We met way back when we were 5 and 6 years old when the Mack Family joined our St. Joseph's homeschool group. Austin knew he wanted to be with me ever since we met, but I on the other hand, was stubborn and never admitted to liking him throughout the many years of homeschooling together. We had several childhood games, including one where I was the queen and Austin was my knight who would stand by and protect me. Little did I know that he would later become my protective knight forever. We kept up through the years of high school and it wasn’t until the summer before Austin went to college when I finally agreed to go out with him. I was very clear that it was not a date, simply friends hanging out before we went off to college. We went to dinner and a movie and Austin paid for it all; it was totally a date. It was on that “non-date” that I realized how much I really cared for him, and always have. We then went on a real, official date before he left for college and began dating a month later when he came up to Bellingham, where I attend school, to surprise me. After 2 years of long distance, Austin proposed on December 16th in the same little chapel that we grew up going to mass in every Friday with our homeschool group. It was the perfect way of bringing our story full circle and to enter into this new stage of life. We can't wait to get married!