up that night for a couple of drinks at Hickory Taproom. I would like to say the rest is history but it simply is not. Both hurt and bruised and tainted in a way, he had to work hard, hard for me to even acknowledge him, hard for me to even say yes to another date or another five minutes or another text. And then he left. He had to go to his next duty station. He had to get on a ship and travel. And this hit me HARD. I realized that I did not like not knowing where he was, and how he was, and if he was thinking of me (which he shared with me often that he was). Through some email correspondence he promised me that nothing about our relationship would be easy, that we would have to work hard everyday, that we both knew what it felt like to be given up on and so we would have to avoid that at all cost. And I agreed. That day, as I was sitting in Corning at my part time job, I accepted his offer and while he was deployed we started dating, and then...the rest was history.

We often fight over this date because someone was in a different time zone. A way different time zone. But with the following amazing words, "I cant promise you that I wont accidentally hurt your feelings or accidentally be the cause of some sad tears, anger, or frustration. Im no longer that naive. I know im going to find a way to mean the absolute best and royally screw up somehow. I always do. :( but what I can promise is to always be on your side, to always have your back, and do everything I can to ensure your happiness. Yes, sometimes life will interfere with our best laid plans and intentions with each other. But I will always be honest, loyal, and faithful to you, and you will always know exactly where you stand with me and how I feel about you." The time was right!

We got engaged in the front row of a Kacey Musgraves concert. The night was a dream come true for Tabitha at not only did she get to enjoy one of her favorite artists she also got to say "yes!" to the love of her life. This story has a funny aspect too but I'll let Chris tell you that one later...

Just like most things in our relationship, this was also a mess of a whirlwind but at the end of it all we got to hold and love on our sweet little girl. Karmin Katherine Elizabeth Powell, you are so loved.

As Covid has changed so many things it changed our plans as well. However, we decided we had waited long enough. In a small private ceremony we tied the knot.