We met in the fall of 2019, our freshman year at the University of Tennessee. My friends and I lived in South Carrick, built in 1966—the black mold capitol of campus—so we’d sneak into Brown Hall, built in 2014, bougie town USA, to use the study rooms. Jackson lived there, and I’m sure you can see where this is going. My first memory of meeting Jackson was when he came back from an intramural game with some guys I’d already met (if you’re pretending to live in a dorm to use the study halls, you need all the connections you can get). I thought he was funny. Jackson says I seemed “granola.” To be fair, I was wearing Blundstones, overalls, a five-panel hat, and working on art homework. Our friend groups merged, and we’d do homework together, which turned into Jackson and his roommate Ben being coerced into helping with most of my projects. My favorite: convincing Jackson to help me recreate “Bet On It” from High School Musical 2—his debut lip-sync as Troy Bolton. A few days later, Jackson’s parents came in town for the Vanderbilt game, and a few of us met them at Cruze Farm’s Ice Cream. This is Jackson’s mom Stacy’s favorite part of the story: “When John and I left Cruze Farms, I told him I hope Jackson marries that girl one day.” Okay, my turn (this is Jackson). Record scratch “You’re probably wondering how I got here.” Flash forward to Winter Break—I got sick and had to get a steroid shot. Our friend group took a trip to Nashville. I was flying in from Louisiana, expecting my roommate Ben to pick me up. Much to my surprise, there was Ben… and Chloe, holding a sign that read, “Welcome Home Mr. Buttshot.” On this trip, I started to fall for Chloe and knew I wanted to pursue her. Our first date was on Valentine’s Day 2020—pizza and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the old AMC in Knoxville. Okay, back to me (Chloe)! We dated on and off all through college—summers at camp, football games, BYX date parties, lunch at La Heradurra, and walks at Lake Shore Park. When we graduated, I took a job in Tyler, Texas, and we did our second round of long distance. I lived there for about a year before Jackson’s accident. In July 2024, we moved to Atlanta, and Jackson began eight months of rehab at Shepherd Center. Those months were hard, but I got a front row seat to the kind of man Jackson is when everything else is stripped away: determined, patient, resilient, gracious, and hilarious at wildly inappropriate times. Watching him fight for every inch of progress as he relearned an entirely new way of living. That's when it clicked for me. I loved Jackson, but I realized love isn’t just a feeling—it’s a choice. And I knew I wanted to spend my life choosing Jackson. After walking (or rolling) through this past year, (by the way this is Jackson now) I knew Chloe was who I wanted to spend my life with. Cue: engagement time. While she was in New York, I bought her ring, drove to Knoxville to ask her dad’s permission, and enlisted the help of some very important women to help me plan the big day. Flash forward to March 1. Chloe thinks it’s Mardi Gras break and that’s why Hayden and all our friends are in town. She also thought it was totally normal I was recording the entire day on her new camcorder. Now, Chloe is under the impression that we were going to have drinks before our 5:00 dinner reservations with my sister and her boyfriend. I knew she had no clue I was about to propose because we didn’t get to Jordan’s apartment until 4:45. Asking Chloe to marry me on that rooftop was one of the best moments of my life. I wish I could relive it over and over again. OKAY I'M CRYING. It’s Chloe again! If you’re reading this, you mean the world to us. You’ve played a key role in helping us learn how to live again, and we can’t wait to celebrate with you all in April. Cheers! See you cats in Nashville real soon.