Kyle's side of the story: I have a distinct memory of seeing Mikayla for the very first time when I was a sophomore in high school. I was at her soccer game early in the year with a bunch of my friends and we were sitting on the endline right off the post of the opponents net. Mikayla was running for a through-ball near the endline right where we were sitting, and she nearly ran into me. That was the first time I ever saw her, and from that moment on, there was just something about her that I never quite forgot. About a year passed and I first legitimately met Mikayla Jean my junior year of high school at Shattuck St. Mary's. For those who don't know, Shattuck St. Mary's is a boarding school in a small farm town in southern Minnesota where kids from all over the world attend to gain college exposure. The school is highly respected for being an incubator for collegiate and professional talents and is highly selective on who is admitted. I was from southeast Texas and there for hockey, and Mikayla was from northeast Indiana and there for soccer. Now, the reason I say all that is because it is crazy how we even came to meet each other. Afterall, we are from different parts of the country. I was barely 17 years old at the time and was extremely focused on hockey and having fun with my friends, when I was introduced to Mikayla through a mutual friend, Isari. Isari was dating one of my best friends, Carter, and she was also best friends with Mikayla, and thought that we would be a cute couple. Then one day walking back from chapel, I saw Mikayla walking back to the main campus with Isari, so, I caught up to them and not only introduced myself to Mikayla, but I also convinced her to join the dance class that I was in with a few of my close friends. Once she got into the class, I convinced our dance teacher, Mrs. Carrie, to pair us up as much as she could, and she was cool enough to actually do it. Our connection grew instantly, and we quickly started to spend more time together. Mikayla Jean would soon become my first and last girlfriend in my entire life. Mikayla's side of the story: It was in the basement of Isari’s house where her and I were scheming who we wanted to go to prom with that spring. After the repetitive “no, not him,” Isari all the sudden stood up and shouted “MIKAYLA, I KNOW THE PERFECT GUY FOR YOU!” Isari described him as a funny guy who had a way of making everyone feel special; big brown eyes, and loved hunting and fishing. Soon after, we were buried in our phones stalking Kyle’s Instagram and manifesting our prom together. That winter and early spring, Isari tried to plan countless ways for us to meet, one of them specifically being pushing us into each other at the Christmas dance, where we both met each other with an awkward “hi” and a quick turn around in the other direction. Although the interaction was short, I couldn’t help but notice his big brown eyes and eyebrows. A couple months went by, until Kyle apparently approached Isari and I walking back from chapel together. I don’t remember this, but apparently Kyle and I talked the whole walk back to upper school from chapel. Next thing I knew, I had about five of Kyle’s hockey friends approaching me and trying to convince me to join this spring dance class. Little did I know this was all part of Kyle’s plan. After much convincing, I decided to join where I was the ONLY girl in the class surrounded by a bunch of silly high school hockey guys and coincidently always being paired up with Kyle. He was funny, genuine, and respectful. Conversations seemed easy with him, and he intrigued me. About a month later, Kyle asked me to be his girlfriend, and two days after that, he asked me to prom: mission accomplished :) Little did I know that Kyle would become my first and last boyfriend in my entire life.

Only after a couple months of dating we soon embarked on our long five years of maintaining our relationship through many phone calls, texts, and FaceTime chats. I started college in Illinois, about 6 hours from Minnesota, while Kyle finished up his senior year at Shattuck. Our visits together were few and far between, limited to some holidays and the odd time that Kyle would sneak drive his Hummer all the way to Illinois and visit me at college, but we stayed committed to each other. Kyle then went off to play in a junior hockey league in Dallas, Texas his first year out of high school, which then put us states apart. We'd get to see each other about three times a year until he was eventually recruited to play college hockey just north of Chicago, only about two and a half hours away from me. Although closer to each other, our demanding academic and athletic schedules made it difficult to take advantage of the 155 miles that separated us. Fast forward three years, I eventually graduated college with my nursing degree and moved to Texas to pursue my career there, while Kyle finished out his last year in college, again making us states apart. FINALLY, after 5 long years of distance, Kyle graduated from college and moved back to Texas. That left us with just one more test to our relationship - living together. It seemed effortless for the first little while until Kyle started putting the toilet paper roll on backwards and would leave his socks inside-out in the laundry, but it was a small price to pay considering everyday felt like we were just two best friends living together enjoying the moments we had, after spending so many moments apart. Our constant support of pushing each other to pursue our dreams is something that drove us closer together, knowing that selfishly there were times we wanted to just give up what we were doing to be close to each other, but selflessly supporting each other to keep going no matter the distance. Since being home in Houston, Texas, Kyle worked for a year as a Medical Device Representative selling surgical equipment to hospitals and clinics, while waiting to matriculate into dental school. Additionally, I have been working as a PACU and ICU nurse for Memorial Hermann. During this year, Kyle obtained multiple acceptances from dental schools, and we ultimately decided that San Antonio would be our new home. We are now settled down in Boerne, Texas, which is a quiet small town Northwest of San Antonio. Kyle is currently attending the University of Texas School of Dentistry in San Antonio, where he is pursuing a career to be an oral surgeon or orthodontist, while I am working as a PACU nurse in Fredericksburg, Texas. This has been the next step in our journey together.