Rewind to 2013: I was thirteen. Michael was fifteen. My family was staying with his family for my brother's basketball tournament in McCook, Nebraska, which was four hours away. Over the course of those two days I enjoyed hanging out with him a few times, but didn't think anything of it. He was almost three years older than me, after all! Fast forward several years...my other brother, JP, who hadn’t even come to the tournament, started working for Michael's older brother. Small world! Then Michael moved to Lincoln and also started working for him and it wasn't long before JP and Michael ended up becoming not only roommates, but best friends. By default of their friendship, over the next several years I started seeing Michael at family events like our 4th of July celebrations and even my graduation party, but because I was seriously considering joining the convent, anything more than a platonic friendship was unrealistic and impossible. Or so I thought. In August of 2019 I decided to take step back from discerning religious life and about one month later everything changed. On September 4th he texted me "Happy birthday," and we continued messaging back and forth for two days. Then on September 6th I got a message from him saying that his boss had given him tickets to a concert for that night at 7pm. After inviting everyone he could think of with no success, he decided to invite me. I agreed, thank goodness! Although it started as just two friends hanging out, it quickly became clear that there was something more there, and before the night was over we already had our second date planned for the next day! Within a month he asked me to be his girlfriend and two years later on October 29th, 2021, after taking me shooting with my new compound bow, he asked me to be his wife. Believe it or not, I did say yes. ;) We are so grateful to God for the incredible gift of our relationship and cannot wait to see what the next years will bring as husband and wife!