The first memory I have of Mary is her standing over me at a grade-school dance asking me rather aggressively "Why do you look so scared". I was about four feet tall at the time (seventh grade) and she was a little under eight feet tall. I avoided this giant for years until senior year of high school when doctors finally found the cure for dwarfism. With my new height and misguided confidence I began my master plan, to take revenge on this big bully named Mary Rodehaver. We both had a mutual friend, Maire, and one night she texted me that her and Mary were going to Bills Doughnuts. It was on this night that Mary decided she was going to a school dance with me. The plan was working. It wasn't long before Mary and I began hanging out and then dating. It started as a simple relationship but we both felt that something special was happening. I fell in love first and she followed. It was puppy love, but alas I had always had a fear of dogs. After senior year, Mary would go on to the University of Kentucky and I the University of Dayton. We tried our hand at long distance but after awhile we went our own ways. We would remain friends and connect on school breaks but wouldn't get back together until Mary's senior Year at UK. The plan recommenced after a trip to Ohio University to celebrate another mutual friends birthday. It was during this time that we both admitted to missing one another and started texting and calling (a lot). Steadily we rebuilt our old relationship and laid the foundation for what would be our future. To say being together was easy would be an understatement, we fit together like puzzle pieces. I liked fruit snacks and she needed them to survive, because of her diabetes. After two years of dating, Mary would go to Michigan for her internship and I to Florida for school. This time long distance was a piece of cake (not really) but we both saw the future. Covid would bring us both back to Dayton and back into each others arms, after a few weeks of quarantine of course. In my mind I would spend the rest of my life with Mary, but apparently you have to have a wedding to make it official. So, on June 20th 2023 while on vacation in Destin Florida I proposed and she said, wait for it, YES! The plan I had all the way back in grade school was finally taking shape. The plan; become best friends, fall deeply in love and then spend everyday making her laugh and smile worked, but its not over. Our story will continue to be written together everyday for the rest of our lives and to me that is the ultimate revenge on that big lovable bully, my best friend and soon to be Wife Mary Rodehaver.