Hannah and I first met in History class sophomore year of High School. Hannah was originally going to be in a different History class, but was moved through a strange set of circumstances (destiny?). We immediately took an interest in one another (and shared a disinterest in sophomore history), and were very quickly sitting next to each other and speaking daily. Although our poor teacher, Dr. Grant, tried to enforce assigned seating, she soon ended her fight against fate. In a few months, we quickly became best friends, and the decision to "go out" came easily. I remember our first date as if it were yesterday. No awkward pauses or silences, no forced touches, none of the unfortunate cliches associated with all of those terrible first dates. The feelings we had for one another felt as if they had blossomed over years instead of months. Hannah and I began our collegiate careers together at Valdosta State University in the fall of 2012. Once again we set forth growing together and experiencing many firsts, and once again it wasn't always easy. Yet, no matter how hard things got or how many obstacles our new found adulthood threw at us, we never lost sight of our ever growing love and admiration for one another. This included 2 and a half years of long distance due to my transfer to Tech in 2015. Although it was the hardest few years of our lives, it helped us both to see that our love for one another could not be constrained, even by the distance between us. We talked often of marriage, but knew the timing wasn't quite right just yet. However, after growing up and loving one another for seven years, there was no doubt that this woman was the love of my life. So in August of 2017, four months before Hannah would graduate and we would no longer be separated (and a few weeks after I'd finally made enough money to afford the perfect ring), I asked her to marry me. We could not be more excited to finally get married and to share the special moment with all of you!