We’re getting married!

Owen and I first crossed paths in 2015. He had recently moved from Florida to Maine and was playing middle school basketball at my school. We weren’t exactly friends back then, but our lives intersected often enough for me to notice him. However, it wasn’t until August 2020, during a youth group missions trip, that we actually started getting to know each other. I remember the exact moment I realized I had feelings for Owen. It was weird because, at the time, I hardly knew anything about him. I called my best friend to tell her, and she found it just as surprising as I did. But then, somehow, she discovered that Owen had liked me for a while too. After the trip, I received a text from an unknown number asking how I enjoyed the trip. The sender forgot to mention who they were, but I soon found out it was Owen. We started talking every now and then, but both of us were pretty nervous. Owen, who is many things but usually not nervous, made the first big move seven months later. On Valentines Day 2021, Owen gave me flowers along with a card saying he’d love to get to know me better. I later learned that he was so anxious about it that he wrote my name on every envelope in a ten-pack of cards his dad bought, laid them out, and asked his parents, “Which one looks best?” They all looked exactly the same, of course. He even brought his friend along for moral support when he gave me the flowers. In April 2021, Owen asked my dad if he could take me on a date. But true to form, Owen didn’t officially ask me out until December. By January 1st, 2022, we went on our first date. Everyone around us thought we were already boyfriend and girlfriend, but it wasn’t official until Valentines Day 2022, exactly one year after he first gave me those flowers. When I got home that night, I excitedly told my parents that Owen and I were now officially a couple. My dad’s response? “I thought you’ve been boyfriend and girlfriend for months now.” Two and a half years later he asked me to marry him on the land we are going to build our home. And of course I said yes. Looking back, I see how God orchestrated all of this. It’s no coincidence that two kids, at almost the same time, starting liking each other, knowing nothing about the other and ended up being the perfect match. We came into each other’s lives when we needed each other the most—a true testament to Gods love for us. We might be complete opposites, but we complement each other in every way. Owen is my best friend, and I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else.