We first met as Freshman and Sophomore teammates on the Alpine team. Unfortunately, I would not have my mom to protect me from Regan's bullying until years later. It was relentless and unending. I barely survived.

That first year, the season came and went without much interaction. It wasn't until nearly a year and a half later when Regan signed up last minute for Leaders School that we would have any more meaningful interaction. Through all the vicious bullying, I still decided that I wanted to flirt. I was unfortunately rejected at nearly every advance.

The following spring, I was completely unaware of the flirtation that was being sent my way from Regan. Likely because it was essentially just bullying. Apparently, those were supposed to be signs for me to ask her to go to Prom.

It took some outside help from our anatomy teacher, but we did eventually catch on that we were both into each other! I still take zero responsibility. I was never a bully.

Shortly after the help from our anatomy teacher, we finally got somewhere. During mid-terms I finally asked her to go to lunch with me, and she said yes. Less than a week after that, we both decided to go official. Never underestimate the romantic influence of Big Sean! IFYKYK.

After that, I finally had my mom to protect me. After a single mild intervention, the bullying stopped and the rest is history!

Back and forth trips from Camp Jordan, Farmington, Woodland, and Portland got us through five long years of inconvenient distance. But I always knew it would be worth it. And I was right.

Going back and forth started after about four months of dating while I worked at a sleep away camp, then moved to Farmington for college. We put quite a few miles on our cars driving back and forth to see each other. Especially during the fall with Josh playing football and wanting to be there for him.

When COVID hit we spent pretty much every day together. We learned how to play Fortnite together and homework. It was nice to get that relief from driving so long to see each other. Once school started again it was more difficult to see each other but we put in the time and work to get to this point.

When we both graduated I thought we would be moving in together, but life have other plans where I was back in Bangor for grad school and Josh moved to Portland for his job. The drive may have been longer but so worth it for time just the two of us.

That brings us a bit closer today. Where I was able to move down to Old Orchard Beach to live with Josh while finishing up with my master's degree. We live with our two boys who were the only ones around to witness the proposal. It was just the two of us in the bedroom and so sweet. I would not trade it being the two of us for the world.