We met in April 2020, right in the middle of Covid. I had just moved back to Michigan during lockdown while still going to Middle Tennessee State University, but my Tinder location was still set to Tennessee. One random night we matched, and shortly after I received the most romantic line ever from Alex: “Heyy what’s up hottie” 😅 Obviously, I was in love at first text with that one. We started talking every single day. What was supposed to be casual turned into long FaceTimes and staying up way too late just to keep talking. When I went back to Tennessee briefly to return my books, we finally met in person. It felt easy right away. Comfortable. Like we have known each other for so long already. Not long after that, I invited him to Michigan to meet my family. We spent that week on the lake — boat rides, laying in the sun, jumping on the trampoline with my siblings, and sitting on the dock at night talking about life. It was simple and it felt right. He fit in so naturally with my family, and that’s when everything started to feel serious in the best way. Before he flew home, he took me to The Melting Pot and on June 13th, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Since that summer, life hasn’t been slow or easy — but we’ve done all of it together. I graduated college. He has won fights and is working his way up to the top. We chased dreams that felt bigger than us. We stepped into adulthood not fully knowing what we were doing, but knowing we wanted to do it side by side and learning everything together. We’ve celebrated fight wins and we’ve walked through injuries and setbacks. We’ve lost loved ones. We’ve had seasons where money was tight and everything felt uncertain. We’ve moved, started over, sacrificed, and learned how to support each other when things aren’t easy or exciting. We got engaged in June 2024 — a moment where it felt like everything we have been fighting for is so worth it to be together and dedicate our forever with eachother. Now we’ve built a life together. We’ve lived together in Florida for three years, built routines, survived fight camps, chased business ideas, and created a home filled with love, our three cats, and hopefully soon - our own little babies. Our relationship isn’t about perfection. It’s about choosing each other consistently. It’s about loyalty, patience, growth, and showing up for each other even on the hard days. We’ve grown up together. And now we get to step into marriage knowing that whatever comes next, we’ll face it the same way we always have — together. 🤍