I remember first meeting Patrick when I was in 7th grade. He was in 8th and we were both in band. At that time, I, along with a few other students, were asked to play in the 8th grade band and help them out. I was very excited to play the new music, but very nervous about being with the older students. I didn’t realize how right I was about being nervous until the day came for us to have rehearsal all together. As I squeezed through the aisle with my French horn, I heard a loud huff and I looked up to see Patrick. I sat a seat or two down from him, and the very first thing he did was look me in the eyes and say, “Why do THEY have to be here?!” He didn’t want me to be there then but little did he know, he’d be stuck with me forever.

It is funny that Malia decided to stick with me all these years after the lousy first impression I left on her during my freshman year of high school and her eighth-grade year. This moment was not the starting point of our relationship but is a moment that I am forever embarrassed that I let happen. It was a Saturday afternoon after the Cleveland Middle School production of "The Lion King" and I went along with some of my friends with many of the cast members to eat at Dairy Queen. There we enjoyed a nice meal and a time of fellowship with friends. Once our meal had concluded we decided that we wanted to go to Aldi to get some Gatorade. Seeing that we were a group of "macho guys" we all decided to jump over the bushes to start our journey to Aldi. Following what she saw her peers doing poor short Malia decided it was a good idea for her to jump over the bushes. As you might expect she failed miserably and scrapped her hands and knees on the asphalt parking lot. Being the dumb boy that I was, I looked back at her, laughed at her, and kept chugging along toward Aldi as she turned around to go receive medical attention for her scratches and scrapes. I did not think about her or that moment for the rest of the day, or until the moment that we started dating and she decided to bring it back up to hold it over my head (like she still does today). While it was not one of my brightest moments, it was one that introduced me to the love of my life that I blew off in our first encounter.

Considering the last 4 years of our relationship have been spent long distance, we have become very accustomed to having FaceTime dates where we would eat in our separate locations, watch T.V. shows such as The Office and Friends, and play video games such as Fortnite together. While doing this I think that we would both agree that one of our favorite things to do together is to sit back, relax and watch the 25th Anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera at Royal Albert Hall. This was one of our first bonding moments over our love of Phantom and is now a moment that we get to share with each other on a regular basis. However, I am soooooo looking forward to watching it with her in person on a more consistent basis.

My favorite thing might seem a little silly to some people, but my favorite thing to do with Patrick is watch movies together. Over the years we’ve had to adapt our relationship from high school sweethearts and seeing each other everyday, to long a distance relationship full of FaceTime calls. After long days of not being able to catch up with each other, I love it when I finally get the call and I get to ask him about his day, relax, and just be with each other and watch a movie. Our favorite is Phantom of the Opera, which was the first movie Patrick and I watched together while riding the bus on a long band trip. *We did NOT look at each other’s answers for any of the questions before we submitted them. Pinky promise.*