Our love story stretches across nearly a decade and most of the country. We are so thankful for the grace that has kept us together and helped us find each other, over and over.

After briefly meeting at our alma mater, Taylor University, we went to different cities for our masters' programs. When Justice moved to Milwaukee for his job at Kohl's, Veronica was still living in Milwaukee as she worked a summer job and looked for teaching positions. Our overlap in the same city? Six weeks. And yet we felt deeply familiar with each other, quickly spending every night exploring the city: trying new restaurants, watching fireworks, walking the lakefront, going to movies, and drinking Colectivo coffee while laughing together.

When Veronica moved to Detroit to teach high school, we thought it might be the end of something very new. We texted, called, and Skyped across the Midwest every week. We leaned on each other on difficult days. We celebrated each other on good ones. Eventually, we called it what it was: love.

Justice moved to Austin. Veronica came to Texas not long after to work on her PhD. We're still exploring together, laughing together, bearing the weight of life together. We are making friends with each other's friends, loving each other's families, and cannot imagine a future where we are not by each other's sides.