Our story is unconventional compared to others, but something we wouldn't change. We met in 2022 when some of our friends had introduced us online. Benton was in California while Malaina was in Colorado. The two of us connected and began talking immediately. Our conversations were on and off as distance proved to be a very difficult challenge- and the fact we had yet to meet in person. March of 2023 rolls around and Benton has the opportunity to come home prior to his eight-month deployment. One 16-hour drive later and we finally got to see each other for the first time. The two weeks that we had were tricky- Malaina was gone for one whole week and Benton was sharing time with his family before leaving. We got to reconnect before we finally had to say goodbye early April. The eight months apart was hard. We didn't hear from each other for multiple weeks at a time and life became overwhelming. In September, Benton returned to Okinawa and had a date he would be home. Planning began immediately to go out to California. On November 15th, 2023- we finally were together again. We have been inseparable since. The following months we took any chance to see each other. Every other weekend, one of us would be catching a flight to see the other just for a few days. Those few days were worth everything to us. Between the two of us, we took 26 flights to see one another. In the process of Malaina moving out to be with Benton in Oceanside, CA- Benton proposed. On May 24, 2024, Malaina and Benton were engaged surrounded by our family. We are now living in Oceanside with our golden retriever puppy Callie or as Ben likes to call her 'California'. The couple has plans to move back home to Colorado before the wedding.

We both decided we wanted to share one of our favorite memories :

Malaina: My favorite memory is Benton returning home to support Savannah and I at the State Spirit 2023 championships. Benton surpassed his Marine Ball to come support my sister and I. He showed up to the Denver complex with two sets of flowers- one for me and one for Savvy. He went so detailed as to get blue and green ones to match the SLHS Gator colors. It was such a special moment that he would take the time to come support my sister and I as athlete/coach duo and spend time with my family.

Benton: My favorite memory is coming back to the United States from deployment. After being gone for so long we both had gotten used to knowing each other through the screen of a phone or laptop. not only did we have to deal with a sixteen hour time difference, we also had to deal with me having to work while she was getting ready to go to bed. When the time came that all of that was finally going to end I'll have to admit I was very intimidated at the fact that it had been so long but I was so ready to be back. I can't describe the feeling I had while on the flight home or the bus drive back to base or being less than a couple buildings away from each other. My excitement built with every second and it is something I will never forget. Seeing her again was like a scene out of a movie time literally stopped and all I could look as was her this supermodel of a woman trying to find me in a sea of people who looked exactly like me but she was there for me of all people. I will be forever grateful for God putting this girl into my life and this is just one of my many favorite memories.