Let's rewind to August of 2016. I look down at my phone and see that I received a message from a boy I went to school with, Jake Whitehead. I had never talked to him before, but I knew of him from school. That first conversation was about something silly, but little did we know it started what was going to be an amazing love story. That whole time, we texted and hung out together. We met at the basketball courts and the local McDonald's, and got to know each other. Two months go by, and on November 11th, 2016, Jake asks me to be his girlfriend. We were in his amazing white Jeep in the school parking lot after school had ended. Fast forward almost nine years, and Jake is down on one knee asking me to marry him on November 1st, 2025. Those nine years were filled with happy memories and fun getaways. They were filled with missing each other when we both went to boot camp. Filled with two knee surgeries and various medical issues. Through it all, we stayed strong. I wouldn't give any of it up for the world. Through all of those good and bad moments, we stuck together, and now we get to do that for the rest of our lives.