We met in sixth-grade math class. We were two kids sitting beside each other, joking around and talking before class started. What began as an innocent friendship quickly turned into something deeper. Like many young relationships, things didn’t stay the same forever. By ninth grade, we had split up. In our two years apart, we both grew into our own people, which helped us develop a more mature approach to our relationship. It wasn’t until our junior year that we started talking again, slowly rekindling a friendship that would soon blossom into something even stronger than before.

After graduation, we attended colleges that were two hours apart. The distance was tough, but we made the most of our weekends together. Whether we were watching movies at the drive-in or taking walks in the park, those weekends became our time to reconnect. The year after we started college, Melissa decided to transfer to Marion, and soon we were living in the same apartment building. We navigated the ups and downs of learning how to live together for the first time during covid. Eventually, we moved with our dog Koda to Columbus, to live in our first apartment together. Although we are both very different people from when we first met, we would both say that we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We have lived together in Columbus for 4 years now. We have both grown in our careers and goals for one another. After over a decade of being in each others lives we still have fun and laugh together like we are those two kids. As we look ahead excited to start the next step of our journey together, we can look back and be grateful for all we have built together. It has always been us and will always be us. We have been apart of one another from the start and will be till the end. We are so excited to have you celebrate with us as we build our next stepping stone to becoming a married couple.