Our journey started March of 2021, we just didn’t know it yet. Lizzy joined the Physical Therapy Class of 2023 at Midwestern University, which I was already a part of. It all started during our first real encounter, which was at a mutual friend’s apartment in which we were each invited over for Chinese takeout and to hangout afterwards. That might have also been the day Lizzy realized how much food I was capable of eating. From that day forward, I thought of the most random reasons to talk to Lizzy and constantly messaged her on Groupme, until she made talking easier by giving me her number (PS I didn’t ask for it, no biggie). Anyways, our friendship really started to take off during March Madness when I asked for help with Neuro. We were supposed to be studying in one of the big rooms in Alumni but we started watching the Florida Gators vs. Virginia Tech basketball game and we just started talking about everything and anything. From that day on we hung out pretty often throughout the week and became study partners. Fast forward to April and we were hanging out almost every day after school, I was trying to figure out every which way to ask her out but every time we were alone for me to ask I was beyond nervous and couldn’t do it, until one day I found the words to ask her and………she said no (I know big shocker for this love story) I remember her words as clear as day “I like you but I don’t want to ruin our friendship, because if it doesn’t work out I’m going to lose a friend” and I responded “But what if it does workout? You can’t only think of the negative. But I respect your decision.”

We still continued to hangout every day after the big NO Lizzy gave me as friends, but I didn’t give up hope on us because I knew this was The One. Fast forward to May 5th, Lizzy’s birthday and a good portion of our class decided to go out for margaritas, and of course I get sick afterwards and needed to stay home for a few days, which ruined my plans of asking her to be my girlfriend by a few days (don’t worry everyone I knew she was going to say yes this time), that day then became May 10th. Funniest part about the beginning of this relationship is her close friends in class thought I had no chance (because she kept telling them “he’s No Chance Josh,” I know, mean right?) all while my friends thought I had every chance in the world. Let's just say some people didn’t believe it when we told them….. you know who you are. I had great timing with this because I asked her out, she said yes, then a little over a week later we went on our first clinical for 3 weeks, and I was at home and she was almost 3hrs away. During this 3 week hiatus was actually the first time Lizzy said “I love you” which caught me off guard and I said huh and she was like “nothing, I have to go and hung up.” No one knows this except for Lizzy but I technically said “I love you” first the only difference is she couldn’t hear me and we weren’t even dating yet. She has a little joke that she does with her family where she calls your name and you say what and she says “never mind” and one day we were leaving the house and driving separately and before I got into my car she said “hey josh” and I unwisely said “yea what” and BOOM she got me with “never mind” it was that very moment I laughed to myself and I got into my car and without any hesitation I said “man I love that woman.”

The year is 2023, we have been dating for a little over 1 1/2 years, we have visited nearly 20 different cities, 13 different baseball parks, and a handful of National Parks and had seen each other at our highest and lowest points. But no matter what we both knew we could depend on each other to lift the other up when life or school decided to hit a little harder sometimes. It’s now February 7th in Nashville, Tennessee and we are both on Pedestrian Bridge and outside of a fight that occurred between 2 homeless people behind us, it was the perfect day to propose to Lizzy, it wasn’t cold, it was a bit cloudy but still enough to see a beautiful sunset, so I went all in. Before I could even get down on one knee Lizzy had already started to have tears in her eyes (I did to) because she knew what was happening. To this day I tell Lizzy that I blacked out and can’t remember if I got the words out because I swear when I got on one knee I immediately got tunnel vision, I couldn’t hear out of either ear, and all I can remember saying is “ Lizzy Gordon would” and next thing I knew she was shaking her head yes.

One thing we know for sure about our story is that we wouldn’t change any part of it, we began as normal friends who studied together, which then blossomed into us becoming what felt like best friends in a short period of time, and now in a few short months I get to stare my beautiful best friend in the eyes and say "I do" to spending the rest of our lives together, for better or for worse.