Our story began 18 years ago, and we didnt even know it. In 2007, I (Ellie) started kindergarten at Explorer Elementary School in Goddard, KS. At the same time, Jacob was in second grade at the same elementary school. Of course, we never met — because how often do kindergarteners and 2nd graders interact? The following year, my family moved to Phoenix. When we moved back to Wichita in 2011, Jacob was attending Discovery Intermediate School, and Ellie was at Apollo Elementary School. He played football for Goddard and met Ben Wenzel. At the same time, I became best friends with Olivia Wenzel, Bens sister, but we still never met.

During middle school, Jacob moved to Overland Park, KS, and I stayed in Wichita through my freshman year of high school. In 2017, my family also moved to Overland Park, KS, and it just so happened that we both ended up attending Blue Valley Northwest High School. In January of 2018, during my sophomore year and Jacobs senior year at Northwest, we ran into each other after school one day. While waiting for my mom to pick me up, I was talking to a friend, and suddenly Jacob showed up in the main entrance. He noticed the cheerleading sweatshirt I was wearing from Eisenhower. The sweatshirt had “EHS” on it. No one in Kansas City had any idea what that school was. Jake asked if this shirt was from Eisenhower, and I said yes. After talking for a while, we realized that we both had attended the same school and that he knew my best friends brother.

About a month later, I was talking to my friend Austin — when I asked him who he was playing video games with, he replied, Jacob Mies. I found him on Instagram, he added me on Snapchat, and it wasn’t long before we were dating. Later, we discovered that we had both attended Explorer Elementary School all those years back, and wondered how all of these things could have aligned for us to finally meet.

When Jake went to college, we spent four years mid-distance and saw each other every weekend if we could. In 2023, we moved to Wichita together so that Jake could go to medical school. About a year later, he proposed, and of course, I said yes, or you wouldnt be reading this. By the time of our wedding, we will have been together for over 8 years, after nearly missing each other for almost 11 years.