Some love stories begin with fireworks. Ours began with soccer practices and games at recess. We spent countless evenings together as friends going to soccer practice in middle school but there was one very special evening when Gavin called from the Flower Shop in Nashville to our house phone. My dad answered the phone as he almost always did and Gavin quietly said “Hi this is Gavin, may I speak to Olivia?”, my dad then passed me the phone. When I answered Gavin said “Hi Olivia, do you want to go see a movie in town with me?” to which I responded “Yes”. At the time we were both too young to drive so Gavin’s parents picked me up from my house and drove us to the movie theater. We grabbed popcorn and waited for the movie to start, very little words were spoken but we were both too nervous to speak. We spent years communicating through little smiles and playful faces. Gavin would raise his eyebrows and grin from across the room and I would bash a slight smile before laughing with my friends. It became our secret language, a conversation without words. Flash forward to our official first date on December 24th, 2018. This date was much different than our nervous middle school dates. We talked, laughed, shared popcorn and really enjoyed spending time with one another. Throughout the remainder of our junior year we became inseparable. We spent nearly every weekend together working on homework, watching movies, and spending time at his grandma's pool. Every anniversary from then on felt like another page in a story we never wanted to end. We graduated high school hand in hand and then started to think about our college plans. I started at Kaskaskia College and Gavin started in St Louis. Once I graduated from Kaskaskia College I thought about moving to Kentucky to go to Murray State University. That's when Gavin let me know there was a good nursing program much closer to home, and him. I ended up going to Missouri Baptist where I met lots of new friends but it's also where we grew much closer. We would spend the evenings together when we weren’t swamped with homework. Grabbing groceries and a bite to eat became our date nights so that we could spend more time together. We helped encourage one another through difficult exams, celebrated each other's accomplishments, and comforted one another through disappointments. Once we moved in together we would cook dinner, go on walks through the park, and like always we would watch movies. We found happiness in ordinary moments. Everyone warned us that high school relationships never last. New friends, classes, and experiences. We said people change. We did change. We grew kinder, more patient, and more understanding. People often asked us the secret to dating for seven years. Gavin would always smile and say “I never stop trying to make her smile” to which I would respond “He never stopped making me smile”. The truth was simple, our love grew from shy glances into unwavering devotion. From awkward middle school crushes to life long best friends. From sharing high school memories to sharing a home. Seven years have passed since those two nervous kids were too shy to say hello, but every morning Gavin still looks at me as if he had just fallen in love. We have discovered that forever wasn’t made of grand gestures. It was built from thousands of ordinary days spent choosing the same person over and over again. After all those years, all of the distance between us, one thing never changed. We love each other endlessly, with the same excitement as our first smile across a middle school hallway and with a depth that only time could create.