We met in August 2020 at a back-to-school party with some mutual friends. The University of Tennessee’s campus was shut down during the spring semester, and our small band of revelers was excited to have a memorable night at a backyard concert in Knoxville. The music we heard turned out to be largely forgettable, but fate decided to make the night special for entirely unpredictable reasons.

Kate and I spent a lot of time together before we began dating a few months later. We began to notice how much easier it was to take on school challenges, illnesses, pet ownership (here’s to you, Polly), and the general struggle of maturing into adulthood when you have your best friend by your side. We never failed to appreciate this, which is why we knew it would be hard on both of us when I graduated in 2022 and moved 400 miles away to become a sports editor in Meridian, Mississippi for an undetermined amount of time.

The move to Meridian allowed me to focus on my longtime dream of managing a sports section for a newspaper, and it allowed her to focus on finishing her undergraduate degree. It also meant that we were rarely able to see each other apart from our regular calls over FaceTime. My reporting responsibilities made it difficult to travel to Knoxville more than a few times over the next 18 months, but Kate made many sacrifices and long trips to see me in Meridian. The shrinking city is the kind of place students seek to escape from rather than a popular school break destination, and I am ineffably grateful that she took on such a burden to allow me to pursue my dream career.

My coworkers and I found it increasingly difficult to operate a dwindling newspaper as the city continued to decline around us, and though I still had unrealized sportswriting goals, it soon became time to make a sacrifice of my own in early 2024. I knew my career in the newspaper industry would require us to make many more sacrifices than had already been made, so I chose to leave my career goals in Meridian to return to Knoxville and pursue my ultimate aspiration: spending the rest of my life with Kate.

Kate continued to make strides toward her own dream of becoming a dentist by beginning dental school later that year, and I began to pursue a new career in physical therapy. People don’t tend to maintain long-distance relationships, particularly ones that require driving through Tuscaloosa on a regular basis (Go Vols), without knowing that they plan to eventually reunite. We initially discussed getting married after we finished graduate school, but decided that we could not possibly wait any longer to make a lifelong commitment to each other. I took Kate out for a walk through the University of Tennessee’s botanical gardens, as we had done a couple of times as students, and proposed to her in August of this year.

We are excited to officially make this commitment to each other before God while surrounded by family and friends in December. We thank you for your interest in our story, and we ask that you keep the strength of this covenant in your prayers.