It all started with a stolen jacket. It was December of 2011 and the middle of my senior year of high school. I remember a girl who couldn’t handle the cold and I mean, come on, this was Louisiana after all. That was the moment Laura stole my jacket, but it turns out it was more than that. It became a joke throughout the years, as many things in high school do. Our friends would joke that we should date, which often drew a strong eye roll from either of us. When I came back to visit family, we would hang out, often with friends. She was funny, always has been. I remember references back to the jacket incident anytime Laura mentioned she was cold. Which, for the record, I did recover. It turns out that our friends weren’t that far off. As much fun as it was hanging out with friends and Laura together, I remember getting to the point where I just wanted to see her. She is cute, sweet, and much more, after all. It took 4 years but I worked up the nerve to invite her to brunch alone without friends, which was big for me. Turns out, she and I had more in common than expected and we didn’t need the buffer of our friends to have fun. It wasn’t even an hour into our brunch before I said she should visit me in Fayetteville, where I attended school. This was a 5-hour drive to visit someone she didn’t know all that well; nonetheless, I still held out hope. As I went to school for my senior year, it was difficult to forget the time we spent together. For me, she was special and someone I wanted to get to know. Ultimately, I told her that I liked her and asked, “Do you want to do this boyfriend/girlfriend thing?” Despite the distance, she was agreeable and we went for it. I spent a fair amount of time during that period visiting Shreveport to see her, which was all well worth it.

Our times during the end of college were nice, but it took me graduating from college and moving on to medical school to see what could come next. Neither of us had visited St. Louis, much less Missouri. We spent a fair amount of time apart initially, but ultimately we decided it was well worth it to try the “long-distance thing.” Adjusting to school was tough and she single-handedly held this thing together. She visited almost every other weekend for a year. The summer following my first year of school was exciting as we decided to take the next step by getting our own place together. Even though she could not move until after she graduated from college, we knew we wanted to take the leap. From there, its history.

I can’t say I had this profound, magical moment that clicked with me and made me say, “I want to marry this woman.” But that’s okay, because after spending every day with her after two years of long-distance that I knew I wanted to do this every day. During the excitement of clerkships during my third year of medical school, I figured it was as good a time as any to ask Laura to be my wife. She is an incredibly tough and talented woman who I wouldn’t want to go through this thing called life with more than anyone else. It was February of 2018 and we went to a local coffee shop to grab some hot chocolate. We then made our way to the Art Hill in Forest Park where we sat overlooking the water. I had a backpack, which she must have thought had games in it. In reality, it contained a photo album with pictures displaying defining moments of our relationship. After flipping through the entire album, we got to the final page which contained a photo of a ring box. I then took the box out of my backpack and asked her, “Do you want to do this husband/wife thing?” To which she said, yes.