It was January 2017, she was a softball freshman, he was a baseball senior. They had seen each other around in the beginning of the school year but the spring term was when they first talked and started a friendship.

At first, she had some hesitation about this country music-loving farm boy and he had similar hesitations towards the picky-eater from the desert who was always cold but after a few months of talking found some common ground to stand up on and thus September 1st, 2017 began dating.

Jordan was living in Mount Vernon, job searching, post graduation and Jana was attending her sophomore year at Cornell. Neither one had ever felt the connection they had before which made every hill to climb - a bump to step over.

After some job searching, Jordan found himself at John Deere in Dubuque and the hour drive between the two did not drive either of them away.

Both understanding that the journey would be worth it when at the end the treasure of the struggle was your soul mate.

That was why when Jordan felt his calling to the Army, Jana’s question to him was “what would make him happy” not how hard it would be. That summer Jordan came out to Arizona for a week for the first time, meeting the parents, and sweated a lot due to the dry heat. Probably a good warm up to the amount of sweating he would do in the humid Georgia summer during basic training.

During his basic training, they wrote letters, eventually calling once Jordan could have his phone back. Jana kept busy with her junior year of college.

2017 to 2020 was all long distance. Jordan moved in with some guys down in North Carolina. Jana continued on to her last year of college. Each of them taking turns to travel to one another over holidays and breaks. Every time making a special memory like cooking a thanksgiving meal together in an extended stay hotel kitchen or taking Jana to her first gun range in Arizona. They made the most of what they could.

Once Jana had graduated from Cornell she enrolled in a Masters program at North Carolina State University and made her way out to Raleigh and lived there for a year doing school. The hour and half drive away was nothing compared to previously having to take flights to fill the distance or the trouble of talking when you are three time zones apart. Once she graduated, Jordan took the two of them up to mountains in North Carolina and they went on a hike.

During this hike, he was very set on getting to the waterfall and she was slightly confused as to why he seemed vastly more determined than normal. Once they had made it there, he got down on one knee and proposed, she said yes, and he was able to breathe again.

Jana’s lease was up in Raleigh and they decided to move in together. So at the end of July 2021 Jana packed up all her things and headed down to Fayetteville.

The two picked out a house after one day of looking and made the offer the next day. At first the sellers were a little wishy-washy but eventually agreed to the offer and then it was final that they had purchased a house.

Their first few months of living together went smoothly, quite easy in fact. Jordan was gone for weeks on end training and Jana found herself a job at a coffee shop and kept busy by painting over the enormous amount of mustard yellow paint that the previous owners had chosen for most of the house.

Once Jordan graduated in February he was home for the next six months in his last step of training: learning a language. The last six months were filled with house renovation, wedding planning, studying or working, and most excitingly adding a member to the family: a German Shepard puppy they named Luna.

Now finally, the day has arrived and in the truest of forms to the relationship why would they make it easier on themselves. After the wedding, the next steps are the honeymoon, finishing renovations, and moving to Tennessee. But for now, welcome to the celebration of the next step in their chaotic adventure.