It's Happening

We met at 11 through friends of a friend (can you even say that as preteens?) Our first 'moment' was on the playground at Little Flower Heritage Days (IYKYK), arguing under the stars about which constellation was the Big Dipper. At 13, we had our first kiss on my parents’ basement couch, and a few years later, just after his 16th birthday, Brayton asked me to be his girlfriend. He sealed the deal with flowers hand-delivered to me in the middle of dance class- smooth even then. We went to every homecoming and prom together from sophomore to senior year, but we also knew we didn’t want to ruin our friendship by trying to make long-distance work. So we said goodbye and went our separate ways, me to the University of Alabama and him to Illinois State University. But some things don’t stay apart for long. After about a year, Brayton was making trips down to Tuscaloosa regularly and I even took the Greyhound bus up to ISU a time or two (a 16-hour trip not meant for the faint of heart). When I started medical school in Cincinnati, the distance hit differently. One day I told him, in the depths of studying and stress, “if you aren’t in Cincinnati, I’m just not sure we can make this work.” He had moved here 5 days later. The rest is history. Nineteen years of friendship, fifteen of being us, and eight years building a life together in Cincinnati. It’s been one hell of a ride—and it’s just getting started.