Howdy y’all, its Cale and this is our crazy story!

It all started our sophomore year of college at Texas A&M when Emma started to date my roommate at the time. We first met when my roommates and I were moving into our new house, and she came over to help her then-boyfriend. After striking up a conversation with her and introducing myself, I couldn't help but wonder, "How did my roommate manage to win over someone like her?"

Throughout sophomore year, Emma would come in and out of the house countless times to hang out with her boyfriend, her friend group, or all the roomies. Because of her frequent visits to my house, I got the opportunity to get to know her. It didn’t take me long to realize that she was different from most people, and I admired the way that she served and cared for others.

As time passed, Emma and my roommate eventually broke up, which meant she no longer visited our house frequently. It wasn't until the fall of our junior year, when Emma moved into a house five doors down from mine, that we reconnected. Throughout that semester, Emma and her roommates invited my roommates and me over for game nights. Little did I know, until we started dating, that those game nights were Emma’s way of spending time with me. We grew closer during those nights, eventually leading Emma to ask me to be her date to one of her Pi Phi date parties. By then I was head over heels for Ms. Emma Ashton Handlos. After attending the date party together, I asked her out on our first official date, which involved roller skating, Chinese food, and an evening moped ride around campus.

After our second date I knew that I wanted to make it official and I asked her to be my girlfriend on October 20th, 2022. Since that day, we have made countless memories that will last a lifetime, such as attending Aggie football games, traveling to Iowa, and camping in Sedona and the Grand Canyon. Through our shared experiences and time together, my love for her only grew more and more. After dating Emma for a year, I became certain she was the woman I wanted to marry (some might argue it was much earlier, and I would agree). That's when I began planning how I would propose to her.

On December 30th, 2023 I traveled to Georgetown to seek Emma's parents' blessing to marry their daughter. Later, on January 20th, 2024, Emma woke to her best friend entering her room with a box I had prepared, containing a dress and a letter announcing that today was the day I would propose. That evening, at Lake Bryan, she joined me on a dock, where I knelt down and asked her to marry me.

God's creativity in bringing us together is truly remarkable, and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.