MICHAEL'S VERSION

On a chilly October afternoon in 2015, I was driven against my will to the homecoming dance at Spectrum High School by my mother. I was 16 years old, dressed in an ill-fitting shirt and pants, my face covered in acne, and so uncoordinated that any attempt at ‘dancing’ might be mistaken for a seizure.

I’m so glad I went.

The night was uneventful until near the very end, when the DJ put on Walk the Moon’s ‘Shut Up and Dance With Me’. One of the people who I was beginning to call my friends walked up to me, and asked me if I wanted to dance. When we were spinning around the darkened gym floor, me spasming vaguely to the beat of the song while she actually danced, I began to smile like I never had before. A weird feeling crept into my heart, and I wasn’t sure what it was.

Then, The DJ put on ‘All of Me’ by John Legend, and the woman who I would build my life with asked me if I would like to dance. That feeling was much more overt now, and I said:

“Sure.”

Not a storybook moment by any measure of the word, but it’s how I truly ‘met’ my wife. We danced for the entire song, and even after it ended we stayed nearby and talked to each other. When I finally went home, my mom asked me how the dance was.

“It was good.” I remember saying. “I danced with Holly, so that was fun.”

We grew closer after that, sitting together at lunch and talking about whatever high schoolers who don’t drink or smoke talk about. We shared the same group of friends (now actual friends by that point), so we always had an excuse to hang out together.

Flash forward to New Years Eve 2015 and we were both at a mutual friend’s house for a New Years party. We sat next to each other on the basement couch as everyone talked around us, before I pulled the cheesiest move in human history and yawned/stretched before putting my arm around Holly’s shoulder.

She didn’t push me away, so I counted that as a win.

Feeling emboldened, I leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head, and she responded by kissing me on the cheek. A few minutes later, we were making out in the hallway. I still remember her red dress as we kissed for the first time.

The next day, I joined her family on a trip to the zoo on a whim. I had never met them before, save a brief moment in middle school, so I got to know them all on the drive down to the Minnesota Zoo. We walked through the exhibits, making small talk and such until we got to a more secluded part of the zoo. She turned to me, face covered in a scarf and winter hat and asked me, “So, are we dating now?”

Lost for words, I stuttered for a bit before I finally responded “Sure.”

Once again, not a storybook moment by any measure of the word.

But she seemed to take no issue, because every day since then (barring a two-week period in June of 2016 where some of her then-friends convinced her to break up with me) I’ve been able to wake up every day and take some solace in the fact that there is a woman who loves me as I am, for who I am. A woman who drove an hour one-way multiple times a week to visit me in college, a woman that woke me up at 4AM when she had to go to her college job at Panera. A woman who I recently went on a month-long vacation to Europe with, and whom I love more than life itself.

Holly Marie Johnson, I love you.

HOLLY'S VERSION

One of my first one on one interactions with Michael was when we were voted most unique for our 2014 yearbook superlatives. Michael chose a funny position while I stood there awkwardly trying to figure out who this guy was. We parted ways after that only to come back together when Michael became a part of my high school friend group. Michael was funny, talkative, and a great story teller. He fit well in our group of nerdy friends.

My crush on Michael started during the 2015 Homecoming dance, when he asked me to slow dance. The way he looked into my eyes made me feel like we were the only ones in the room and that there was something special here. From then on, I always made sure to sit next to Michael at lunch and listen to his funny and sometimes exaggerated stories. I kept secretly crushing on Michael for a couple of months until the yearly New Years party at our friend Kyla Galligher’s house. There Michael would do the cheesy yawn then wrap his arm around my shoulders move, and I told him to meet me in the back hallway of the Galligher’s basement where we would share our first kiss.

From there we had a fun relationship with dates to the zoo (my favorite place), bowling, roller skating, or playing video games in the basement (Michael’s favorite thing to do). Our relationship had our ups and downs as many high school relationships do. Yet what made me realize how much I truly loved and wanted Michael was when I dumped him at the end of our junior year of high school. The idea of finding the one so quickly made me panic, and I decided to end the relationship due to that fear. It wasn’t until I binge watched Downton Abbey when I realized my horrible mistake and called Michael up to see if he would take me back. He thankfully did. Our breakup lasted two weeks and I think that is the longest I have been without Michael since.

After that petty drama, Michael and I graduated high school and went into our college years with a strong relationship that withstood Michael moving away to college. We stayed together when school was rough, jobs sucked, and the only time we got together was when we were both tired and drained. Yet we still made sure to see each other every week and would go on dates to the bookstore or play DnD with Michael’s college friends. We survived our first camping trip together on the North Shore after I graduated from St. Cloud State and our relationship continued to blossom as our lives changed.

Our relationship continued on while I figured out life after school and Michael worked on finishing school. As Michael got closer to completing his degree, I started to hint about us moving to the next step and getting engaged.

*Hinting to Michael that I wanted to get engaged was more just showing him rings and telling him I wanted one.

One time, Michael and I went ring shopping where I thought I had found the ring I wanted and told Michael to put a hold on it (not realizing he had already bought me a ring). This was one out of the three times I almost found out about his proposal ideas (definitely did not make it easy for him). Yet Michael was still able to plan the most perfect proposal.

On Christmas Day 2022. He surprised me under the Christmas tree at his parents house and gave me the most beautiful ring (made me glad he did not get the one I had picked out). From there Michael graduated from college (finally) and we went on a three week Europe trip that tested the limits of our love for each other. I am happy to say that it proved to me again that I had chosen correctly and Michael was and will always be the one for me.

Michael James Reed, I love you.

We are registered at Target, Amazon, Etsy, Ikea, and Macy's. Look up Holly Johnson and Michael Reed to find our registry at those locations!