What began as a coffee date, quickly turned into an answered prayer. Then another, then another, then another, and so on. Lauren & I met as many couples these days do, through a dating app called Hinge. Despite living across Texas from one another, a fateful Boyd Family ski trip over Christmas Break would bring the two of us into close enough proximity for there to be a “match” as our profiles piqued interest in the other’s eyes. Some may call it a coincidence, but we know it was God’s providence. After a week of messaging, the return trip home from Angel Fire to New Braunfels would once again lead through Lubbock (as all roads do according to Joey McGuire), and the first “half date” was set for Monomyth Coffee on New Year’s Day, 2024. Lauren will tell you she knew immediately, but it took me a few more weeks until Lauren’s first trip back to Lubbock in January. The two of us bonded over dinner at Claraboya, over the music of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, and over the magic of the Buddy Holly Hall (I'll mention that place again later), a night we now refer to as our “first and a half” date! Three weeks into knowing each other, we both knew we’d found The One.

Two weeks later, it was time to meet the parents. I’m not sure how many guys can say they met their future father-in-law for the very first time at a black tie gala, but you can certainly add my name to that list. Lauren & I transitioned from tuxedos to two-stepping the next night when we went to see Pat Green at Gruene Hall to round out my first weekend in New Braunfels. You could say I was sold on this place and more importantly, this person!

Our relationship continued to bloom from there, despite living over 400 miles apart. Throughout Winter & Spring 2024, a rarity would have been a weekend spent without both of us together in Lubbock or New Braunfels. We’d like to take this opportunity to give thanks to Valero Fuels and Southwest Airlines for doing the heavy lifting that made sure we got to spend so many days in the same place during our tenure of long distance!

After accepting a job in June of 2024, Davis moved to Dallas and the distance got shorter. For the next three months, our lives further intertwined as Davis could now be in New Braunfels more frequently and step into the wonderful communities that already permeated Lauren’s life: Among the most important of which being our family at Compass Bible Church.

Along the way to Santa Fe for my birthday trip at the end of August included another stop in Lubbock for two days, when I asked Lauren to spend the rest of her life with me at the same place where we had first begun imagining our lives together: The Buddy Holly Hall. On the stage in front of an empty auditorium with all of the spotlights on us, her answer was the most emphatic, “YES!” I’ll ever know and that part of the story has brought us to where we are.

Lauren & I now live among the oak trees & ash juniper of idyllic New Braunfels and are proud to call it home. We are elated to be able to include our friends & family in our upcoming celebration, and can’t wait to do life with each & every one of our people, together.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all.

-Davis