I met Anna when I was 22, had just graduated college, and was not looking. When she walked into the training of the NBA XPLOR orientation in St. Louis, there was something that instantly drew me to her. Her energy, her vibe, her Northern California roots, the supreme coolness with which she carried herself mixed with the high energy of someone who knows her place in the world and what she brings to the table. She was different than anyone I had ever met, and I knew she was special. When she was placed 40 minutes from my hometown and I two hours from hers for XPLOR it felt like destiny was laying the groundwork for forever. We used to joke that the universe was not ready for us to be in the same place, that it would throw off the balance of the world. The first four months of our relationship consisted of many skype dates, late phone calls, and a really frustrating two hour time difference, yet as we learned more about one another, about hopes and passions and the we saw the world, it became more clear that this was different than either of us had experienced. I remember very clearly what it felt like to fall in love with Anna Westin, and I have the privilege of getting to feel that again and again as we grow and evolve together.

Every good story has it’s share of complexity. A season of change made it necessary for us to be apart to grow together. The hardest thing I have ever had to do was watch Anna move to Oklahoma, yet it was in that separation that we were able to do the necessary work to come back together, to get ourselves to this place. It is part of our story, part of the vulnerable transparency with which I want to exist in our relationship, in our future. Space allowed for us to better understand each other, to grow, and to spend the time working on ourselves so we could be two whole people lifting one another up, rather than two halves trying to make a whole.

It has been four years since that incredible, enthusiastic woman walked through the doors of St. Louis and we are planning our wedding. There is no one I would rather share this life with. There is no one who I would rather do the beautiful, complex, passionate, meaningful work of creating a life with. Anna is my person, my equal, my best friend, the love of my life. I am overjoyed to be in this season, to be starting our journey to marriage, to be existing with the person who calms my soul and lifts me up. I cannot wait to be Melissa Hurley-Westin. It is a name four years, many calls, several hundred skype dates, and several hundred real dates in the making. It is a name that gives me butterflies, and fills my eyes with tears. So, Ms. Westin I will see you June 20, 2020. Say the word and I am already there.