In the Spring of 2017, both of our campus ministries took a trip to Germany for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. We had "known" each other for maybe a few years- if passing the peace during worship counts as knowing someone! While tucked away in the small village of Mansfeld, where Luther grew up, we stayed in a thousand-year-old-castle-now-turned-youth-hostel. During some down time one afternoon, Nicole asked me about my call to ministry and we talked about her upcoming Lutheran Volunteer Corps year- I found out I was placed in D.C. on the trip! It's safe to say, we officially had caught one another's eye then. On the last night of the trip, we found ourselves at a 60s-70s themed german dance club in Wittenberg. We just *happened* to place ourselves in the same group walking home. Nicole's phone had died (because she doesn't charge it like a normal human- typical), and she asked me to play Drake aloud on my phone. I have this moment crystallized in my head- this girl loves Jesus AND Drake. This could go somewhere. After an awkward hug and number exchange at the phone airport, we could had the premonition that this could be special.

A week after we returned from Germany, James happened to find himself at UNC one Saturday morning for a start of finals pancake breakfast for UNC's Lutheran Campus Ministry. I stayed late to help wash the dishes and to sheepishly ask Nicole out on a date... Later that afternoon we found ourselves strolling through the arboretum and over to the baseball stadium to see UNC play Miami. Later that week, we found ourselves out at Ponysaurus. James was so nervous he left his card at the bar when we left (the only time that's happened to me!). Nicole was so confident that she kissed me first in one of the parking lot's on Duke's East Campus. And so began our two months of travel up and down 15/501, inching towards our graduations and going our separate ways...

After two months in the same place, we graduated and followed our separate paths- together! Nicole moved to D.C. for her year working in the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, making fast friends with the other girls in her house. James went up to Philadelphia for his Lutheran Studies year, a time that deeply shaped his imagination and call to ministry. Nicole became queen of the Megabus and James' braved weekends of finding street parking in D.C. After our first year, Nicole stayed in D.C. to start her graduate studies at George Washington University. I moved, a couple of times. Back to N.C. for a summer, then to West Virginia for year long internship, and again to N.C. for a stasis period while awaiting my first call to a church. When the pandemic came in 2020, James had moved back to PA- this time just outside of York for his first position as a full fledged pastor. Nicole was approaching graduation and a move to the suburbs in Rockville, MD. Covid was difficult for us, it was our longest time apart without an in-person visit, 3 months. When we finally did see one another again, I had that moment of realization that I couldn't do life without Nicole. We knew that our distance would come to an end with our next move- which would be when our life together, physically together, would begin.

When I accepted my call to St. John's Lutheran Church in Salisbury, we began to plan our new life together. After my first six months in Salisbury, Nicole followed me back home to N.C. and our distance went from several states to just a few blocks, less than a ten minute walk from apartment to apartment. Six months after that, I had a ring in my pocket and a question on my mind. So the plot began. The first option I had, a cute proposal surrounded by family and under the cherry blossoms in D.C., Nicole thwarted, flat refusing her parents' attempt to get her up to DC for a family weekend. Luckily, Plan B wasn't so shabby either, even if it was a bit more stressful. After getting the engagement ring through security both in the States and in Germany (with a wink and quick pass from a German TSA agent), we found ourselves in Palestine, walking where Jesus walked. I planned to ask her on the Mount of Beatitudes on the third day of our trip... Except that travel arrangements changed, and we found ourselves there a day early and a day short of research! I gave it away about 15 minutes before I popped the question. It was golden hour and I kept going back and forth from place to place on the Mount of Beatitudes, anxiously searching for the right spot. I had this eloquent speech in my head, but when my knee touched the dirt it all went out the window! Whatever it was I actually said, Nicole thankfully said "yes" and after some applause on the charter bus from our tour group, we got to spend the next 9 days largely keeping the joy to ourselves as we pilgrimaged from one holy site to the next.