Bobby loves to tell people, I "made him wait 15 years".

As some of you know (or anyone who he has had the chance to tell), we met in 7th grade art. According to Bobby, he knew as soon as he saw me that he wanted to be with me, and "that he was gonna marry me".

My own memory of junior high and high school is rather sparse. I don't remember a lot of the things he likes to tell people I did, like " date him for one period and then break up with him through a note"(that's one of his favorites to tell).

What I do remember, though, is that he was always there for me. No matter what I did, who I was with, how long it had been since we'd talked, he's always been there.

I remember some things, like the way he stood in front of the class when we had to do a debate and he spoke the majority so that I wouldn't have to, because he knew my anxiety was terrible. I vaguely remember hanging out one day in the hallways when he was supposed to be in tutoring, and he let me wear his letterman jacket because I was cold.

I remember helping him with his books after he broke his leg. One thing he doesn't remember that I do is how one day I drove him home and he refused to let me pull in the driveway so he wouldn't have to answer questions about who was dropping him off. I remember trying to find him out on the field when I'd go to football games, though I don't think he knew I looked for him. I remember meeting up with him and Tanner when they were fishing once(that was after high school though), and him sending me songs to listen to now and then. Writing notes to one another in class, and going to one of our school dances together.

I don't remember nearly as much as he does, but I remember the way he made me feel back then. The way he's always made me feel, because even when we lived 1000 miles apart and hadn't actually seen each other in years, he was still always there. We always wished each other happy whatever holiday it was. I always knew that if I needed someone, he'd be there no matter what it was.

He is someone that I've considered my best friend for a long time, because I've always been able to talk to him about anything and everything and know he'd always be right there, honest, and not passing judgement.

But, I digress. Long story short-er... Through all the years we've known each other he's always made it a point to make sure that I knew he was there and that he loved me.

I always knew I had feelings for him, too, but I also knew he wanted very different things than I did back then, and I didn't want him to change what he wanted for me. So we remained friends (I had planned on getting out of Ohio, back then to Hawaii, no matter what it took).

Truly falling in love with him, though, was-as one of my favorite authors says- " I fell in love the way you fall asleep, slowly and then all at once".

It started while I lived in Florida, but I couldn't do much about it at that time because...well I lived in Florida and didn't want to be in Ohio. Then I came to Ohio to be with my grandparents for a bit, with no intention of staying long term- maybe a month, max. Bobby , as usual, asked if we could hang out while I was in town. It was difficult to find time the first couple weeks because I had to go to my grandpa's funeral and help my grandma with things, but we finally did.

Wednesday June 15, 2022 Niklaus and I went to his house- our house, now. We hung out and I knew then I wanted to be with him, but I was afraid too, because I didn't know how it could possibly work with me living in Florida.

I asked Bobby how he felt about moving, if he ever would. Of course, he said he would move "for the right person".

But I knew, even in asking him that, that wasn't what was going to happen. I knew that night I was going to be moving back to Ohio- and for the first time in my entire life, Ohio was where I wanted to be.

A month later we were living together. 3 months after that we found out we were going to have Selena. July of 2023 she was born. And then, Finally, Christmas 2023 Bobby asked me to marry him.

And here we are today, hoping you are able to join us to celebrate our marriage.