I, Connor, was really lucky and had a lot of friends and family visit me in the summer of 2023 when I was stationed in Alaska! One group of friends, Garrett and Kara Ferguson, visited in me in May 2023 and then Kara posted about that trip on her Instagram page in June 2023. Shortly after she posted about that trip, I received a "follow request" from some girl named Katie Renfroe. We had a lot of mutual friends, so I accepted that follow request and followed her back.

After months of exchanging text messages, and a few calls, Katie and I agreed to meet in person for the first time in San Diego, CA. After the awkward car hug and 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, but 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. We spent the next few days hiking Torrey Pines, walking around Balboa Park, and taking drives at night down to Coronado beach.

I took two trips from Alaska to Nashville in about a one-month period because I felt some sort of way about Katie! The first trip to Nashville in late November was special because I got to meet all of Katie’s friends. I was extremely thankful that Kendall, Oliver, Nico, Devin, and Hannah all made me feel so welcome and comfortable. The trip was made even better at the Nashville Zoo with Nikki, Jimmy, Hannah, and River which was capped off by making our relationship “official” and making sure Katie knew I wanted her to myself!

The second trip to Nashville was spent with Katie’s friends at Ryan and Ally’s house on NYE and then watching the fireworks downtown in Nashville! We capped off that night with Hannah and Lindsey by starting a new tradition of making crepes on NYE.

In February 2024, Katie came up to Alaska and 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 by downhill skiing, cross country skiing, snowshoe hiking, and taking a trip down to Seward, Alaska. In March 2024, we met Hannah Rowland in Virginia Beach, Virginia for a half marathon. In April 2024, we converged on Portland, Oregon and took a trip down to Cannon Beach. In May/June 2024, Katie got to experience the best time of the year in Alaska – summer! We kayaked, hiked, and spent some quality time with my brother Stephen and his wife Kelly, and Kelly’s sister Lisa.

After I received orders to move to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, I took the ferry from Alaska to Washington along the inside passage, Katie flew out and met me in Seattle, Washington. From there we drove through the west together! We made stops in Box Canyon, Idaho - Moab, Utah- Grand Canyon, Arizona - Durango, Colorado (for my buddy Brady’s wedding) - Oklahoma City, OK.

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’s area code) and truly enjoyed being able to see each other every day in person rather than via FaceTime. The Wichita Mountains for a hike and 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 enough excessively eat them over both Thanksgiving and Christmas. This trip was also great in that it gave me time to ask Katie's parents for their blessing – by the way, Katie's family are fantastic people who have been nothing but kind and welcoming to me – we returned to Fort Sill and 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 and Stu. 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?” Thankfully she said yes as the waves crashed around our feet and the sun set just behind us. I’m a very lucky guy!