Jamesohn and I were introduced by my high school best friend, McKenzie, in the summer of 2020. At the time, she was engaged to his college friend, Nick. The two of them thought we would be a great match, so they called him up one night and told him that they had someone that he needed to meet.

McKenzie gave him my number and he reached out to me immediately. We were both nervous, but we immediately hit it off over text, and we would call each other each night... sometimes we would even be on the phone until the sun came up the next day. We were so excited to meet in person. Jamesohn lived in Michigan for the summer, but he made a visit down to finally meet me in person.

We spent the next year after that getting to know one another during our senior year of college. Jamesohn was entering his final season as a manager for the Indiana men's basketball team, and I was entering my semester of student teaching at Purdue. Through all of this, it remained a priority to keep in touch often.

In February 2021, I visited McKenzie at IU for the weekend. Jameoshn and I decided to hang out... as friends. The whole day felt like a date, and we had an absolute blast. When I got home, I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "Oh shoot I like this boy, don't I?"

We still battled this hesitation to make it official with uncertain plans about where he would end up after school, but we always found a reason to talk to each other almost every day. June 2021 rolls around, and McKenzie and Nick are now getting married. Jamesohn and I are both in the wedding and we are paired to walk down the aisle together (I am sure that was planned). Something about the weekend brought us together, and the day after the wedding changed our lives as we walked around in a cemetery (of all places) talking about our future. All the pieces seemed to fall into place, and we both just felt so ready to go all in for one another.

The past year that we have spent together was full of joy, laughter, love and countless memories as we have grown together. We are beyond grateful that long distance came to an end this past March, and we are counting down the days until we say "I do" in April!