#Partylikethepachecos

I first saw Ellen at a leadership retreat with our church at the beach. I was about to start my freshman year at UCF and Ellen was starting her senior year at the renowned International Community School. Although we led worship together, our interaction was brief. Yet, there was a lasting image of her imprinted on me. A couple months later on the way to a middle school retreat I got stuck behind a little VW Bug. It was a two lane road and I was stuck riding this car's tail for upwards of half an hour. Turns out, that little baby blue bug was going the same place I was AND guess who stepped out of the car... you know who. I was caught off guard, didn't really know what to say or do, and if I'm honest I might not have said a word. This week at camp we were both on the worship team, and I'm not sure if I'm a believer in finding "the one", but I knew she was the one for me. During this middle school retreat I ended up going back stage and praying something along the lines of "God, I pray that somehow I end up marrying this girl Ellen. I don't know how or why, but God if it's your will allow this to happen." And fun fact, this whole weekend my adult co-leader was the one and only... Mike Shaw, her dad. So here I am, I've got Ellen's phone number because we were thrown in a worship group chat together AND I already have an in with her dad. I was set up to hit a home run. I was like, "God, I know I said I wanted to marry her but you made this wayyy to easy." So, as any man would, I texted her. A day goes by. A week. Still nothing. Soooo, I performed the dreaded double text. Boom, got a response. Proceeded to try to start a conversation, nothing. In fact, she never even accepted my follow request on instagram yet alone follow me back until MONTHS later!! So, I gave up on the persistence and just let it go. Although our paths continued to cross a multitude of times, the idea of anything happening left my mind. In other words, I had given up. The next year in February, a couple of our mutual friends started dating. My friend put this whisper in my head that I should consider reaching out to Ellen. Her friend did the same with her. One day she posted that she went to a worship night (you can see this consistent theme within our story) and I DM'ed her asking how it was. AND SHE RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY!! And from there on out the conversations didn't really stop. But now, I was the skeptical one. There were no doubts that we clicked, she was beautiful, she could sing like no other (no seriously, just ask her to sing), AND most importantly she loved and followed Jesus. Just one thing: she was leaving to go on vacation to Europe, a missions trip to the DR, and was doing multiple camps during the summer. Not only that, but at the end of the summer she was going to Palm Beach Atlantic in West Palm Beach to study musical theatre. I had doubts. How was I going to get to know her well enough in 3 months to make a long-term long distance relationship work? Well, jokes on us, it was 2020. Covid hit in March. All of her trips and camps canceled. EVERYTHING cancelled. Time became our friend. Suddenly our relationship accelerated. Next thing you know, we started dating and everything else is history. I even told her I knew I was going to marry her the day she left for school in August. Now here we are. I'm marrying the girl of my dreams & prayers. Now some of you may ask, "AJ, don't you love all things sports and PT and stuff? How'd you end up with a theatre girl?" And to be honest, I don't know. It's not quite a Troy and Gabriella type deal (I can't sing like Troy) but it feels pretty close. It doesn't make sense on paper but trust me, it's working (but I'm still working on her watching sports with me lol). But if there's a few things that have followed us and brought us together in our relationship it's: Jesus. Worship. Craziness. Love. And lots of fun. I can't wait to celebrate with you. -AJ