My favorite story to tell about Julia and Ryan is that I knew Ryan before Julia did. But, if you know just where to look on Facebook you can find some photo evidence that this is not true. The invisible string leading these two to one another was at work long before I met Ryan at Camp Edwards. One day, Julia started telling me all about her crush on Ryan Rogers from camp and I was just excited to already know Ryan! Before I knew it Ryan was picking Julia up for a date from my grandma's house as our whole family watched out the front window lol. I knew it was serious when I learned about all the “exotic” foods Ryan’s family was introducing to Julia (the pickiest eater in the world). I watched their relationship grow alongside Julia’s food palette. In my opinion, this is one of the most amazing things Ryan has influenced in Julia’s life because now Julia is a phenomenal cook and I get to enjoy all the fruits of her labor. I love Julia and Ryan with my whole heart, more and more every day and I cannot wait to see what’s in store for the rest of their lives together!
Julia and Ryan met in what is probably the most wholesome way: working as summer camp counselors at Camp Edwards. Although they had both gone to camp as campers for years, Ryan and Julia first met when they were working on staff together during the summer of 2015. That first summer, Ryan and Julia quickly developed an interest in each other. Julia could see how Ryan was such a sweet and genuine person and Ryan loved her thoughtfulness and kindness. At a camp where gossip was the first language, he never met a single person with a single bad thing to say about her. It wasn’t until the next year though, when they returned to work at Camp Edwards during the summer of 2016, that Kim Cottrell took charge to set Ryan and Julia up. During an activity that Julia, Kim, and their friends did called Circle of Trust, Julia told the circle that her “crush” was Ryan. While Kim, Ryan, some friends, and I were out on our break, we left Camp Edwards to go to the Taste of Chicago food festival. There, Kim started another Circle of Trust (these circles were anything but trustworthy) where the circle eventually got to Ryan. Ryan shyly admitted his “crush” was Julia. Kim and I jumped into action right away and, using the encouragement skills we’d honed from working with kids to earn their Red Neckerchief by being brave, we encouraged Ryan to ask Julia out. It probably didn’t help his nerves that Kim, me, and eight other people sitting in Grant Park with him all leaned in to listen, but Ryan pulled out his phone and called Julia to ask her out to get dinner and go mini-golfing. In my opinion, it was the second best question she’s ever said yes to and I’m so happy to see how two lovely people have only made each other even lovelier and that we’ll be able to celebrate them spending the rest of their lives together.