Our story began quite simply. I was working at dillons, had been for around a year. Jessica had just come back to Kansas from Delaware and needed a job. She applied at dillons as it wasn't far from her aunts house, only a couple of blocks. She went through the process and was made to work in the kitchen, in the same place I was working. She started working there on January 20th, though for the first week, we didn't really meet or talk, as I came in later in the day, and with breaks and work, we would only work together for about 30 minutes. Even after we began to work longer together, and lot wasn't said, maybe a hi, or question about how work is going, it wasn't until a little later, maybe a month that we started to talk more about other things than work. Of course, she was the first to truly start up a conversation, and by that, I mean making a joke. I didn't expect it, and it made me be shocked and then laugh. That was the start of our friendship. We still were not as close as most friends, but we would often talk at work and make jokes with each other. Then, I decided to find and add her on social media, and it took off from there. Now we didn't just talk at work. We would text outside of work, talk, and keep each other updated on things. Sometimes, we would stay up until 2 a.m., just texting about anything and everything. We talked about how we grew up, things we did, schools we went to, places we've worked, what we liked to do, and enjoyed. From there, we found we had a lot in common. We both liked to read, and we both liked rock/indie music, we both liked the same type of games, made the same jokes, and had similar views on things. Our views on each other definitely through our texts and talking became more romantical as the weeks went by. Jessica always says that sometime around march was when she started to get feelings for me, realizing that some time while we were texting at 2 a.m. that she was starting to like me. In March, I would say that's when I also began to like her. We had almost everything in common. How could I not. We weren't exactly the same, but i didn't care. To me, she was, and still is, the prettiest, funniest, and despite what she says, kindest girl in the world. We continued talking and texting, both liking each other but not saying anything. After she went back to Delaware for a week, we both made plans with each other and went and hung out at a bar on May 14th, our first little outing together. It was fun. We had tacos and played pool, which the people watching definitely enjoyed as we were both terrible at it. It was a fun night. Afterward, we both wanted to hang out again, but with work and family obligations, we couldn't for a while. It wasn't until July that we went out together, and we both joked it was an unofficial date. We had lots of fun, we went and tried insomnia cookies downtown, which despite the price was very good, we sat and had cookies and ice cream on some nearby steps, then we enjoyed some smoothies from across the street, though ended up swapping them as we didn't like the ones we choose. She took my phone and took some funny pictures of herself that she posted. They still come up in my memories on there once and awhile. We horsed around as we headed back to my truck, and we went for a drive around together. She panicked as she thought we were driving through the hood, haha. I assured her we weren't and left the area quickly as it was a little sketchy. I won't lie. Then we made it to Walmart on pawnee and Broadway. We walked around the store, joking about items and things we saw. We played the little demo game they had set up there in the electronics section. Well, she did, I watched. I was too nervous, too in love to do anything but watch her have fun. During that day and the days around it, we both would tell each other that we had something to tell each other, we both seemed to know that we both liked each other, but we were both to nervous or afraid to tell the other. We settled on a date, August 3rd, and we would tell each other what we wanted to say. As the day came closer, I was so nervous, I didn't just like her, I loved her. What if she said no or didn't feel the same. But we went through with it; I wanted to say it, but I was so nervous we ended up texting it to each other instead. We both confirmed that we did intact like each other, and I didn't know what to do. No one has ever said they liked me. So I asked if she would be my girlfriend, she said "I guess", so I hugged her and gave her a quick kiss to confirm it. We were now dating. From then on, we hung out almost every night. We would sit in a parking lot like Walmart or the Y, and we would watch videos and joke and talk for hours after work. It was so fun, and many memories were made. On August 12th, we went on a walk down the river front, we looked at all the odd things they had placed around. We stopped and took a rest at one of the benches, I had a promise ring for her, but I didn't know how to give it to her, so as she sat there, I took it out of the case, and asked her if she loved me, when she said she did, I slide it onto her finger. She called me, quote a "dummy," but said she loved it. We went and got snacks from Quiktrip and ended the night. From that night onward, it became a sort of tradition. We would get dinner or snacks and sit somewhere or walk around Walmart late at night together and just enjoy what goes on, talking and joking as the time went by. In September came the big date, we were both off, so I had a lot planned. We went off to the mall out east, we're we went to build a bear and adopted little Zero Grimes, a cute little ghost dog. We took some photos there in the photo both as we always do if we can. Then, next, we set off for the botanica gardens, we spent some time there, taking lots of pictures and enjoying the foliage. It was quite fun. After we walked all around the place and seen everything, we then left for dinner, we went to olive garden, as we both quite like pasta and bread. After we ate enough to sleep for days, we then went to go see a movie. She slept on the way there, but I unfortunately had to wake her up for the movies, which saddened me a little as she looked so peaceful sleeping. After the movie, we went to quiktrip and got some drinks and some snacks and went and sat at the Y together for several more hours. We watched a fox not know how to do anything and just run around, and we talked for hours until around 11 pm. We spent the whole day together, it was quite fun. Next came October, her favorite month, full of spookyness and horror movies. We both made boo baskets for each other, with some cute little things we found for each other. We gave them to each other on October 11th, a little bit earlier than Halloween as we intended, but sometimes we are both impatient. For work, we got to dress up as matching characters in costumes, which was quite fun and memorable. We didn't win, but it was still something we had never done, so it was in itself a win. We designed our own little pumpkins. We didn't carve them, but a sharpie works just as well. She even won a cake at work, which turned out to be a very good cake, haha. On November 14th, we put the deposit down on an apartment together. It would be my first time not living with family. For the next few weeks, we went through the trouble of getting everything packed and ready to move in, but one more big thing remained, I planned on proposing to her. That day comes on November 29th, her birthday. I had yet another whole day planned for her. I had the ring in my pocket, I wanted her to have it to wear that day, so I planned to give her gifts first. We went to the park nearby and sat near the water, I gave her her gifts and waited for the moment, as she dropped her carmex, I bent down onto one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes, so excitingly, her happiness overpowering anything around until the only thing I could see was her eyes and smile. Then we kissed. We took her gifts back home and then went off to the east mall, a place we seem to frequent. It was so packed there, impossible to walk through. We didn't stay long or buy much, so we then went to Olive Garden for our dinner. After we went to barnes and Nobles, we set off for another movie, and then after for snacks and sitting at the Y. On December 12th came our next big day. Move in day. It was a busy day, and yet we got it done. Then, on December 25th, we got to celebrate our first Christmas together. Now that was fun, decorating, eating, gifts, all of it. On February 1st of 2025, we went and got our cake paid for and picked out all the things to do with it. February 14th, we celebrated valentines Day together, lots of flowers where exchanged and gifts were given. On February 20th, we mailed out all our wedding invitations to all those coming. On march 24th we ordered our wedding shoes, definitely not the traditional ones, as they are converse, but very nice anyway. On April 9th, we had another date day, we went to the Wichita Art museum and took lots of pictures. We also went and had dinner at Kyuramen, a place we went to when they first opened. That day, our wedding shoes arrived, and we were both so happy to have them. On April 10th, i got my first tattoo, she her 10th. But they were matching our initials on each other, something neither of us thought would happen. On April 19th, we decided we would begin the process to set up and open an online book store, and on April 20th, Easter, we celebrated that for the first time together. And even though she worked that day, I tried to make it a little special for her. Now we are here to the day I write this. Many more date days and many more events will happen, but the most important thing between us, is the love we have for each other.