Our story begins all the way back in 7th grade math class in Alabama. My twin sister and I were new to the school, trying to find our place, when Marlon noticed a new girl walk into his class and immediately liked her. According to Marlon, that same girl seemed a little mean and acted as if she didn’t like him much… yet somehow showed up every day with snacks just for him. Somewhere between shared laughs, snacks, and unfinished assignments he swears he “forgot” to do, we gravitated towards each other. By 8th grade, we officially became “boyfriend and girlfriend”. Even when I later moved to Mississippi for high school, we never truly lost touch. Marlon still jokes that we never really ended things, distance just pressed pause for us. Friends told him to let me go, that I had moved away and wasn’t coming back. But we stayed connected throughout the years, always finding our way back into each other’s lives. Years later, on my 20th birthday, Marlon reached out to wish me a happy birthday which happened to be on the very same day that COVID shut the world down. What started as a simple check-in turned into long phone conversations that lasted for weeks. After three to four weeks of talking nonstop, he finally asked if I’d like to go on a date. I said yes… and I haven’t left his side since. On May 19, 2020, Marlon asked me to be his girlfriend again, and of course, I said yes. Now here we are happy, healthy, and ready to spend forever together, grateful that what started in a 7th grade math class turned into a lifetime of love.