Our story starts in the fall of 2016 with our Sophomore trip to the Indianapolis Museum of Art for Dr. Runyan’s class. It was one of our first times spending a significant amount of time together, and as we wandered the galleries with our friends, we found that we quite enjoyed each other’s company. Amidst the manicured gardens, avant-garde, and early impressionist paintings, a friendship was born. Recognizing shared passions for love, charitable living, community, intimacy, an active life, and illuminating conversation we were drawn to each other. What we differed in served to make our relationship all the richer as it stretched us and grew us. That summer after sophomore year we kept in touch and worked together on staff at a summer program at IWU. After a summer full of inside jokes, near-death experiences on bus rides in Chicago, and other adventures, we returned to school closer than ever. It’s been incredible to see our love grow as we’ve gone along life’s way. It has been the beneficiary of the love, wisdom, affection, and participation of many, many, many wonderful friends and family. Ultimately, our love for one another has blossomed as God has drawn us into deeper community with him and lavished his love on us. Our story is a narrative of two different people that came to love each other in many ways before they ever began a dance into the realm of romance. In the myriad of hours spent studying, watching Stranger Things, hiking in Salamonie, sharing meals, and having late-night conversations under a blanket of twinkling stars, a friendship built itself into something more. Looking back on the years we’ve known each other, we smile knowing that every step has been a step toward a forever spent together. And so it came to be that on a rainy October afternoon on an old stone bridge under the thick boughs of an aged tree, a life shared together forever was proposed, and it was received with a waterfall of tears and a ringing “Yes!”