My first memory of Karen was her earthshaking performance of "Tomorrow" from Annie at the Weddington Hills Elementary School talent show in fourth grade. She sang with vivacity and vibrato and I had never seen anything like it. There were beats, there was stool-ography, I could go on. I don't remember our first conversation, but by the next week or so we were hanging out almost every day and having the time of our lives. Skip ahead, skip ahead. We had a feeling we were becoming a little more than friends around 7th grade even though Karen might have been in a very serious romantic fling with our friend Cover (see wedding party). Ultimately, we decided we wanted to just be friends and see other people (again, see wedding party). Skip ahead, skip ahead. I'm working my first theatre gig in the Outer Banks and Karen comes to visit me ~twice~. After an incident in the parking lot (see Karen Stahl v. The United States of America) Karen and I are sitting out looking at the stars and I sense the Holy Spirit being like “Kaleb… are you seeing this?” I was pretty much set on marriage after that, I just needed the courage and the right timing. I believe my words to Karen in her grandparents’ NJ home were something along the lines of “Karen, I think we should be dating.” And I think her response was something along the lines of “Okay yes! Wait, can we kiss now?” Basically the same response when I proposed in the most beautiful place on earth too. Now for a future of many more kisses.

I’ll never forget 10-year-old Kaleb’s slicked-back hair, big tie, and the biggest cheeks and grin while standing onstage singing “Feelin’ Good” at our elementary school’s talent show. That show was the catalyst of a life-long best friendship. Some of my most cherished childhood memories are Kaleb coming over to swim in my backyard pool and then drying off and making silly videos with my little silver digital camera. As we grew older and our friendship matured, I always knew I had the most loyal person I’ve ever met in my corner, even as both of us dated other people throughout middle school and high school. When we went to separate colleges, Kaleb at Coastal Carolina University and me at UNC-Chapel Hill, it was one of the most difficult see-you-laters I’ve ever experienced. I had just gone on my first big Jenkins vacation to Ohio that summer, and after spending that week with one another, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to my best friend who had become family. The summer after freshman year of college, Kaleb was working in the Outer Banks while I was working in Chapel Hill, and I went to see him in his show for a weekend with some of my friends. It was that weekend that I had the feeling he was my future husband. I REFUSED to tell him unless he brought it up first. After six months of us sending flirty messages and talking on the phone almost every night but never admitting how we felt, he asked me to be his girlfriend while visiting my family in New Jersey. That day wrote my future.

Our friendship only strengthened after we started dating, and we shared so many unbelievable adventures in Montana, Israel, and the Biltmore House (the only three places on Earth)! Long distance challenged us to stay intentional with one another and lean on Jesus as the center of our relationship. Fast forward to May 17, 2019, the day I rode with Kaleb to the Charlotte-Douglas Airport to send him on his flight for his second summer in Bigfork, Montana. We had said goodbye to one another countless times going to school three hours apart, so I didn’t understand why this time was so difficult. I watched his bright grin disappear into TSA and then I went home and just sat on the couch and wept. The next day, I flew to New York City to write for a publication for the summer. The 10-week countdown until I got to travel to Montana and hold Kaleb again had started. Special shout-out to my brother, James, for handling me being an emotional wreck all summer and ALWAYS listening to me while I cried on his bed and talked about missing Kaleb. The morning of July 29, 2019, I boarded a plane at LaGuardia and headed out west. Kaleb borrowed a fellow cast member’s car and picked me up at the airport, and being able to hug him again while he complimented my new haircut brought tears to my eyes. We went tubing that day, and I got a huge bruise on my chin from my top teeth gnashing down on my bottom lip while taking on a massive wave. This is important. Two days later, the Jenkins flew in to see their boy. We went to the AirBnB they’d booked in Kalispell, Montana. The night we settled in, I remember Kaleb coming home from his show and hugging me and kissing my cheeks. He quietly said to me, “You are my favorite person ever,” and then we all went to bed so we could wake up at 5 a.m. for the big hiking day we’d planned the next morning.

The morning of Aug. 1, 2019, I threw on some overalls, a gray sweatshirt, and a denim NYC hat and went downstairs groggily (not a morning person). After we all loaded into the car, I slept on Kaleb’s lap for the hour-long car ride to Glacier National Park. I knew we were doing a scenic drive through the park with special pull-off areas to take photos. The previous year, Kaleb and I noted a spot that was our favorite, and I woke up just soon enough to notice us approaching it. “Kaleb, look it’s our favorite spot!” He just smiled at me. We pulled off to take some photos, and Kaleb let me out of the van first. We got down to the perfect picture area, and Kaleb suggested we take a smiling photo. Then we took a “mean-mugging” photo. And then he asked for a kissing photo. After we kissed, I pulled away for a hug and looked out over the stunning mountains, thinking about the whole summer of being apart and how thankful I was to finally be together again. As soon as I pulled away, I heard Kaleb speaking. I’ll never forget the way he looked at me as he said, “And now, can you take a picture of me proposing to Karen?” “This is the best day of my life!” We didn’t get to hike but that was never actually on the schedule for the day. We drove to a local Chick-Fil-A for lunch and made all of our calls and FaceTimes to family and friends. I graduated in December 2019, got a full-time writing job, and moved to South Carolina to be with Kaleb while he finished up school. Through months of strengthening our friendship and our love, we’re almost at the big day where we begin our covenant marriage in front of all our most beloved family and friends. I can’t wait to be Kaleb Jenkins’ wife. If you would’ve told 10-year-old me that that bright grin with those chubby cheeks would be my husband, I would’ve just smiled, and probably believed you. It’s always been my dream to marry my best friend, and now you get to watch a dream come true.