In the evening of May 8, 2017 I had just gotten done ordering my typical order from Culver's with my family when I got a notification on my phone that someone had sent me a direct message. Brandon had messaged me, "Add me on Snap!!" I replied with a simple, "Alright." From there I stocked his Instagram, added him on snapchat and told my mom that I was going to marry this guy (Bethany Boy). (He seemed to be faithful, wore boots, posted with his family, and played sports. Plus his eyes were VERY dark<3) We talked over snap throughout that summer. When I got to campus I was irritated with Brandon's obvious avoidance of me. Finally I ran into him on the sidewalk outside the cafeteria on Bethany's campus where he gave me a half hug and I got a burst of energy telling my new friends that I wanted to be with this boy. From there we started dating September 2nd of 2017.

May 8th, 2017 was an ordinary night with the boys….. so I thought. We were bored, school was winding down and it was the beginning of finals week, which meant staying in and scrolling through social media was “the move”. Around 8 PM or so I decided to open Twitter and see what I had missed. It was the best decision of my life. A simple tweet from the Bethany Softball account announcing the commitment of Kaylee Mork drew my attention. Over the next hour and a half I thought of what seemed like a million different ways to “shoot my shot” At the time they all became valid options to at least get a response. By 10 PM I had my game plan. “Add me on snap!!” a simple yet effective way for a poet like myself to make a move on the girl that would turn out to be my future wife. After a summer of short conversation and getting to know each other it was time to move back into the dorms. Kaylee had made numerous attempts to meet in person…I was terrified. When we finally did see each other for the first time I couldn’t help but give her one of the most awkward hugs of my life. Over the next few weeks, head over heals became an understatement. Kaylee had me hooked. With her beautiful blue eyes and infectious smile, I didn’t stand a chance. On September 2nd I asked Kaylee to be my girlfriend. Not only did I find myself a girlfriend, I had found a lifelong partner.

Before our first date we had gone on many long walks up and down the huge hills next to Bethany's campus where we talked and talked and got to know each other. I was surprised when Brandon asked me to actually go somewhere with him. We went to the River Hills Mall in Mankato for our first real date. We went to Berry Blendz where I ordered a "Love Potion #9." I thought it would start our relationship off right and it looked like it would taste good! We walked around the mall and spent the most memorable time in Rag Stock where we tried on silly sunglasses and outfits. I posted the first picture of Brandon on my story that day wearing an ugly thrift store looking coat and big sunglasses where I captioned it "stylin." We also took our first picture together in that store. This was a picture taken of our reflections in a mirror with sunglasses on. Right away we knew how to have fun with each other. Brandon was quiet but he always told me that he didn't need to ask me questions when he learned from observing my behavior. He quickly proved to seemingly know me better than I knew myself.