02.06.2027

Maddie and Caleb met while they were both deployed in 2021. They briefly met in-person on July 11th, exchanged numbers, and then spent a portion of every evening together after work. But, it was short-lived because Maddie got sent back to Iraq on August 1st. The two talked daily via FaceTime, iMessage, Snapchat, and Tik-Tok reels for the next 6 months. Caleb returned home to IL mid-December and Maddie returned home to WI end of January. The next week, Caleb drove 5.5 hours North and asked Maddie to be his girlfriend on February 6th, 2022 (at The Salty Toad, LOL). They did the long-distance relationship for 1.5 years while Maddie was finishing her Nursing degree. In July 2023, Caleb moved to WI where they shared their first apartment. Caleb continued his law enforcement career at the Sheriff’s department and Maddie was working bedside on a Surgical floor at the local hospital. After only 2 weeks of living together, they rescued a PERFECT little Josie-girl. Caleb, Maddie, and Josie spent the next two years in Wisconsin figuring out life living together and building their relationship. When envisioning their future, they ultimately decided they wanted to move back down to Southern Illinois to be closer to Caleb's family. It is not only warmer with a million nieces and nephews to raise their future children alongside, but the housing market was way cheaper!! They purchased their first home in Troy, IL where their first-born, Josie, has unlimited access to her fenced-in backyard via doggy-door. Maddie is now an Emergency Room RN at a Level 1 Trauma Center in St. Louis, and Caleb is a police officer at Maryville Police Department. He also volunteers for Maryville Fire Department and still plays Army on select weekends. Josie pays her dues by ensuring mom and dad’s food isn’t poisonous and doing a pre-clean before the plates go into the dishwasher. We are so happy you are here, cannot wait for you to celebrate with us, and are grateful you read through Maddie's novel. It's very fitting for her to be (future) Mrs. Reed! <3