Our story seems pretty simple when you write it on paper. We met in high school, started dating, went to college, graduated, bought a house and got engaged. Seemingly following all the "right" steps for a relationship. But picture the biggest tree you can think of and then think about climbing it, challenging but doable on your own. Think about climbing that same tree but you have to do it with someone else now but, the goal is to be able to be at the top of the tree together. We started at the very bottom of the tree together and throughout the years have found ourselves on different branches at different times and figuring out how to navigate that isn't always easy, that's why less than 2% of high school sweethearts make it to marriage.

We had been dating for about nine months before Nathan left for college. This was a spot where we were on very different branches of our shared metaphorical tree, at the time not fully realizing we were climbing the tree together. This would have been an easy spot for us to give up and decide to climb our own trees, but we managed to stick through it together on our separate branches. The next year we were in Akron together and seemingly on the same branch. During this time, we had moved in together so we were balancing learning how to be adults, college, and moving in together all at the age of 19. After our year in Akron together, we decided to come back home and finish college at YSU where we stayed together on the same branches for the most part. That was until Nathan graduated and got his first big kid job and I was finishing up my schooling and still working part-time, here we had another moment where the tree branches were very different levels and we had to figure out how to navigate this and make sure we were on the same tree together still, another great example of a time where it might have been easier for us to not be climbing the same tree. But this was a temporary moment, just like how it was during Nathan's first year of college. Once that moment passed, I got my first big kid job, finished school and finally got on the same branch as Nathan. This theme carries throughout us buying a house and getting engaged because what I have learned, this tree is endless. It's not so much about being on the same branch at all times and reaching the top, it's about how you get through being on different branches and I think that is Nathan and I's story in a nutshell. We are constantly learning how to be each others biggest supporters while waiting for us to meet on the same branch and there's nobody else we would rather climb trees with than each other.