How It All Happened (Alyna's Perspective)
We first crossed paths in our church’s high school youth group. I noticed him right away and couldn’t help but be drawn to him, but he took a little longer to see me the same way. In fact, it wasn’t until after I asked him to prom (like seven times!) that he finally came around. At first, I thought he was a little bit weird, but as time went on I realized we were both wonderfully quirky, and that our quirks fit together better than I ever could have imagined.
Our relationship has always been filled with little details that make it uniquely ours. He’s a movie lover who could talk about films for hours, while I’ll always choose a good book; don't let him fool you though, he does love books too! And one of my favorite things is how thoughtful he is. He planned the exact day he would ask me to be his girlfriend so that our first official day together would fall on the longest day of the year. That’s the kind of love we share: intentional, a little bit quirky, and endlessly meaningful.
Over the past four years, we’ve grown so much together. Part of that growth came from the challenge of long distance during college. It wasn’t easy to only see each other a couple times a month, but in those years we learned patience, communication, and how to truly value the time we had. Looking back, I know the distance made our relationship stronger and helped shape us into the couple we are today.
The proposal was everything I could have hoped for and more. He told me he had planned a birthday date, and I had no idea what was waiting for me. We went to a botanical garden filled with tulips, my favorite flower, and while I was taking in the blooms, he got down on one knee. I was completely surprised, (you can see it all over my face in the video...) and in that moment surrounded by tulips, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect way to say “yes.”
Our Love Story (correct pov, according to Ethan)
I recall seeing her around the church every now and then, but I think I first remember her coming to some “raising your kid right” class that I also attended. I knew the speaker personally from back in Texas so I was asking dumb questions to mess with him and I remember I thought she was pretty and Alyna said she thought I was pretty dumb and weird. But she remembered that night too so it worked out. Cristian started coming to youth and he seemed real dope so I wanted to hang out with him, and a few visits later he convinced Alyna to come up with him. I think it was a Christmas party at church that was the first time we actually talked to each other. I remember she was pretty chill and seemed nice but that was kind of all I thought (and I still thought she was pretty). We both kept going to youth and church and would chat during those times, and she eventually asked for my number one night at worship practice (it was really awkward, you should ask her about it), but I was glad she asked because I liked talking to her. We started to text and call and I got to know some of her lore and became increasingly aware that she liked me but I was too slow to know if I liked her. She told me she liked me one night and I said I wasn’t sure yet… because I’m pretty dumb. We decided to go to our separate colleges, and then a little too late I realized I liked her. Alyna is ridiculously smart and has an amazing heart which are both qualities that are important to me. She really does love so selflessly which is so rare I think. On top of all that she already said she liked me so I was like ‘wait why am I letting her go?’ And then we started dating. It was tough going to different colleges at times, but we stuck it out for each other which I think is cool. We had our fair share of quarrels but it always worked out because we both committed to resolving it and not just leaving the issue to fester. The longer we dated, the more and more I got to know just how deeply she loves others and I want her to see that deep of a love in me. As I dated her, it became my goal to love as well as she does and I just have not been able to catch up to her yet. She annoyingly keeps on getting better at it. If you want to be like Christ then I’d recommend having an Alyna in your life because she’s a good picture of his love. But if you can’t get her because she’s too busy hanging out with me then find someone like her. I’m excited to grow to be more like Christ with her and I’m so glad that she is excited to do the same!
