Jayden & I actually met in January of 2010 when I first moved to Triton Jr. Sr. High. We were in the same 9th grade English class. Jayden and I were never great friends in high school but we were always friendly. We even shared a few flirty looks and text messages through the years. Jayden was the big football star and class clown that would never notice a girl like me. I was the "mysterious new girl who was way out of Jayden’s league", his words not mine. Jayden and I eventually settled into long term relationships of our own and graduated high school. Little did we know, we would end up only a floor away from each other in our freshman dorm at Ball State University. Since we came from a very small high school we really only knew each other and a few other friends from school, we started hanging out regularly. Our old relationships ended and things just fell into place. From parties, to papers, the four years of college came fast and hard. Jayden and I had our ups and downs through college, but we stuck together and couldn’t have gotten through it without each other. There was never a question of what I was going to do or what he was going to do, it was always us. We were planning on building our future and starting as soon as we could.

A month before the big question, Jayden and I adopted a shelter dog named Bagel. If you know us, we’ve wanted a dog for a long time and we were over the moon in love with our new pooch. Jayden’s mom had offered to do a fun winter photoshoot with Jayden, Bagel, and I for a Christmas card or just keepsake photos. Jayden’s parents were supposed to come to where we lived, in New Castle, but I had an Uncle pass away so we were up in our hometown instead. We were going to meet his parents at Winona Lake, a small park by one of the lakes in town. It was extremely cold that day so we were quickly snapping photos and I was throwing my coat on and off. We crossed a bridge to a little island with a small bench and were posing for more photos when he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I started crying, and Jayden even shed a few tears, followed by my astounding yes! Afterward my sister and parents popped out from hiding and were able to celebrate the awesome moment with us. A few days following the proposal I ended up in the ER with pneumonia. If you know me, you know that things can become pretty serious pretty quickly when it comes to my health. I ended up staying in the hospital for a month, needing two surgeries to fix the pneumonia, which turned into a plural effusion. It was quite the exciting way to celebrate our engagement. During this whole ordeal I remember constantly telling Jayden that this is my life and it may always be this way and asking why he would want to subject himself to a life with someone with constant health issues. He never once wavered in his answer that he loved me and would always choose me no matter what and that he couldn't handle life without me by his side. He truly was amazing and handled the situation better than anyone would have.