I first met Thomas on the dikes at Clemson for an ice cream social a campus ministry, FCA, was having in August of 2022, but I had seen him quite a bit before that. Thomas’s nickname, Twigs, preceded him, and I had heard of Twigs and seen him around a retreat that we were both a part of as well as FCA, but I had never actually met him. My best friend, Abbey, and I went to an ice cream social to hang out with people, and she and Thomas were friends, so she introduced us. We greeted each other, and then absolutely nothing happened. However, that year, I had been placed on the production team with FCA, meaning I was placed to help serve with audio and visual production for the ministry. I arrive at the apartment of my leader, Greg, for our team production meeting, only to see Thomas come out of one of the other rooms. He was the roommate of my production leader! This meant that every week, when I went to Greg’s for our production meeting, I would often see Thomas. The Lord was truly so kind in this because it allowed me to see Thomas’s life as just a friend and see what he valued and how he treated those around him. As I learned more about Thomas, it was so obvious that he had a deep desire to know Jesus and be more like Him, and it spilled out in his love for those around him.

Over the months of time, I found myself hoping Thomas would be at the apartment when we were there. I would make efforts to talk to him, and I was excited when he played games with us. After a while, my friend Zoe, who was also on the production team, and friends with Thomas, told me that me and Thomas were very similar, and we should get to know each other. In my brain, she meant completely platonically, which sounded great to me because Thomas was cool, and I saw him completely as a friend. Apparently, behind the scenes, Zoe was trying to set us up, but we both completely missed the cue. Zoe also told Thomas that we should get coffee, and one day at the beginning of the second semester, after a production meeting, Thomas and I planned to get coffee together, completely as friends. We got coffee, had a great time, laughed a lot, and once again, nothing happened (much to Zoe’s frustration). However, this did spark a more intentional friendship, and while we were at coffee, I thought to myself that I would have to be super intentional to make sure I didn’t start liking this dude.

After that, we had a more intentional friendship, texting one another sometimes, and we began hanging out with Greg and Zoe together. We were hanging out in different groups, pretty much once or twice a week beginning in March-ish. At some point, we were hanging out in a group, and I explained my distaste for dating and my (comedic) desire for an arranged marriage: there was no hassle, I didn’t have to choose, my friends and family could choose someone they thought I would get along with and loved Jesus, and then I could choose to love that person everyday forever. It seemed very easy from my perspective. Thomas expressed the same desire! He did not have to choose the exact right girl, just a girl who loved Jesus a lot, it was very straightforward, and he would also choose to love that person forever. Zoe said, “Hey guys, I have an idea. You two marry each other!” We kindly turned down the offer with nervous laughs explaining that we were just friends and did not see each other like that, but from that moment on, the joke had taken root: Thomas and I liked each other and were going to get married. I truly did feel that he was a friend during this season, and I did not see him as more than a friend despite all the jokes, which did make the jokes funnier as I genuinely was refuting them.

As time passed, and we as a group hung out more, Thomas’s friendship became very dear to me, and I considered him a close friend despite us never hanging out one on one. The jokes about us liking one another had increased, and it seemed I was constantly adamantly exclaiming that Thomas and I did not like each other. In fact, at Thomas and Greg’s joint birthday party (their birthdays are one day apart), after Zoe, Greg, Thomas, and I took a picture together, and there were some snickers, I said very clearly, “Thomas and I do NOT like each other!” Then, I turned to Thomas, and I said, “I will NEVER have feelings for you.” Bold statement for a girl who is marrying him lol. I made a few questionable decisions in the months leading up to Thomas graduating such as making him promise not to stop being friends with me after he graduated and making him promise to meet me for coffee once a month no matter where he lives because I was determined not to lose his friendship.

At Thomas and Greg’s graduation, I was so excited to celebrate Thomas and Greg, but I remember being very nervous to meet Thomas’s family, and I have no solid explanation for that. I chalked it up to I had met Greg and Zoe’s families before, but truthfully I should not have been nervous to meet them, and yet I was. All went well, and Thomas’s grandma immediately thought we were dating, to which his mom had to say, “Thomas says they aren’t?” And then, I left for three months of the summer to work at a mission site in Kentucky.

At the mission site, I had very little time to communicate with those not at the mission site, but this did not keep me from keeping up with Thomas. We sent voice memos back and forth to one another, updating each other on life. I found myself wanting to text him to check on him whenever he popped into my head, which was often. Zoe, Greg, Thomas, and I built a habit of facetiming 2-3 times a week for about 20 minutes just to catch up. It was like a piece of home to me, and it was very refreshing and kind of the Lord to give me those little moments. Something that also happened during the summer was Thomas applied to be a missionary in Mexico from September to April, and he got accepted. He was leaving for Mexico in September!

After being in Kentucky, I wanted Greg, Zoe, and Thomas to come to my house in Tennessee to meet my parents because I had met all of theirs. They obliged, and we drove from South Carolina to Tennessee. I had told my parents Thomas was just a friend, they barely believed me, but nevertheless my parents loved him. We had so much fun that weekend, and I found myself really enjoying being around Thomas, like more than usual. Greg, Zoe, and Thomas drove back to South Carolina without me as I was coming back the following week, and I woke up the next morning feeling very weird about Thomas. I texted Abbey, and I said, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I feel weird about Thomas.” I refused to say that I liked him, but I knew something was different.

