Please enjoy this story from the perspective of Eva (and Joe's comments will be added in parentheses).

Once upon a time...

Eva was in grad school and thought she was years away from any serious relationship as she was rather stressfully engaged with her studies (Eva gets stressy sometimes). Meanwhile, she was attending First Evangelical Free Church and happened to meet a guy named Joe, though she doesn’t remember exactly when they first met (I remember the exact time I first met her). After a little while, she did take notice of him and over time she began to also notice that he was very nice. Like VERY nice. And she wondered if he was perhaps being extra nice to her (I was absolutely being extra nice to her)... Her suspicions were confirmed when she casually slid into his DMs and he sent her his number (I knew she wanted to keep talking to me)! They texted for a bit and then he asked her out on a date and so on December 18th, 2021 off they went to Meddy's and to see the Christmas lights at Botanica!

They kept getting to know one another and on January 21st Joe took Eva on a fancy date to Chester's (I had a gift card) and wrote a letter saying “These are the reasons I want you to be my girlfriend…” (what else was I supposed to say?) She was happy to accept!

Then Eva and Joe learned to navigate the challenges and adventures that came with doing distance dating as Eva traveled all around western Kansas for the next 6 months. They talked or FaceTimed every week and Joe even traveled out to Hoxie twice and Dodge City once to visit Eva (little Hoxie was actually really fun!). They had some fun adventures such as exploring Little Jerusalem State Park, watching barrel racing in McCook Nebraska, and vising the Boot Hill Museum in Dodge.

Finally, Eva finished PA school and got more settled down in Wichita and no more distance, hooray! They now got to hang out every weekend and play disc golf, watch movies, go on walks, and go on some other fun trips to KC for weddings and such! (We were busy, but it is nice to have someone to be busy with.)

On December 2nd, Joe took Eva to his favorite golf course and where he worked for several years after high school (#turfscum). He drove her around on a golf cart to all the holes and stopped on Hole 14, his favorite spot on the course. He then read Eva a letter that started with “These are the reasons I want you to be my wife...” and got down on one knee (brownie points for the sunset engagement).

And now, we are so excited to celebrate with our friends and family the beginning of our happily ever after! (I love her so much.)

Holiday Inn Express & Suites Wichita Northeast, an IHG Hotel