Matthew 19:6 "So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."

We met when we were about 9 years old. We grew up together doing what most kids do: playing outside (that's right, we played with mud and well some of us bottle rockets. No iPads. Well..yet!), riding four wheelers, and probably getting into a little trouble. Joking, we were good kids..for the most part. Anyway, if you're reading this you can likely guess who's writing this. At some point in our early teens the person that is not currently writing this, injured his back and was rushed to USA which lead to emergency surgery. The recovery was pretty intense as you can imagine, so that's where the love of his life steps in. Paul wasn't allowed to lift over 15 lbs or complete any strenuous workouts. If you know Paul, you know how hard this must have been. Now, let's take it back to our high school days near 2013-2015. Our school backpacks were a solid 100 lbs. Okay fine, maybe not that much but it felt like it at times. We carried real textbooks and notebooks (we didn't have computers yet). So his parents kindly asked me if I could go in between class periods and carry his backpack from one class to the next. Of course, I said maybe. Kidding, the 'maybe' comes later in the story. As I start carrying his backpack around school, and hanging out almost daily after school, we became closer best friends. Until we turned 15 and 16, and Paul changed that title. I remember it was around October and we were in his back pasture four wheeling, like we always did, and suddenly the four wheeler begins slowing down until it ultimately comes to a stop. He turns around and gives the whole 'I know we're best friends but..' speech. I remember my heart sank to my stomach. I thought, we can't do this. Not because I didn't think it wouldn't work but because I couldn't imagine losing my childhood best friend. My anchor in many seasons of life at that point. I then give the 'we're so close, you're like my brother' speech and followed with 'maybe' in the future we can see how life plays out. And boy did life play out! That following New Year's Eve I messaged him (on an adrenaline induced whim) and asked 'if the offer was still up' and he said yes. Now fast forward to today, we are gently turning the pages in this chapter of our life. "The One Where We Get Married". This one being our favorite so far. We can't wait to be surrounded by our families and closest friends to witness our long awaited statement. We do.