The first place that I remember meeting Jayce was at our friend Reagan's birthday party in March of 2022. Our senses of humor were very similar, and she made me laugh a whole lot. After this, I began seeing her everywhere. I'd find her at church (where I got to hear her beautiful singing voice), at band (where I got to watch her haul a tuba around), and with various groups of friends for the rest of the semester. I was planning to ask her on a date at the end of the semester, but we were about to spend a summer apart: I had an internship in St. Paul and she would work at a summer camp.

I gave her my Snapchat, and later my phone number. To my surprise, we messaged every day that summer. I got to see her once again at marching band camp the week before school started. Because of the intense nature of band camp I wouldn't get many opportunities to talk to her, but I recall waving to each other across large crowds of people and, still, texting each other every day. Once school started, I got a chance to talk to her at a campus ministry event. It was there (August 23, 2022) I got a chance to ask her on our first date. I later learned that this conversation was set up a little bit... my roommate Noah Jayne told his mom, who then let Jayce's friend Kristine Gevock know through a chain of six people, including Jayce's mom and sister in-law. Kristine helped Jayce find me at the event.

We had our first date that following Friday on August 26. We got some ice cream and ended up walking around Manhattan's city park a few times. On September 13, 2022, after a few more dates, I asked her to be my girlfriend. Little did I know that this was the beginning of the most wonderful two years of my life, where I got to know the most faithful, kind, and beautiful woman that I had ever met. Through many desserts baked, miles walked, and games of cribbage played, I came to realize that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, and on the 21st night of September in 2024, I asked her to be my wife. She made my dreams come true by saying yes, and now I get to marry her :)

I met Josh and immediately knew I wanted to be friends, and I was pretty sure that was all I wanted. I was introduced to him and his friends at a birthday party, and I was determined to build those relationships so I could have more people to talk to at Christian Challenge. It ended up being much easier than I'd thought- I started seeing Josh everywhere, including an event held at the bassoon and tuba professors' house (Josh plays the bassoon) where we helped their 12-year-old beat us in a game of Sorry.

It wasn't until my mom asked why I had so many stories about this other Josh that I realized there might be something else going on. All I knew was that he made me laugh all the time, and I wanted to be around him more. Before long, we started texting every day, and I was pretty sure that was normal for friends to do. I was less sure about that when it continued throughout the summer, and sure enough, he asked me out when we got back to school. I later learned that he'd considered doing it before the summer, and I'm glad he waited because it took me that long to sike myself up to say yes.

Most of the best things about dating Josh were his idea, like date nights every Tuesday and baking together and taking long walks as often as possible. One thing we did often was grab Chick-Fil-A and take it to eat outside at Tuttle Creek, so I wasn't at all suspicious when he suggested it on September 21st. I stayed oblivious until he was on one knee and holding up a ring, and now all of a sudden we're making a wedding website and sending out invites.

What a life :)