In November of 2022 I heard about this guy named Reese from a coworker. Apparently he was tall, mature, and worked with his church’s youth ministry, just like I did. But… he was from Texas (pictures of plaid button-down shirts and boots with spurs flashed through my mind). Plus, I figured I’d never meet him, so why bother thinking about him?

A week later, I found out that there was a zoom call set up for the three of us (my coworker, Reese, and I) to share ideas for work. I was super nervous and didn't want to join the call at first. But I found myself looking at a screen with this guy sitting on the other side, calm, cool, and collected (no cowboy hat in sight). My brain was spinning. "Wait, he's kinda cute... and he's asking really good questions. Wow he's mature for a nineteen year old... He's so godly he doesn't even care that he's talking to a girl. He probably already has a girlfriend and is just ignoring me. Surely a guy like this is already taken." I was intrigued, but didn't expect to hear from him again.

However, in March I got an email from this mystery guy named Reese. I opened it to see that he had invited me to join a zoom call with some other youth leaders to share ideas. I decided I had too much work to do and didn't join the call... but mainly I just didn't want to waste time speculating over this guy I thought I'd never meet.

A week or so later, I found out that this guy (whom I'd only spoken to once) was asking my coworker for my number and wanted to get to know me. I asked an old friend, Erik, who knew Reese, if it was worth it to get to know him (obviously Erik said yes...) It was really scary when I answered the phone that first time... After the first few awkward minutes, we found some common ground in our high school cross country days. After that it was smooth sailing. I think we talked for two and a half hours. After we got off the phone, the first thing I did was text my mom.

"This guy is wonderful. I really enjoyed talking to him. I hope he feels the same way."

I didn't hear back from him all week. I figured he just wasn't interested in talking again. Womp womp.

But on Friday, I got an email saying that Reese Prater had registered for my church's young adults retreat. Working for the church has some perks--I got the inside scoop! I was so excited and pretty baffled that he was planning to come visit and meet in person after only one phone call.

Three weeks and three phone calls later... we finally met in person. Not gonna lie, it was SUPER awkward. Somehow we made it through that first weekend, and I decided I wanted to keep getting to know him.

One week after that, I flew to Texas to help with Reese's youth camp. That was when I knew I was serious about this guy. I was so sad to leave. It felt like we were becoming friends. When I left, I was having similar thoughts as after the first phone call...

"I think I really like this guy. I wonder if he could be the one... I hope I will get to see him again..."

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