Looking back, it seemed like Erin and I spent our time avoiding each other. Even though we grew up in the same town, Kalispell, and went to the same elementary school, middle school and high school, our paths never crossed. Since I was a year older than Erin was, we never played together on the playground, got in trouble in Mr. Schreiner's History class, or crossed paths while playing sports. The first time we spent time with each other was after my sophomore year of college, on a friend's boat on Whitefish Lake. That friend, Dylan Ruggles, is now one of my groomsmen and has now been a long-time friend for Erin and I.

The first interaction I had with Erin left a lasting impression on me. I knew she was beautiful, that wasn't hard to see, and I knew she was fun and outgoing, but despite living in the same small town for the past 17 years of our lives, I knew absolutely nothing about her. I was completely unsuspecting to that changing, and I didn't know that one day, I would make a single decision that would change my life forever, and give me the woman I am now going to marry.

That decision happened on a sunny fall day in Bozeman, Montana. My friends and I had been watching the Cats Football game with Erin's friends and were in need of a ride home. When I discovered Erin would be coming to pick our group up, I knew that I needed to create a chance to speak with her. Walking to her car, I asked Natalie Krueger if I could sit up front, and I very outspokenly called shotgun in front of my friends.

Eventually, Erin and I started talking, and after not getting invited to a gathering at their house, I secured an invite. We met for coffee the next morning and after many failed attempts of me telling Erin we should go on a real first date, she agreed.

Since our first date, Erin has taken me everywhere. When she spent time studying abroad in Ireland, I secured a plane ticket to visit for 2 weeks. When we decided to move away from Bozeman, Erin secured a job working for Moss Adams and I decided she might need help paying the bills, so I began my sales career at a tech startup. I have learned that no matter where this life leads, I will always be by her side, and support the wondrous, intelligent, and beautiful woman she is.

Whenever someone asks us how we met, I'm never sure what version to tell. The truth is that we were never technically introduced. We both knew of each other growing up in the same small town, but never actually met. Technically, the first time we ever hung out together was the summer after my freshman year of college on Whitefish Lake. Funny enough, I listened to John talk about how beautiful the mountains were and how lucky we all were to live there (John doesn't remember this) before deciding he was a little different than the snap judgment I had given him. After that outing, I jokingly told one of my friends that I think I might just marry John Learn -- I still think that's so crazy that it might be a false memory.

That isn't ever the story we tell, though, because we didn't interact again for another few months when John moved to Bozeman. The story we do tell is that we met at an MSU football tailgate, I was so hungover that I barely made the game, and John was having the best time of his life. I laughed with my friends as we watched John dance ridiculously and socialize with everybody at the tailgate. At some point, my hangover became unbearable and I went to get some food and take a nap in my car as I was the DD. I came back to pick up my friends from the tailgate, only to be surprised that some guys we knew from high school, along with John Learn, needed a ride home too. John jumped in my front seat, which I thought was funny, and quite literally did not shut up the entire drive to their house. He thanked me at least 6 times and told me that I could pull over and leave them on the side of the road at any point. I think we made plans to meet up as a group later that night, which probably didn't happen.

A couple weeks later, my roommates and I decided to throw a party. My best friend Natalie reached out to some of John's friends that we did know a little better to invite them. I think I asked whether she invited John Learn, and she said no because he kind of intimidated her (which still cracks me up). Anyway, I somehow acquired John's snapchat and invited him, to which he told me if I actually desired his presence, he required a physical invite in the mail. This kind of flirting pursued the following days, and John and his friends did show up at our party, where honestly, I don't remember anything about that party other than being John Learn's beer pong partner all night. We won every game that night as a team, yet ever since then, we agree that both of us suck at beer pong.

Slowly over the next few months, we spent a lot of time together at football games and parties with our mutual friends, and then eventually, after some prodding, John convinced me to let him take me on a breakfast date (my favorite!!!) at the Feed Cafe -- where he let me pay in the spirit of feminism.

This is so cheesy, but after a while, I knew I'd go on breakfast dates with this guy for the rest of my life. John is the best partner I could've asked for, and we get to share so much of what we love about life together. He makes me laugh, even when I really don't want to laugh, and he's 100% in on our relationship, and has been since day 1, even when I was hesitant. Even with my concerns about the countless e's and r's and n's in my name, I am so excited to take his last name and have yet another thing to share for the rest of our lives.