We met in the middle of our senior year at the University of Memphis. I was heading to the Educators Career Fair on the third floor of the UC dressed in my navy blue suit. Later, Kevin will admit that it was the suit that initially caught his eye. We had a conversation outside the elevators that mostly consisted of small talk. I had arrived early to the event and didn’t mind meeting someone new. During the whole conversation, however, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew him. In fact, when I think back on that memory, I mostly remember spending the whole conversation trying to figure out where I knew him from. Had I seen him before in the dorms? Was he just a familiar face on campus?

Eventually, Kevin told me that we were in the same Harry Potter Honors Forum class our freshmen year. No, we don’t have the movie-perfect romance where we locked eyes on each other and fell in love that first day of class freshman year. We had that class, and we didn’t really interact all that much.

It was that evening on the third floor in the UC that we claim as our official meeting place. I told him that I was looking to become a teacher, and he said that he was too. I was studying to teach English as an Additional language, and Kevin was studying music education. We had our conversation and went our separate ways that night, but he stayed in my mind until I eventually reached out the next day.

I met Kevin during a completely difficult part of my life. My mom had passed away the previous month, that October of 2017. Kevin and I met in November. I was not looking for a relationship. I was just trying to feel normal, going to career fairs my senior year to remind myself that a future awaited me. Looking to find a potential employer that night, I would instead find the person with who I want to spend the rest of my life. That day, meeting Kevin reminded me that the world keeps moving forward. My mother’s death didn’t have to bring my senior year to a screeching halt even if that’s what it felt like. Life was giving me something new, reminding me that possibilities were still out there.

We messaged each other and eventually went on our first date. Thor Ragnarok. Malco Paradiso. Kevin was unlike any other boy I had gone out with before. He was polite but wasn’t the first one to speak up. That first date, I was just trying to figure out if he was into guys or not. I overanalyzed every move made. Okay, we bought our own tickets but he sat in the seat next to me. We went to see a Marvel movie but Chris Hemsworth is the lead. Frankly, our messages were a little vague when it came to the intent of our first hang out. Guys before had been more forward. Kevin was not that.

What I love about Kevin is that it wasn’t about that at all. At first, we were getting to know one another. We were learning all of our similarities and differences. We talked careers, college experiences, and (of course) Harry Potter.

The greatest first date question of all time is: Who is your favorite Harry Potter character? If their answer is Dolores Umbridge, run away. Luckily, Kevin’s answer was objectively correct: Luna Lovegood.

After that first date, we kept texting and ended up hanging out more and more. I would go in with a plan to try to hold his hand or kiss him at the end of the night, and I failed every time. Something about Kevin made me nervous which was a new feeling for me. What we had felt different, and I didn’t want to mess it up.

As it goes, Kevin and I eventually started dating two months later. It was confirmed through eventually making my move that he was into guys after all. We officially became boyfriends on January 20th, 2018. Looking back, it’s hard to think of a time without Kevin in my life. We have been through so much together now. I continued to grapple with the grief that I was working through. I wrote my thesis. He completed edTPA. We graduated from the UofM. I completed my masters program through the Memphis Teacher Residency. Kevin got his teaching job at Maxine Smith STEAM academy. I then got my teaching license and masters and got my first official teaching job. We each began to know our families and friends more and more. We moved in together. Adopted a dog and became very ridiculous dog dads. Two years and a few months in, we realized that neither of us were going anywhere. We were a team, partners, friends. I didn’t want to do anything with my life that didn’t involve Kevin Carpenter.

He is the love of my life. I love him because we laugh together constantly. We cry. We sing. We dance. We can sit for hours next two each other watching Bon Appetit videos and looking at memes. I love doing the every day with him. Rearranging furniture. Making podcasts. Creating Virtual Choir Videos. Editing Book drafts. Playing hours of Animal Crossing and Minecraft. It may seem mundane, but I think it’s love in its purest form. This is who I chose to spend my life with everyday. And everyday, Kevin choses me too. I hope Kevin and I are a reminder to everyone that love is love is love is love is love.

I love you, Kevin Carpenter. I can’t wait to call you my Husband.

Because Matty covered the big picture, I just want to hit on a few moments. Matty got the big picture beautifully, but when zooming in on anyone’s story, you’ll see the little details that make for some of the best memories.

• Our second date: 2017’s Power Rangers movie.

• Matty showing me all the Memphis spots I’d never seen before.

• Me wishing Matty was not living in those gross townhomes. At least they weren’t lime green then.

• Matty wishing I wasn’t living in that wannabe horror movie mansion in East Memphis.

• The first time we really looked into each other's eyes.

• The very first “Mr. Carpenterrrr!!”, heard from a distance while on a date (Zoo Lights).

• Matty asking me to be his boyfriend.

• Meeting Matty’s family for the first time.

• Matty meeting my family for the first time.

• A trip to the beach (“414”!), featuring everyone’s favorite pullout mattress.

• Proofreading Matty’s breathtaking book and less-breathtaking professional emails.

• The first huge Halloween party.

• The second huge Halloween party.

• The third very small, safely distanced Halloween party.

• Parading through Manhattan with Matty (and Joseph and Elizabeth!) at World Pride.

• Our one-year-of-dating anniversary at Flight where we ate and drank too much.

• Matty’s perseverance through the very fast Master of Urban Education Degree.

This is just a slice of the abundance of little moments that bring us together and make us, well, us. It’s been a great few years of memories, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of life’s memories have in store for us!