Mike and I met in high school in 2009. He was two grades older than me but we were both on the indoor and outdoor track teams. In January of my sophomore year, I sent him a text. From there, we started texting every night but rarely, if ever, spoke in person. Finally, in April, at the last minute, Mike worked up the confidence to ask me to his senior prom. The day after prom (May 28th, 2011), with some pushing from friends, Mike asked me to be his girlfriend. From there, we continued to be very shy and awkward around each other but stuck together.

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 11 years since that day. Mike and I have been through so much together. I attended his high school graduation. We went to both my junior and senior proms together. He saw me graduate high school two years later. We navigated through the college experience together. I went to ECSU, just down the road from UConn, so that we could be close. Our 5 years in college together would include track and cross country meets, countless late nights studying, dining hall dates, and as many UConn basketball games as Mike could get to. We attended each other's college graduations and moved on to our next chapter. That would be a move to Miami, Florida in 2019 where we would both experience truly being away from home for the first time.

After ten years of dating, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a proposal. On October 10th, 2020, Mike brought me to South Pointe Park on Miami Beach, one of my favorite places. After sharing a book of pictures of us, he finally proposed. We couldn't be more excited for our special day and the rest of our lives together!