After one and half years of dating, Daryn decided to enlist in the Air Force and become a SERE Specialist. In the midst of deciding whether to date long distance, we took a road trip to Iowa City to move Grace's sister into her college dorm. Despite Grace's instinct to follow Google maps and stick to the plan, we decided to drive along the country roads and enjoy the ride. Completely by accident, we ended up in the charming town of Galena, Illinois - and had a perfect day.

Later, when Grace was anxious about the fate of our long-distance relationship, Daryn reminded Grace of their day in Galena. Although we didn't know where future roads would take us, Daryn said to Grace, "if we just have faith in each other, we will end up in Galena." After that, we decided to try out long distance, periodically reminding each other that we would be together eventually - that we would end up in Galena.

Almost five years later (after two months of letter writing during BASIC training, a year of SERE training, three years of law school, almost four years of long distance across the country, countless facetimes, and many visits to each other), Grace and Daryn are finally going to Galena, to get married.

Photos