Truth be told, it took me a bit longer to realize that I had found my person than it did for Nate.

We met through the FSY (For the Strength of Youth) program in Redlands, California, on July 6th, 2024. It was actually the one session that I hadn't originally been assigned to work (my schedule was changed last minute, and I wasn't particularly excited about going to Cali). Nate was one of my Health Coordinators. Throughout the week I decided that I liked him as a person, and we found ourselves hanging out in groups with other counselors, often singing Broadway hits around a piano on our breaks.

Apparently, he's been interested in me since the moment he first saw me. And I won't lie, that still blows my mind a bit.

At the end of the week, our very kind and considerate session coordinator agreed to switch spots with Nate (at my request) on the plane as we flew from Redlands back to Salt Lake. Which meant that I got to sit next to him and chat... the entire time. Somehow my talkativeness didn't scare him off, and he even found it endearing!

After that, we started texting and messaging pretty much daily. Fast forward a bit to where I explicitly told Nate NOT to fall in love with me. (I know right? That's a bold assumption for me to make.). If you ask him, by that point he kind of knew he was in trouble. He'd recognized his feelings for me already. (I was still utterly clueless.). Instead of being weirded out by my presumptuous behavior, he did something that would change my life forever. He decided to simply work on becoming my best friend.

Fast forward again: he told me about this date he went on with another girl and I got kind of jealous... Which, eventually, led me to realize that I had a massive crush on this man. I thought he was completely uninterested in me as he told me about this other girl, so I resigned myself to nothing happening between us.

Clearly, my resignation was hasty. I finally figured out that he liked me. He discovered that I really liked him. And to put the cherry on top, we lived about 800 miles apart.

He kissed me for the first time on October 3rd, 2024, when I road tripped to Utah to visit some friends. It was romance novel adorable. Ask me any time and I'll happily recount how cute our first kiss was. That was also the day he realized he was going to marry me. To be honest, I didn't really figure that out for myself for another week or two.

We did it a little backwards, I know... but we started "officially" dating on November 18th, 2024 (although, truth be told, we both count October 3rd as when we started dating.). He met my family soon after that and they LOVED him. Thank goodness! (I met his family in the aforementioned trip, and I adore them, too!).

He proposed on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2025. It was perfect. There were lights and candles and rose petals, a BEAUTIFUL edition of The Princess Bride, crepe paper buttercups. One of the best days of my life was the day he officially asked me to marry him.

And now we're getting married! Or are already married by this point, depending on when you're reading this.

May 10th, 2025, is the day that I was sealed for time and all eternity to my best friend.

I couldn't ask for a better partner in crime.

-Hadley