Josh and I met in science class on the first day of seventh grade. We never dated in school, but stayed close even after we graduated in 2012. In 2013, we took a trip up north to our best man’s family cabin, and that weekend, made a pact to get married if we were both single at 35.

About a year later, Josh was moving to North Dakota to work and I was finishing my sophomore year of college in Chicago. We (finally!) realized neither of us wanted to see anyone else, and spent most of our first five years together dating long-distance.

Josh asked me out to dinner after work on a Friday night, so we dropped our dog Scout off with my brother Dalton and his girlfriend Alli. As we left, Josh said he promised them leftovers and a bottle of wine as a thank you, so we’d have to stop at home after we finished at the restaurant. When we got to the house after dinner, Josh handed me the keys to go inside. I opened the door to a room full of candles and my favorite song playing in the background (Dalton and Alli had driven over to set everything up while we were gone). I started to cry as soon as I realized what was happening — before Josh even had the chance to start his speech! He said he knew that night at the cabin that he couldn’t wait until he was 35 to marry me, so of course I said yes (and had always felt that way too). 💛