Well, it all started the summer of 2021, on a broken-down bus with a dozen other kids. We were on our way to a beach in Maryland for a youth retreat. Although this is one of Avery’s first memories of me, it was not, however, one of mine. I first remember meeting Avery a year later when we did a youth intensive together right before my senior year of high school. There were a couple other conferences in PA where I would see Avery, but nothing came about until 2023 when we started texting. We quickly went from giggling texts that spring to little butterflies on a missions trip that summer. Fate would have it that our seat numbers aligned on that overnight flight back from Guatemala which was spent exchanging quiet whispers of our future. A week later at our separate homes, eleven-hundred and fifteen miles apart, we started calling. We called each night until the stars were set high in the sky, just waiting for the day I would travel back to PA for college. As soon as I moved up though, Avery left for a bootcamp in Texas where he wasn’t allowed communication with anyone but his family for 9 weeks. I waited. Finally, after months, I arrived at church with my heart all aflutter for I was about to see Avery. After that service I called my mom knowing I had found the one. We started dating November 19, 2023, one week later. Still wanting to take it slow, or me simply being terrified, we didn’t hold hands till three months later which was soon followed by our first kiss and our first “I love you”. We managed long distance for one summer and then that fall we made plans to get engaged. Taking it slow was maybe not in the books for us. I got my wedding dress and we booked our venue for that upcoming summer. And then for the best day of my life, on November 16, 2024, Avery asked if I would marry him. This sums up just the beginning of so many more endless tales and exciting adventures waiting to be created as Avery and I start this next chapter of life.