I, Connor, was really lucky and had a lot of friends and family visit me while I was stationed in Alaska! Some of my friends, Garrett and Kara Ferguson, visited me in May 2023, and then Kara posted about that trip on her Instagram. Shortly after she posted about that trip, I received a follow request from some girl named Katie Renfroe. We had never met before, but we had a lot of mutual friends on Instagram, so I accepted that follow request and followed her back.

After months of exchanging direct messages via Instagram, text messages, and Facetime calls, Katie and I agreed to meet in person for the first time in San Diego, CA. After the awkward car hug and initial greeting, we went over to the Ocean Beach district in San Diego and got to know one another a bit more over some sandwiches and afternoon coffee. To be honest, the first 24 hours felt like WORK for me. I asked a ton of questions, and Katie will probably tell you that she felt like it was all an interview. I will tell you that I felt I just wasn’t getting the same interest back from her. She’ll tell you she was just nervous. The next day we went to the San Diego Zoo, which turned out to be the best decision. We steered away from the heavy hitting questions and were able to simply joke around and talk about what was in front of us. We spent the next few days hiking Torrey Pines, walking around Balboa Park, and taking drives at night down to Coronado beach.

In February 2024, Katie came up to Alaska, where she was met with a true Alaskan winter. Her first day in Alaska was a toasty -23 degrees, but we made the most of the time during her trip by downhill skiing, cross country skiing, snowshoe hiking, and taking a trip down to Seward, Alaska. In March, we met Hannah Rowland in Virginia Beach, Virginia for a half marathon. In April, we converged on Portland, Oregon and took a trip down to Cannon Beach. Then in May/June, Katie got to experience the best time of the year in Alaska – summer! We kayaked, hiked, and spent some quality with my friends the Emond family, and even more time with my brother Stephen, his wife Kelly, and Kelly’s sister Lisa.

After I received orders to move to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Katie and I planned a cross country roadtrip for my move. I took the ferry from Alaska to Washington, and Katie flew out to meet me in Seattle, Washington. From there we drove through the west together! We made stops in Box Canyon, Idaho, Moab, Utah, the Grand Canyon, and ended the trip in Durango, Colorado for Brady and Jennifer Newville’s wedding!

I started work at Fort Sill in July 2024, and Katie – after living in Nashville for the last 6 years – moved her life to Lawton, Oklahoma. She selflessly committed to figuring out if this relationship was the real deal or not, and I cannot tell you how much that meant to me! We adjusted to life in the “shady 580” (Lawton, Oklahoma’s nickname) and truly enjoyed being able to see each other every day in person rather than via FaceTime. Being able to hike in the Wichita Mountains and making trips to Norman to see my family and friends have been some of the most enjoyable parts of moving to Fort Sill!

The holidays were a great opportunity to take some trips out to Tennessee to spend time with Katie’s family and friends! Let me tell you, her grandmother’s fried peach pie is the only food I have ever given a 10/10, and I was blessed to excessively eat them over both Thanksgiving and Christmas. While we were in Tennessee for Christmas, it gave me time to ask Katies parents for their blessing. After we returned to Fort Sill, I put together a plan to propose to Katie in Hawaii.

I planned a trip for Katie and I to Hawaii for the first week of February and visit some JAG Corps friends of mine, Ben Riggs and Stu Hamm. Over the course of the week, I think I wore down Katie’s expectations that a proposal was going to happen on our trip. A little over halfway through the week we all went to Kauai, hiked the Waimea canyon, and took a boat tour around the Na’Pali Coast. It was a tiring day, so we all went back to the Airbnb for a nap. What Katie didn’t know was that I planned to take an hour-long drive to the northern coast of the island. The two-lane highway had me thinking we wouldn’t get to Tunnels beach by sunset, but we somehow made it with 15 minutes to spare. I snagged my backpack, walked Katie down the beach for a minute or two, and watched as my friends got into position with their cameras. I then opened my backpack, grabbed the ring box, and got down on a knee. I said “it’s not living if it’s not with you! I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” I said the first line about “it’s not living if it’s not with you” because that was the first song I ever sent to Katie back in August 2023. Little did I know that song would be so prophetic! Thankfully she said yes as the waves crashed around our feet and the sun set just behind us. I’m a very lucky guy!