Dear Valued Guest,

I would like to preface “Our Story” with a big thank you. If you are reading this then you have been a massive support in our individual lives, and more importantly our devotion to each other.

Angie and I’s relationship is one that I would say didn’t start in a dramatic manner, but through our time together and discussing with other successfully married couples the relationships that stand the test of time rarely have a fairytale mystique to them and happily ever after is an act of devotion not a thing that simply happens to you. Now Angie and I met each other some ten to fifteen years ago when our families would go to the same 0830 mass at our local parish of St. Francis de Sales. The occasional “peace be with you” would be exchanged and a few words after mass, but nothing remotely romantic. We eventually became classmates in my mother’s high school CCD class, and we would talk a bit, but I don’t think either of us were quite enthralled with each other yet. I believe that both of us were very devoted to our academic and athletic successes at that time and that a relationship was out of the picture for both of us.

Now by the time we entered college we would have more conversations after mass, and I think at that time I was really beginning to conceive of this idea that I might start dating and Angie would be a good woman to be in a relationship with. Little did I know how far that idea would take us. We began to talk about once a week over the phone while I was confined at VMI due to covid. It was a really good time to get to know each other more intimately and we started to become quite fond of each other. So, by the time I got home from that semester, and we had our first date together our communication was already a strong point for us. Over the next couple years our relationship would blossom into something that I would have never imagined it to be. Our love for each other would grow day by day with every call and every date thereafter. It was something quite incredible to behold just how effortless and simple our love for each other grew and how committed we were to each other. I really believe that my time at VMI really put our long-distance relationship to the test and we were able to develop skills and mechanisms that most relationships take years to master.

I knew after a rather short time that she was the one to spend the rest of my life with and much like many lovers before us, I knew that no more time was needed to decide because it would simply be a waste of her and I’s time. Now the tough part was deciding where and when to purpose. It was difficult but we eventually found a time and place. On the second tallest peak this side of the Mississippi on a blustery and frozen day in November in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina in between wind gusts, a moment frozen in time so to speak, we took the first step in our lifelong commitment to each other.

Now all the rest seems to be formalities and waiting for our lives to be bound by those crucial vows. We know it will go by fast, but I would say that one of the blessings and curses in our lives together has been the waiting to start and the waiting to see each other again. Ultimately it is a cursed blessing that not many relationships witness; the lack of physically being there with each other due to path of service that I have taken has required a mandatory toughness, but a true valuing of the other is never forgotten or taken advantage of.

And, at the end of the day we are both truly quite in love with each other and over the moon to finally start our lives with each other. We are indebted to you all for the love and support that you have given us through our couple of decades of life.

Sincerely,

Seth and Angie