Our story begins in Austin, TX at Seton Medical Center on the 5th floor in February 2020. I began precepting this newbie that had happened to graduate from Texas Tech as well. One day, he asked me if I knew Colton from Tech (immediately, in my head I'm like no way.. because there are over 35,000 who attend). Then he tells me his last name and it turns out he is mutual friends with my first and only friend I made my freshman year of college! From there, our friendship grew from wiping bottoms together to talking about the hardships in our lives. Photo creds to Alex.

In December 2020, my best friend from work, Alex made a deal & shook on it that if I ever wanted to go travel nurse he would go with me. He saw how much I was struggling with the weight of Covid, school, and life and after I visited home December 2020 I saw it too. So, on January 7, 2021 I texted Alex that I was in to go travel nurse. On January 15th we met at Cosmic Coffee in Austin and booked our housing for California!

On January 27th we set out on the long drive out to California, stopping in Albuquerque, Walnut Canyon National Monument, and the Grand Canyon along the way. And of course calling each other just to talk since we were driving separately and looking forward to each stop just to see each other.

During our time in California, we went on many hikes together, watched the sunsets fade into the sea and disappear behind skylines, ate incredible meals, and lived like we were dying.

In March 2021, my family came to visit us for the first time in California and met Alex. He immediately won them over with his charm and how much he showed he cared and loved me.

We made it official 4/3/2021 after healing from previous trauma and realizing that I was in love with my best friend.

We went on many travel adventures together but I won't bore you with all of those photos. Our travels included Catalina Island, Palm Springs, San Diego, Las Vegas, Miami, Austin, Canton, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Yosemite National Park, Disneyland, Chicago, St. Louis, Honolulu, Portland, Seattle, Cabo, Ensenada, Tucson, Denver, and home to the place that built me, Wichita Falls. I'm so happy I found my lifelong travel partner who makes every trip fun regardless of weather or stress.

Alex proposes!! I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend and soul mate.. we already knew we were going to anyway! People like Alex only come once in your life and you know in your heart that they are your person.

We pack our bags and move to Houston, TX or "reality" as I like to call it. Alex shows his unconditional support for me finishing my Masters degree that I had taken a leave of absence from. And we get our first apartment together with our own stuff inside of it and our own furniture!

I'm not going to lie it was hard at first, going back to school and adjusting to 'real life' again. But since being in Houston, we adopted a cat and found our hobbies again in painting, golf, and growing plants. On my break from school, we traveled to see my family, attended weddings in Jamaica, Dripping Springs, and Kyle, and were able to watch Alex's brother graduate high school in Canton! We look forward to a lifetime of travel and memories together! This chapter of our lives is called Wedding Planning and we hope to see all of our family and friends gathered for our wedding and celebration of love in May 2023!

Update: Since April 2022, we bought our first home together! We have had tons of fun with our little fixer upper and look forward to many more home improvement projects to work on together! We can't wait to see you all on May 20th!