In Eighth grade at the all-romantic Mendenhall Middle School, there was a new guy who was 6 feet tall with a weird name I couldn't pronounce. Everyone seemed to know him, but I was just wondering why a 16 year old was in my middle school language arts class. Low and behold, his name was Branyon ("like Canyon with a B"), and he was about the nicest guy I had ever met. I made a not-so-great first impression at our walkathon, and then another at a football game, but for some reason he continued to associate with me, and we got to know each other more through mutual friends. That led to nightly text conversations that would continue for months while we maintained a low profile at school. And by low profile, I mean I would hide behind lockers from him because I was crushing so hard. Even though in a lot of ways it was a cringe-worthy middle school relationship, our conversations were deep and real. Not the typical "wyd? nothing wbu?"- we talked about our faiths, our families, our dreams. I kept waiting for a red flag to show up because he seemed too perfect. My parents wondered what skeleton he must have in his closet, because what 14-year-old boy is this mature, spiritually wise, hard-working, AND attractive? I wasn't supposed to date until I was 16, but within 5 minutes of meeting Branyon, my Dad decided he shouldn't let this one slip by. He passed "the test" with flying colors, and has continued to charm everyone, especially me, ever since. Once we were finally out of the awkward stage, he quickly became my best friend and now it's hard to remember what life was like when he wasn't. -K

I knew from the beginning that Katie was the one and that this thing was for the long haul. It felt like forever was a long ways off, we’d been talking about our future for what felt like forever but it didn’t feel real until the day I first looked an engagement rings. I went to buy Katie a cross-necklace when she was quarantined. I was talking about her and our many years together with the jewelery consultant, who then asked “So...do you want to look at them?” Thrown off, I replied “look at what?” “Engagement rings,” she said. All of a sudden that future we had dreamed of since middle school wasn’t so far after all. Little did I know the ring that stood out to me that day would be the exact ring I would go on to buy 8 months later. Come ApriI, I got the ring and I finally planned out the perfect proposal for the perfect girl. I tricked Katie into thinking we would take a day trip to the mountains with two of our best friends, Landon and Stephanie. Little did she know “Stephanie’s idea” to walk through a park and take pictures after lunch was actually my idea for THE moment. A photographer was hidden along the path while I, in character, kept complaining about having to take pictures and said something was in my boot. I got down on one knee to *investigate said-thing-in-boot* to which Katie suggested “haha are you proposing?” as a complete joke. But the second I brought the ring box out, she realized I was not in fact joking and went into a bit of shock. While she kept repeating “WAIT WHAT?,” I tried tell her how much I loved her and how long I have been waiting to ask this question. Eventually after verifying that I had indeed asked her parents, and being prompted by our friends, she finally said yes! We couldn’t stop smiling taking pictures throughout the mountain landscape, then we headed home to what Katie thought was a dinner with family. To her surprise, we had all of our close friends together to celebrate that special day that we will never forget. - B