Steven and I often say we’ve lived very parallel lives. Long before we were ever “us,” we were living separate stories that somehow mirrored each other for as long as we can go back. We were both in relationships, both growing, both learning, both moved to Southern California the same year and even in those seasons, we stayed loosely connected. No boundaries crossed, but somehow, we never fully lost sight of each other. Then life shifted. Through our own heartbreaks, we each found God. We built our own relationships with Him, got baptized, and began to truly understand our worth and the way we were meant to move through life. Without even realizing it, God was preparing both of us… at the same time. When we finally reconnected, everything felt different. Before our first official "date", we spent about two weeks talking nonstop voice memos, texts, little moments throughout the day that slowly built something meaningful. And if I am being honest… I wasn’t even interested in him at first. The day before our first "date", Steven made his intentions clear, and I still wasn’t fully convinced. But something shifted that night, after what someone would call a horrible date (me being an hour late, mariachi so loud we couldn't hear one another and a photographer that asked us to kiss five minutes into our date) we still managed to lose track of time. On my way home, I remember crying, overwhelmed in a way I couldn’t explain. By the time I went to bed, I knew this was something special. I wanted to send him a prayer that night, but I paused and asked God first. And God told me very clearly no, so I listened. When I got out of the shower, Steven had sent me a prayer. In that moment, everything clicked. What I had desired to give was placed on his heart instead. That’s when I knew this wasn’t just coincidence. This was God-ordained. Seven days after our first date, he asked me to be his girlfriend. Nine months later, on December 31, 2025, he asked me to be his wife. Now, if you ask Steven how we met, he’ll probably tell you I “slid into his DMs.” And while that makes for a great story… it’s not exactly how it happened. If you actually saw the message, you’d see that I was simply encouraging him after hearing him speak years ago at a Herbalife event and recognizing, through what I was reading in the Bible, that he was walking in alignment with God. No hidden agenda, just giving flowers where they were due. But he can tell it his way if he wants. We both know the truth and that’s that God wrote our story long before we ever realized we were part of it.

Prior to our first dinner date, I had been on a journey to figure out the things and areas in my life that I needed to address so I could be ready whenever I found my wife. There was a lot of divine intervention and alignment, but the day after Valentine’s Day, I had an epiphany about what I was truly looking for in a wife. Megan reached out the next day. Yes, I tell people she slid into my DMs—because it’s true—but it wasn’t anything sexual or flirtatious. It was more of an appreciation and acknowledgment of the journey I was on, because she was very familiar with it. As the weeks passed and we prepared for what I call a “date” (she calls it just dinner), the conversation became very intentional on my end. By the time I saw her walking into the restaurant, I knew she was my wife. Everything that could’ve been off with the first date was off—but somehow, everything still worked. Over the next couple of months, we spent a lot of time on the highway visiting each other, meeting family, and building something real. The most special part was watching our children form a bond so early. I believe you can tell the true character of a person not just by what they say—and barely even by what they do—but by the humans they raise. Her relationship with her children, and the people she surrounds herself with, spoke volumes about her character. She was on her own journey, preparing for life, just as I was preparing to be a husband. And everything felt like it was telling me it was finally time. They say the true journey of a marriage is not getting to your wedding day—it’s all the days after that. The days you wake up and choose your partner. And even on the ugly days, I know she will always wake up and choose us. And that’s why I will always wake up and choose her.