Austin and I met back in September of 2019, so we’re coming up on six years together! About three years ago, we moved into our home in Shawnee and soon adopted two rescue cockapoos, Maizy and Millie, who are now the queens of our house.

We met through a mutual friend, Preston—I worked with him, and Austin was his roommate. Now, Austin swears we met a few times before I remember, but the day that stuck for me was one where everything went wrong. I was living at home after college and had a morning meltdown: backed into the basketball goal (that had been there my whole life) and got a ticket on the way to work. I told Preston about my rough morning, and he offered to fix my tail light and buff out the scratch. When I showed up later that week, Austin was sitting outside eating what I still claim was the saddest salad I’ve ever seen—just lettuce and maybe a pepper. I teased him, introduced myself, and he said, “We’ve met… I was at your 25th birthday.” (A night I definitely didn’t remember clearly, haha.) That night, we ended up hanging out, and I messaged him later on Facebook. The rest is history.

Our “official” start as a couple was late at night on September 11th. We were lying in bed and he said, “I want to ask you something.” I told him to wait 15 minutes so our dating anniversary wouldn’t be 9/11. He laughed and asked, “How did you know?” At midnight, he officially asked me to be his girlfriend.