I was a college sophomore when Sam answered the advertisement I had made for a small (emphasis on small) creative writers club. As I had no experience leading a Writing Club and only the barest experience putting pen to paper, I was incredibly nervous and awkward. Sam was very pleasant and put up with me. From then on, we were friends, but eventually I realized that we could be more. However, she was moving to the other side of the CST zone after graduation, and I wasn’t ready to follow to far off Alabama. After several years, I did eventually ask her out and was promptly turned down. A year later, after a few more phone calls that went long into the night, she decided that we could give it a go. The following year was one of joy and discovery. I am blessed to have Sam in my life and look forward to following her, not two states over, but to the other end of the world.
Welcome to the crazy side of this love story (there is a 4000 character limit, so buckle up). Jed and I met through our love of creative writing my freshman year of college (2017). In 2019, he asked me to join his D&D group, which allowed our friendship to continue to grow after we both graduated from college. In my first year of optometry school, however, I had to take a step back from that group due to my busy schedule. But he kept reaching out on his own, and of course at that point we had some mutual friends that kept us in touch. Sometime in the fall of 2023, he asked me out. I remember leaving him on read for most of the day before I finally turned him down. I didn’t think we were the right fit for each other and thought our personalities clashed. I didn’t know how God was working behind the scenes. In everything I have always asked for God to send me neon signs. I have never been good at interpreting subtleties and my indecisiveness is legend. In previous relationships, the neon signs had been there when I asked for them and had allowed me to make solid decisions. Unfortunately I also suffer from an extreme case of denial. So, when I suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about Jed in the summer of 2024, my first thought was, “Surely not." We had gotten together with some friends for a virtual game night on a random Saturday in June. The next day I went to church, excited to be starting a sermon series on my favorite book in the Bible (James). For the *entire* service, all I could think about was Jed no matter what I prayed or how I tried to distract myself. And then after the service was over, I could suddenly think about other things. “Weird,” I thought, and then went about my week as normal. But throughout that week, I kept having bouts of “Jed” and the next Saturday, we ended up having another game night (I need to make clear that I had not had a game night with this group for years before this). I couldn’t help but notice how much he had grown as a person and how much easier it seemed to talk with him. On Sunday, I again could not stop thinking about him. I chalked it up to having played a game with him the night before. But the next day, it all came to a head. At the end of the day, I happened to need to drive for a considerable distance alone and I knew that no matter what audiobook or songs I listened to, I was going to end up thinking about Jed for that entire drive. I thought I was going insane. Only one thing to do: I called my sister. “Sabrina,” I said, “I need you to talk me out of something.” Over the next couple of agitated hours, Sabrina and her husband convinced me that I may be crazy, but there was really only one thing I could do to end the agony. I had to ask Jed out. I had many reservations about doing this. Why would he say yes after I had denied him the year before? Did he still even see me that way? Did I want him to say yes at all? Would I be ok if he said no? The only thing I could do was try. So, the next night we talked over the phone and I asked him out. And he said yes. Cue a montage of one of the happiest, most crazy years of my life. I travelled around the world for school, took and passed three separate board examinations, was commissioned into the Navy, graduated with my doctorate, and so much more. And, as the quiet sentinel of my Saturday nights, Jed was always a phone call away to share my excitement, my frustration, and my hopes and fears. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I realized that I loved him. And now, here we are, preparing for our wedding day. If you had told me that I would be getting married less than 2 years after dating Jed, I would have called you crazy. But the moral of this tale is that God has the best timing. God works through your sorrows and happiness to make beautiful stories that could only happen with divine intervention. In my wildest dreams I could not have written a better love story than this one.