#whenyouknowyouknow

On August 25th 2021, at the College of Southern Maryland in Prince Frederick Brittany and Casey coincidentally has their first nursing class. As soon as Casey walked in, he instantly stood out. Not only was he the only man in a room of 20 woman but he was also incredibly handsome, and grabbed my attention right away. I looked to my left at my friend Krystle and said "he's going to be trouble". During our class break we (Krystle and I) walked outside with a plan to introduce ourselves to him and invite him to study with us anytime, trying to make him feel less intimated and that he had someone in his corner. We talked here and there but Casey was very independent and was certain he would be fine on his own. A month later we were randomly assigned the same resident(the only pair in our entire clinical group) at CHVH where we learned quickly how to work as a team. I joke about how I carried our team but truth be told I saw so much potential in Casey, he just needed me to push him along. We chatted often about our personal lives and grew closer through our past experiences, hardships, stubbornness, inappropriate sense of humor, and huge hearts. I failed first semester, while Casey, Krystle and all of our other friends pressed on. I genuinely thought our friendship would fade but boy was I wrong. Our group of friends met and had margs at Mexico (of course). We sent eachother holiday messages and checked on each other time to time (what we thought was subtly) and it wasn't until I sent out a "good luck text", in the group chat that he reached out to me individually. This happened a few times after that until my around my birthday when Casey got wind that I was struggling personally and the conversations became more frequent. He's never failed to show up for me, let me know how much he supported me and has always reminded me of my worth. That’s just the type of man Casey is. Who would of thought I would get to experience this first hand every single day…. There was always an unspoken (well.... to each other) attraction until one night Casey challenged me to "make it nasty". Anyone who knows or loves me can say I never back down from a challenge. Soooo the next day I arranged to meet Casey in between classes at CSM, where are friendship started. We talked for while in my car before he FINALLY kissed me. And the rest will remain between us and the van. Fast forward to now, I couldn't imagine my life without him. One of the things that is unique about our relationship is the ability to be friends first, always. We aren't afraid to talk about the good, bad, and the ugly with each other. We truly have a love like nothing I've ever experienced or seen. Thank you to everyone that has been apart of our story this far. We love you ALL so much.

The teacher called for us to break and I immediately “sprinted” outside to get some fresh air and to try to take it all in. Unbeknownst to me, some girls had a master plan to introduce themselves to me. Here come Brittany and Krystle. I’m literally thinking, “please don’t talk to me, please leave me alone, I just want to breathe out here and be by myself”. Welp, that didn’t happen as they walked up to me and began talking. What this showed me is that these two girls had my back. That was an incredible feeling as I needed someone, anyone to get me through this new journey. What I didn’t know, at the time, was I just met my best friend, someone who would change my life forever, and my forever girl. What really sparked “us” for me is my experience working with Brittany at our clinical rotation first semester. We worked well as a team as I worked as a project manager and made sure she did all the work correctly. In all honesty, she’ll probably tell you she carried us or whatever but she couldn’t have done it without my humor and my uncanny ability to make her smile. During this rotation we learned so much about what made each other tick. We began finishing each other’s sentences, which we still do to this day.It is very weird at times. We call it ESP or at least I do. She made me feel so comfortable and safe and made me feel like I belonged.She gave me the confidence to believe in myself and actually believe I could be a nurse. This confidence is something I had never had and day in day out, she makes me feel like I can do anything I would ever dream to do. I absolutely love her for this. Every single clinical day, I found myself taking care of my patient as fast as I could just so I could see what Brittany was doing. I would go searching the hallways looking for her just so I could be with her. I don’t know if she knew that at the time and maybe she even thought I was a stalker but when I was with her, I felt like myself. I hadn’t felt like “me” for over a decade. When it became real or real “nasty”. I was working out one night with my brother and I had been texting with Brittany now for a while. We were getting to know each other but it was all innocent up to this point.I knew she wanted me and I wasn’t sure if she knew I wanted her too. So, me being me, I made it known. “Make it Nasty” by Tyga popped up on my speakers. So what did I do, I texted her and told her to make it nasty. From here on out, we texted in a very different way. You could say I started all of this and if it wasn’t for me Brittany would have never found her best friend. We met up the next day between classes. We talked but I’m not sure I heard anything she was saying. All I wanted to do was kiss her big beautiful lips. I was trying to find the right time for what felt like 69 minutes. Eventually, I mustered up enough courage and I leaned in and kissed her. I will never forget this moment and will cherish it forever. Kissing her is my favorite and it feels like the first time every time. I found my forever girl. Brittany and I have had a lot of life battles that we have had to go through but we have stuck by each other’s side throughout them all. Since that first day of nursing school, she has always been by my side. She has taught me so many things about myself that I will forever be grateful for. She has made me the man I have always wanted to be. She is my right-hand woman, my partner in crime and my best friend. I never thought someone could make me this happy and that I would end up living a hallmark movie type of love.I always thought that was hogwash and just stuff you see in movies. Well it’s not. It’s real and I am the luckiest man alive because I get to experience this type of love every day with my forever girl. Now, all of you get to experience a taste of what we have and the little quirky nuances of our love. It is incredible, it is weird but it is something I wouldn’t trade anything in this world to be without.

December 17th 2022 Millville, Delaware The trip to Delaware started at midnight. Brittany had just got back from a day to New York with Kyleigh and was exhausted. She spent the entire day prior and even moments up to them leaving, trying to convince Casey that they could go another time. But, in Casey fashion he did some persuading and she caved. The day of the proposal they went to their favorite, Bethany Diner and had their usual. They drove to the outlets (Casey favorite) and spent the afternoon shopping. We had planned to go to an early dinner at “The Salted Rim” (where we also had our first date). When we got to the restaurant we posed to take a picture out front, I was perfectly content with taking a selfie in front of the restaurant but Casey suggested we have an employee (who was sweeping the sidewalk.... WEIRD) take it for us on HIS PHONE (WEIRD). We posed for a second and smiled. Casey grabbed Brittany's arm, turned her towards him and said "But real quick". He stared into her eyes, and began telling her how much he loved her and how grateful he was to call her his best friend. He began to choke up, tears started to flood his eyes (sensitive Sam over here) and Brittany knew right away what was coming next. She proceeded to call him a "brat" for keeping all of this a secret, (Brittany hates secrets). He pulled himself together, got on his knee and asked her to be his forever girl! Of course she said YES! They celebrated over dinner and a bottle of champagne, while Casey spilled all the details of the proposal. Brittanys absolute favorite is all the videos he made leading up to proposal day. It makes her cry watching it, even now.