Alex and I met on August 24, 2021 on our first day of school at Ouachita Baptist University in general chemistry. **Insert joke about having good chemistry here.** We clicked instantly! I thought he was great and immediately found myself wanting to know more about him. Just as we were getting to know one another and become friends, I quickly realized I had NO desire to do anything with chemistry and dropped the class.

We would be reunited the following semester when we got assigned seats next to each other during our school’s chapel hour, where we would catch up with one another—usually in the form of him teasing me for dropping chemistry.

After a year and a half of being acquaintances, Alex and I finally became closer through mutual school friends and began to spend more time together. We clicked just like we had before, and every time we hung out we always had a ton of fun together. With the help of some no-nonsense friends, (thanks Conner and Meredith!) we realized we might have been stifling some romantic feelings for one another and wanted to be more than friends.

On September 15th, 2023, we went on our first unofficial date to El Parian in Arkadelphia, AR just outside of campus. We got there and I said “So this isn’t a date right?” And he said “No, of course not.”

….It was most definitely a date

In the weeks that followed, we knew that we had found something special in one another. I can only describe it as a sense of “knowing”. I didn’t have any reservations about him even in the early phases of dating, and every day we spent together reinforced my confidence that we were supposed to be together.

On January 10, 2025, Alex proposed to me (for real this time) and, through blubbery tears, I said yes!

We're both so excited to start this new chapter of our lives together and can't wait for 6.22.25!