On July 14, 2018, Connor and I witnessed two of our best friends, Carly and Peyton, get married and begin their life together. Little did we know that that was the night our story would begin!

During the wedding, neither one of us acknowledged each other, although I did take notice of him taking pictures with his family by the pond. After the wedding was over, a few of us decided to go to downtown Knoxville for drinks. I remember sitting on a barstool, talking to my friend Faith, when Connor asked me to slide over so that he could shoot pool. Every time he was near, we would exchange a few words, and then after his game had finished, we sat down and began to talk. We spent the rest of the night laughing and getting to know each other. It was honestly one of the best nights I have ever had!

The next morning, I woke up to a text messgae from Connor .I didn't think it would lead anywhere else since I was headed back to Chicago to finish grad school, but after one month of texts, calls and facetimes, he bought a plane ticket and came to visit me in Chicago. If you know Connor, you know this is a BIG deal.

After many texts, a second visit to Chicago, and graduating from Northwestern, it was time to figure out where I was going to complete my two year residency and begin my career in prosthetics and orthotics. From the moment I met his family and friends, I knew Knoxville was where I wanted to be.

After eight months of long-distance dating, I packed up everything I owned and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. This was the true start to our forever.

Over the last three years, Connor has helped to make Knoxville my new home. We now live together and have a black lab, Merle. We have grown to love each other more and more each day, and I cannot wait to become a Gregory.