Kayla


We both grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, where we went to the same middle and high school. I always knew of him, but never more than that. After high school, we went to different colleges, I went to the University of Minnesota Duluth campus and he went to the Twin Cities campus. A lot of my friends attended that campus, so I found myself traveling to see them fairly often. Jackson was in a single dorm room, so the friends and I would often hang out in his room. While we got to know each other a little more, it still wasn’t anything past acquaintances. It wasn’t until the summer after freshman year that we were brought back together while catching up with old friends in Rochester. We somehow ended up becoming the designated planners for the friend group, I would cover the girls and he the boys. This is when I would say our friendship started. But, it is unclear to me when talking as friends became more than that. In other words, Jackson fell first, while I was clueless. Once he finally made it official that summer, countless late nights were spent going on long drives, laughing obnoxiously loud, and eating too much Flapdoodles ice cream.


And to be honest, not much has changed since then!


We would go on to do long distance for our sophomore year. If you can call it long distance… Every weekend would consist of either him coming up to Duluth or me going down to Minneapolis. And any time not spent physically together, was spent virtually over FaceTime. When junior year came around, I had finally made the decision to transfer down to the Twin Cities campus (NOT to be closer to Jackson, but of course, it was just a perk). The rest of our undergrad was spent creating some of my favorite memories. Soon after graduating, we moved into an apartment together, got adult jobs, and continued to dream about our future together.


So far, Jackson continues to make those dreams a reality. I couldn’t have asked for a better guy! And I cannot wait to continue to make more amazing memories together.




Jackson


I don’t exactly remember the first time meeting Kayla, as we grew up in Rochester together where we attended the same middle & high school. While we weren’t close friends in high school, we did belong to the same big group of friends and often found ourselves at the same hangouts. During the summer home after our first year of college, we really started talking and developed a connection. The more we hung out together that summer the more I realized I kind of liked her. Hangouts turned into dates, and the rest was history after we officially started our relationship in July of that summer.


We then spent our sophomore year of college doing long distance, where Kayla attended U of M Duluth and I attended U of M Twin Cities. Kayla would make weekend trips down to visit me in Minneapolis as often as possible, and vice-versa. It was during this year that my closest friends and roommates back in Minneapolis claimed I quote: “lived in Duluth” because of how often I would take weekend trips up to see Kayla. Jokes aside, this was one of our favorite years of fun-filled weekends often spent exploring the North Shore of Lake Superior together. The North Shore has our hearts—especially the black sand beach where I always knew I wanted to get down on one knee for Kayla someday.


After the first year of our relationship doing long distance, Kayla transferred to the U of M Twin Cities so our long distance era was officially over. Kayla claims her decision to transfer was strictly based on better academic programs at the Twin Cities campus (I know it was really just to be closer to me). After our college years we moved into an apartment together in downtown Minneapolis, and eventually went on to buy a house together in the Twin Cities suburb of Rosemount. The same week we closed on our house, I surprised Kayla with a weekend trip back up to the North Shore where I finally asked her to marry me.


Kayla has been everything I’ve ever dreamed of in a girlfriend and now-fiancé, and I couldn’t be more excited to call her my wife.