Most of these stories start with the day the couple met or maybe some weird coincidental meeting that the couple didn't remember until they were together. I wish Seth and I could share with you the day we met, but we're not really sure when that was. While some people say it feels like they have known their partner their entire lives, for Seth and I, that is our reality.

Though we knew each other, went to the same schools, and had mutual friends, our paths did not cross much until Seth randomly invited me to his 16th birthday party. We talked the entire party and I did not leave until I was pushing curfew. We quickly became close friends and in August, right before starting our junior year of high school, we started officially dating.

We moved together from the halls of Maiden High School to the campus of UNC Wilmington. This is where we learned how to grow together and lean on God in our relationship. We became more intentional in how we spent our time, making sure to prioritize each other. While neither of us is the same person from when we were 16, we have never been stronger in our relationship. From tough schedules, study abroad trips alone, and the death of loved ones, we became each other's frontline support system. That is why it was the easiest yes when Seth asked me to marry him on April 29th, 2023.

I think we both knew pretty early on that we were with the person we were going to marry. To us, that did not seem like an outlandish thing to think at 16. We were both raised in God-centered households that were headed by parents that were high school sweethearts. We are grateful to our parents for showing us not just that it was possible to marry your high school sweetheart but to have a strong marriage based on unconditional love for God and each other.

Right now, we have had to start our adult lives separately. With Seth starting his Clinical Research career in Wake Forest and me starting my teaching career in Hickory, this is the first time in our lives that we have lived more than 30 minutes apart. We know it is just temporary and it will be oh-so-sweeter when we get to join ourselves in front of God, our family, and our friends on June 8th, 2024 in Boone. We hope to see you there!