*Houston Spring 2019* I was in graduate school for Occupational Therapy at TWU Houston and living in an apartment near downtown with several girlfriends from my program. I was a part of Bayou City Fellowship Church, but my roommates went to 7 Mile Road. There they met this really cute & tall Aggie named Jesse and his fellow Aggie roommates. Fortuitously Jesse & his roommates were living just down the street from us, so we all began hanging out. Summer 2019 was filled with movie nights, dinners, sunset activities on parking garage roofs, pool days, and Galveston sunrises. During this time, Jesse and I became very close friends and eventually in December 2020 we both realized that we shared more than just a friendship! Our friends all agreed it was a long time coming. So began our love story, and we have been surrounded by friends who have championed us from day one and have grown with us in community. Dating has been such a joyful season and we can’t wait for the new adventure of marriage!

We went to Park City for a ski trip with a group of friends from Houston during the last weekend of January. After eagerly waiting, I had finally picked up the ring the Friday prior and, though I had originally intended to propose in Texas, couldn’t resist taking it with me and proposing ASAP in Utah. The trickiest part was finding a time to nonchalantly break away from the 20+ person group to get some alone time with Maddy. That’s where my friend Hayden came into the picture. Hayden’s family lives in Park City so we were able to brainstorm through several ideas and landed on a hike/picnic with a view. Though most people were skiing for three days, I told Maddy I had something more fun in mind for day three to which she replied, “We’re here to ski, what’s more fun than that?” Checkmate. Being an avid snowboarder, I knew she had a point. Regardless, I told her to turn in her skies. Though she was slightly confused, she trusted me and was resolute to make the most of it. The next day, we walked around downtown, had breakfast and went to a coffee shop to read for a while. I was secretly Dm’ing Hayden on LinkedIn the whole time to make sure the timeline worked out. We made our way to the hike and at the very top, Hayden had sneakily set up a picnic for us just off the path. Once Maddy realized what was happening, I hit the knee (to get eye level with her), pulled out the ring and said: “Maddy, you’re my best friend, I love you. Will you marry me?” She said YES! Later, we surprised all of our friends and celebrated our last night in Park City with a bang!