After my freshman year of college, I went to Pine Cove in Texas. Being from Alabama and a student at Auburn, Texas was so very far away. It was right around 12 or so hours to drive to camp and College Station. Keep Texas in mind because that is important. During this summer at camp, there was this girl named Madeline who would always throw me apples during snack, and this was extremely vital because I did a very bad job eating at camp. Every day it felt like she would toss me an apple and we would exchange a few sentences and go about our day. Throughout all this I had a decent amount of people, probably too many, come up to me and tell me Madeline had a crush on me and I was interested for sure. With that being said, I left that summer and went on my way because I didn't dare to pursue someone from Texas. A couple of summers passed and we did not talk really at all, which was sadly just our reality. However, I did text her happy birthday right after the summer ended, CLEARLY indicating how I felt. All that time had passed, but thankfully she was close to my sister-in-law, Aly, and was at her and my brother's wedding. I had a lot going on at the wedding being the best man and all so as everything wrapped up she came up to me. Yeah, she came up to me, kinda crazy. Everything came back at once and I couldn't help but flirt a little bit outside of the venue as everyone was around and watching us, it felt like. I didn't much care because I was genuinely interested and really into her to be quite honest. We began texting that night and continued to on and off for a few months until the Texas A&M game. I may have been kinda the worst during these couple of months, but we have moved past this. She came to Auburn for the game and we hung out for a little before the game and then after I went to AJ's house to hang out and see her. She and all the girls were headed out soon after I got there, but she stuck around to talk. Thank God she did because we probably wouldn't be here today without that. We talked all night and I caught serious feelings fast. She was funny and genuine and loved the Lord a whole lot. I then dropped the games and did everything I could to try to make this Texas and Alabama relationship work, thankfully I had some help from a brother and sister-in-law. I gave her an out a couple of days later and she ended up taking it actually, but did take it back that next day and was willing to give it all a chance. I then headed out to Texas to hang out and see how it all went. In Texas, we went on our first date to the Rockets game and then to Plucker's for some wings. I had the best time, enjoying the company, the game, and the food. Madeline was so fun and such a joy. Getting to know her through this was awesome and I felt ready to make it official, so I asked the age-old question. I do not remember how I asked or what exactly she said in this moment after eating Pluckers before our hour drive home, but just know she said no to being my girlfriend. I was crushed and overreacted thinking this was for sure over, I had no chance now. That was dumb of me as she soon after came to Alabama to hang out and we got to go on another date to the Little Donkey and TopGolf. This date was also amazing and so I gave it another shot! She said yes this time guys, it was pretty awesome. I was just going to keep asking though because there was no giving up on Madeline Meuth. Ever since then, we have shared some amazing laughs, tough competitions, sweet moments, tears, smiles, and everything in between. I am so blessed for all of this and all the memories as she is as wonderful as it gets. I am so excited for this story to continue and to have this next chapter written by our amazing Father, but until then enjoy the twists and turns of the story he has already written for us.

Our story starts all the way back in May 2020. Crazy, I know. I was headed to Pine Cove for my first summer of camp, and Ty was a sophomore at Auburn. When I arrived, I met Aly Barker (Ty’s now sister-in-law) and we immediately hit it off. Within 24 hours of meeting her, I had already heard, "Taylor has a brother, you should marry him and we'd be sisters!" Ty very quickly became my camp crush for this reason alone. As I got to know Ty, I realized how funny, caring, and thoughtful he was and realized this wasn’t a surface level crush. During that summer, I served as a cook, so making sure everyone was fed was a high priority of mine. Of course I had to take my job very seriously- so I brought my camp crush, Ty Barker, an apple every day during snack to "help make sure he was full.” About 100 apples later, we both left camp for the summer to go back to school- 12 hours apart. The next summer, we both worked at Pine Cove again and continued to grow our friendship. As far as I knew, we were both okay with staying friends simply because of the distance. Although dating wasn't in the cards for us then, it was still sweet to spend another summer serving together and getting to know more about Ty. Fast forward to September 2022, I was headed to Taylor and Aly's wedding. Throughout the whole wedding, I was thinking about seeing Ty again after a year and a half apart. He was busy with Best Man duties, so I didn't get to even talk to him until after the send off. When we finally had the chance to chat, I planned to close the door and say goodbye forever. Sounds dramatic, yet with our time at camp behind us and the reality of being miles apart, it felt like this would be the last time I saw him. Despite our intentions to part ways, we found ourselves drawn into a conversation about our lives. We didn’t even notice the 200 people around us, bringing back memories of our first summer at camp. That evening, we exchanged texts, spoiler alert, the conversation never stopped. This went on for a few months until I saw him again in Alabama for the A&M/Auburn game. As soon as I got to Birmingham, I got a long text from Ty. It said something along the lines of “I think you’re awesome…but we live 12 hours apart.” I was sad, but wanted to respect his decision. I saw Ty the next day, which was something I dreaded after the previous text. As soon as I saw him, it was like we didn’t skip a beat. I was more confused than ever. Later that night, we all went to AJ’s house, and Ty was showing up just as most of the girls were about to leave. I asked him to drive me to Kennedy’s. He agreed and we talked all night. We both knew that we liked each other, but the distance was scary. I left a couple days later with a mutual understanding that we were going to see where things went. As soon as I got back to Texas, I could feel how hard the long distance was going to be. Ty gave me an out, I took it, then took it back less than 24 hours later. I think it was then when I realized Ty would be in my life for a very long time. He came to Texas a couple weeks later. We went to dinner and a Rockets game. It was the best date I had ever been on. I think he felt the same because on the drive home, he asked me to be his girlfriend. And… I said not yet. So then about a month later, we went on another date in Alabama, he asked, and this time I said yes! I am very thankful he was willing to ask again. Long distance has been hard, but I have never once questioned if I wanted to continue or not. It has been more than worth it because I get to marry Ty Barker. I think I can speak for the both of us when I say I am so thankful for the way the Lord has written our story.