Todd and I met back in April 2022 when both of us decided to attend a swing dance at St. John's in Hollywood, MD. At the time, Todd was working for the church's school while I was finishing my sophomore year at St. Mary's College. The dance started with an instructor teaching the basics of swing dancing and told everyone to find a partner. That is when our paths first cross. Todd noticed two girls standing together and decided to approach with a friend and offer themselves as partners ultimately choosing me to dance with. After a time of switching partners, we ended up back together. As we practiced the moves being taught, Todd made it clear he did not like this style of swing dance and knew a way easier one. He started showing me some of his moves until we were told to switch partners again. Soon the lesson ended and it was time to just have fun. Todd ended up approaching me later in the night (which after dancing with him before I hoped he would) and asked me to dance. We talked and danced the night away until I'll admit I was tired and needed a break. During this break, my friends were ready to leave and and I thought I should thank Todd for a lovely night, but didn't want to interrupt his conversation and thought I would never see him again anyway. So I proceeded to leave without saying goodbye (Oh but how the Lord has plans). The next day, one of my friends who I went with to the dance and knew Todd told me he wanted to get to know me better. I was shocked, but so happy to hear that and quickly told her I would love to see him again. That was the last Todd was mentioned, for two weeks at least. Thankfully, Todd was persistent and two weeks later texted my friend again asking if he could have my phone number. I was shocked to get a text from him since a little bit of time had passed. We decided to meet up for lunch in Solomon's Island. While eating I realized how much Todd must enjoy my company since he drove 40 minutes to pick me up at St. Mary's just to turn around and drive 40 minutes back to Solomon's Island. From here we proceeded to start dating even though I went home for the summer in 3 weeks. We kept in contact throughout the summer and kept each other updated on how our summer jobs were treating us and just continued enjoying learning more about each other. Finally, August rolled around and I was heading back to school and one of the first things I did was asked Todd to take me to mass. As the year went on we went on plenty of drives (because I did not have a car so Todd always had to pick me up) and finding new activities around Southern Maryland to occupy our time. Writing this out reminds me that we actually used to be in the same place which feels like a crazy concept since after that first year we started long distance. Todd decided to attend University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota to finish his college degree. If I had a dollar for everytime someone looked at me funny when I said Todd was in North Dakota I'd be rich. All jokes aside we continued our relationship despite the 1600 miles between us. What can I say distance makes the heart grow fonder because after three years and plenty of visits we are finally ready to close the distance and can't wait for you to join us on September 26 :)