A little tapas restaurant on a walking street in Palo Alto was the spot Eric chose to take me for our first date when we each happened to be traveling through the Bay Area on the same day in August. I was impressed by his good taste, good manners, and full head of hair.

While Eric lives in mountainous Denver, Colorado, and I live under the big blue skies of Lubbock, Texas, we connected on the World Wide Web. He patiently spent multiple months messaging me before we finally agreed to chat. Our first phone call confirmed we shared a common faith, and the more we talked, the more green flags we encountered. There was something there that, by God's grace, kept both of us exploring the possibilities.

Eric boldly asked to visit me in Texas for a second date. He stayed the night at my brother's house, courageously met some of my friends, and was on his way after breakfast at my favorite bakery. We both hoped this might turn into more and, after years on the dating scene, weighed whether this budding relationship held potential worth investing more of ourselves into once again. Eric invited me to visit Denver, where he introduced me to his close friends and put me up in a beautiful hotel. I loved what I learned, seeing him in his element around the people who had known and loved him for years. On October 28, 2023, we officially started dating.

In many ways, Eric and I are opposites. He does strategic planning for the nation's largest landscape supply company, traveling the western U.S. and Canada when he’s not looking at spreadsheets to identify revenue opportunities. I, on the other hand, am Executive Vice President of a small nonprofit organization, where I’ve spent most of my career managing staff, volunteers, and grassroots efforts supporting and advocating for families and homeschoolers through the legislature, the courts, and events. I’m the social butterfly, and he is the anchor, right there with me with a kind heart to encourage and take care of me and the people around us.

But we also have a great deal in common. We love to travel and have visited family and friends in England, France, and Finland. I realized this relationship was probably going somewhere when I invited him to a homeschool leaders’ conference in Washington, D.C. for his birthday, and he was excited to go. Who asks for that and who says yes?! He loves to ski, and I love to snowboard. We love our nieces and nephews, our friends and family. We love good food, good wine, and, most of all, we value our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Eric admires and respects my life in Lubbock and its vibrant community, and I respect that he is faithful to serve his loved ones and at his job where God has him. God has parted waters for our relationship to thrive in ways I’ve never before experienced.

Eric is the answer to the prayers of my lifetime. While I don’t have a sense of urgency to be married for the sake of being married, I don’t want to live without Eric. He is kind. He is good for me and good to me. He makes me feel comfortable being myself. He makes the weight of life lighter and the joy of life brighter.

Thank you for rejoicing with us at the great goodness of God. In His perfect timing, He brought us together to receive the gift of the most intimate love on this side of heaven: marriage.

Real Life Side Notes:

- To squeeze the most out of our first date, I insisted we take a walk at a nearby park after dinner. It turned out that it was closed, dark, wooded, by the bay, and the perfect place for a murder. It was creepy, but we both survived.

- Eric counts the time we’ve been dating from the first time we met, August 15, 2023. Because I had not agreed to be his girlfriend until October 28, that’s where my timeline for our relationship starts. We agree to disagree on how long we’ve been “dating.”

- After searching through all five conservative Christian girls in Denver on match.com, Eric refined his search to Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina to find me.