we're getting married!

We first met of April 1st, 2022. That was the very first day we met each other. Alexandra: I remember seeing Jared and instantly falling for him. His smile, his laugh, his sense of humor, his handsomeness—everything about him made me incredibly nervous. I would get so anxious around him that I’d end up fleeing and avoiding any conversation. It was fear that my blushing face would give away my feelings. We hung out in our group of friends at his apartment, all of us lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling, and listening to music. I felt like I was floating and I tried to lying next to him as a way to flirt. Soon, we said goodbye, and that seemed to be the end of it... or so I sadly thought. Six months later, in October, Jared came back to Utah after having moved to Colorado. We saw each other again and spent four consecutive days hanging out with our friends. Every day, I fell more deeply in love with him. When he went back to Colorado, I thought it was over once again. But I couldn’t get passed this intense feeling of longing I had in my heart for him. We started texting, then eventually talking on the phone for hours, literally 6-8 hours a night. We’d end up falling asleep at 7 am. We became best friends and shy lovers, too nervous to admit our feelings. Then one night, Jared confessed his feelings for me, and I was over the moon. I proudly shared how I felt about him as well. A couple of weeks later, on October 27, 2022, Jared drove to Utah to see me (with the excuse that he was visiting his sister). I was so nervous and excited that day. I changed my outfit about 30 times, trying to find the perfect one. Around 6 pm, Jared arrived in Provo. I walked outside my apartment, then started walking towards his car coming down my street. He parked and got out of the car. I couldn’t stop myself—I immediately reached out to hug him. We hugged, and I would shyly glance up at him. In his arms, I felt like my entire world had changed. It was as if everything I had longed for was right in front of me. This was the beginning of our story. Jared: I was captivated by Alex from the very first time I saw her. Her beauty alone was enough for me to fall absolutely head over heels for her. When I first locked eyes with her, my mind and heart raced a million miles a minute, but ultimately, I decided to pop the balloons that were pulling me off the ground and float back down to earth. There was probably a better chance of getting struck by lightning, winning the powerball, getting attacked by a shark in a lake, and then getting struck by lightning again, than her ever feeling remotely close to the same way that I felt. Either way, I thought to myself, I should at least introduce myself to her. That's when those hypothetical balloons re-inflated and sent me shooting up to the stratosphere. Her laugh, her voice, her smile, the way she spoke. For just a split second, everything in that moment was perfect; even her. She was everything to me. I'm lucky enough to say that she is still perfect and she still is everything to me, and though I'm not a gambling man, I will confidently bet that when we are old and grey, and we are sitting together in the living room of our future home, with grand children and perhaps great grand children making a mess of of everything in our house, that I will look at her and think to myself, "she is still perfect and she is still everything to me."