We met back in 7th grade when we were both scheduled for English at the same time. We became instant best friends and eventually began dating ... well as much as you can when your parents still have to drive you around!

Although we ended up going our separate ways, our fate was sealed entering high school: freshman biology, Mrs. Allen's class... Who would have guessed that we would get placed in the same class again 2 years later? I'm sure you can guess what happened... we decided to be friends again because Bayley "needed help" studying. I (Madison) should have seen right through that; Bayley struggling with his most beloved topic? HA! Pretty quickly we became best friends once again, spending most days together. While I had no intentions for anything past a friendship, Bayley and everyone else knew we were destined to date again.

This time around, he drove us everywhere. We adventured all over the state of Georgia finding any hikes we could, to get outside and be in nature together. We became integrated in each other's families; his taking me on their trips and mine taking him on ours. Highschool came and went, and Bayley earned a lacrosse scholarship to the University of Tampa while I was accepted to the University of Florida.

We knew going to different schools would be hard, but it would also give us the opportunity to become independent, and so we decided to try a long-distance relationship. Bayley and I managed to see each other at least once a month and did a lot of texting in between.

I traveled to Tampa, met his amazing new friends, and experienced the gorgeous place he lived.

Bayley traveled to Gainesville where he got to meet my new best friends and experience SEC football in the Swamp (Go Gators).

The time we spent together consisted of going on any trail / "hike" we could find in our areas to revisit the outdoors we both love dearly. The time we spent apart allowed for each of us to grow into the people and couple that we are today, so as hard as it was, we are both eternally grateful for it.

Eventually we both graduated college and moved to Alabama, which we now get to call home with our two beautiful boys (not kids... dogs).

This isn't even close to the end of our story, as ours is forever