Zoe, Greg, Thomas, Abbey, and I had made plans to hang out the night I got back to Clemson, and as I was driving there, I was NERVOUS. I called Zoe, and I told her I was nervous to see Thomas, and when she asked me why, I said nothing. She said, “Do you maybe like him?” I said, “... I don’t know. Maybe.” The whole idea was very complicated because Thomas left for Mexico in a month and a half, and I was convinced he did not like me. Anyways, we hang out, all goes well, I really really like him being around. Abbey, Zoe, and I lived together, and so Zoe invited him over another day later that week to hang out. Then, Abbey invited him to hangout another day with all of us, so we hung out almost everyday, and we were texting a lot, too. As the hangouts progressed, I was more and more convinced that I liked him, and I wanted to let him know so that we could care for my heart well in our friendship and maybe text less or adjust something. Zoe encouraged me to talk with him, and just see how he feels, but I was very convinced he did not like me. I asked him to get ice cream, and he takes me to get ice cream, but before I can say anything, he tells me that he likes me! From there, we prayed a lot about how we should approach a relationship, if it was wise to begin a relationship with him leaving for Mexico so soon, and what the Lord had for us. With a lot of prayer, we began dating in September of 2023, and the Lord has been so kind in just showing me more of his glory in the way Thomas has so intentionally loved me and pursued me since we began dating.

Thomas has been faithful, kind, and so incredibly patient as we have both been made more like Christ through our relationship. He has truly made me love the Lord so much more, and I am so excited to marry my best friend !!

The first memory I distinctly have of Bailey is when she was on the production team for FCA, a college ministry at Clemson. My roommate, Greg, was the production leader for that year, so the team met at our apartment every Monday night to review logistics and fellowship together. During the fellowship time, I would go and join them as I already had a few friends on the team, and that’s where I first remember talking to Bailey. I was cleaning up after dinner or something in the kitchen, and she came over and we started joking and laughing about who knows what, and I didn’t think much of it, but just remember thinking she seemed cool and fun to talk to and hang out with. As the semester and year went on, I continued to be friends with the production team, and when I would come back to my apartment on Monday nights towards the end or after their meeting time, I would always be hoping that Bailey and a few others had stayed after to continue hanging out. That continued for the rest of the year, all while Bailey became closer friends with Zoë, Greg, and I as we became a little squad going into the summer.

That spring, Greg and I graduated, and both Zoë and Bailey came to our graduation. By this time, Greg and Zoë were officially dating, and so after graduation, my family, Greg's family, and Zoë’s family all went to lunch together, and we invited Bailey to join. At this lunch, for a reason I didn’t know at the time, I wanted Bailey to sit near me and my family so she could meet and talk with them. During this, unbeknownst to me, my grandmother, who was there, asked my mom how long we had been dating, and my mom responded that we weren’t “yet” to her knowledge. I only found out about this conversation much later, and it still makes me laugh that they called it so early.

After that lunch, we hung out for the rest of the day, and I had one of my early thoughts that I found her pretty, but didn’t put much thought behind it, as that day was the last day I’d see her for the rest of the summer as she went to camp. Throughout that summer, we would have group calls around 6 pm with the four of us, as that was the only time Bailey had free time. I always found myself looking forward to those calls with Bailey, and it was enjoyable for everyone to talk together, even when I was with Greg and Zoë in person, and we were just calling Bailey.

During the summer Bailey and I would regularly be sending Instagram reels back and forth and texting off and on when she had time. We also made a plan to go up to Tennessee, where she was from, to learn how to properly shoot guns from her dad once she was back from camp and decided to drag Greg and Zoë with us. At this point, there were many jokes surrounding the potential of Bailey and me dating, but she would deny it every time while I just sat back deciding how I felt, but when we went up to Tennessee, that is when we both realized there may be more than just good friends.

Once we got back to Clemson, I arranged convenient reasons for me to be at her apartment and hang out with her and her roommates (Zoë and Abbey) while prioritizing talking with Bailey to see if I enjoyed holding a conversation with just her outside of a group setting. On August 20th, I went over to her apt to help her do laundry and chat before I went to meet up with my sister for her 21st birthday in downtown Clemson. I enjoyed talking to Bailey so much that I remember feeling sad that I had to leave the conversation so soon, or at least what felt like so soon to me. Later that week, Bailey and I got ice cream to discuss where our relationship was going, and we both confessed that we liked each other and wanted to go on dates to see if this was a good thing.

It would seem like a pretty straightforward process, but there was one pretty big wrench in this whole thing. I had committed to going to Mexico as a missionary for 6 months starting mid-September, so about a month from that conversation over ice cream. So we had to decide if we wanted to start our relationship internationally long distance. Scary, I know. After several dates, talking with mentors and friends, and prayer, we decided to start dating and just be open to what the Lord has, and wow, how great the Lord has been to us that we are now getting married. After 6 months of me being in another country, only for me to come back for a month before Bailey herself went to another country for 6 weeks, the Lord has been kind and faithful to us and our journey together towards him.