We’re getting married!

Where do we even begin… We’re both Gen Z babies, so technology just had to be involved to avoid the terrifying notion of just going up to someone and introducing yourself. We’d both just reported to Michigan State to begin summer training for our respective sports in July, 2018. All the incoming athletes stayed in the same dorm that summer, so naturally we all went to the same cafeteria as well. One of the first days there, Nicholas was sitting with his freshman roommate and now life-long friend, Carson Gates. Being the freshman boys they were, they saw cute tall girls and devised a plan to meet the six of us volleyball freshmen. Carson jokingly Air-Dropped a screen shot of Nicholas’ instagram profile to all six of us. Nicholas and Carson proceeded to introduce themselves, and we instantly all became close friends. Soon after the encounter, we found out Nicholas was in a relationship at the time and we were all sorely disappointed because of how devilishly handsome he was. Just kidding, only I was! After a week or so of knowing Nicholas, I said to the rest of my volleyball classmates that, “I’m going to wait until he and his girlfriend break up, give him time to heal, and then date the hell out of him”. And folks, thats almost exactly how it went down. Over the year, we were friends, but with our busy schedules we were never too close. It wasn’t until November of our sophomore year that we rekindled our friendship. I was dealing with a knee injury at the time, and Nicholas was always in the training room rehabbing something. Also, we would walk over from our student-athlete academic center to Athletes in Action, a Christian athlete group we are both a part of. While walking over one day, Nicholas mentioned that he was now single. All I could remember was my little statement from freshman year. I had the biggest crush on this guy from literally almost the first day, and now it was go time. I did exactly what I said I was going to do. I gave him time to heal then began to initiate step three. Through the help of Carson and one of my best friends/teammates, I relayed the message that I may or may not have had the biggest crush on him. Soon after, he messaged me on snapchat, again so Gen Z of us. We started dating on January 26th, 2020, just a few weeks before the pandemic struck. Within that time, I got a knee injection, went on a 10 day spring-break mission trip, and Nicholas’ tennis season was in full swing. It was truly a crazy way to begin a relationship, but I’m so grateful for everything that we have faced together. During my junior year, my coach asked the whole team to look around at each other and ask ourselves “who would we want to go to battle with and why”. I probably should have been thinking about my teammates, but I couldn’t help but think about Nicholas. We have been through so many battles together including a pandemic, a collective 5 knee injections, two traumatic brain injuries, graduation, finishing both of our collegiate sports careers, and oh yeah, just regular life! He has been so humble, patient, caring, genuine, and loving through everything that we have faced. He has truly been my biggest blessing over the past three and a half years, and there’s no one else I would rather go to battle with. Nicholas Ross Williams, I can’t wait to date the hell out of you for the rest of my life!