According to Kayla—whose memory is often considered the more reliable of the two—their story began on a random, chilly Chapel Hill morning at 5 a.m. on Hooker Field during Emerson’s first day of ROTC. Emerson, however, insists they first met at a Christmas party on Elizabeth Street. Origins aside, the two soon found themselves in the same friend group, navigating the rest of college side by side and building memories they would carry with them long after graduation. While Kayla was training in Arizona and Emerson was preparing for Ranger School in Georgia, Emerson asked Kayla out on their first date. What followed was a relationship shaped by distance, dedication, and handwritten letters exchanged while Emerson endured the most demanding training of his career. When Kayla later shipped off to Korea, they faced new challenges—but with every obstacle, they chose each other, again and again, trusting that God was guiding their path and faithfully leading them to this.