Mary likes to say I was born for her. After all, I was born (prematurely) just one day after her. Our parents were already friends, so we even attended each other’s first birthdays! However, with both of us being shy, who knows if we had one conversation in the first 16 years of our lives. Our story really begins the summer before our junior year of high school, when I had to tutor Mary in math (she still thinks her dad was trying to play matchmaker, because she was doing just fine in math). It took no time at all for us to hit it off and become best friends. When Mary returned to home to New Orleans at the end of the summer, we started texting and talking on the phone every day – and not so much about schoolwork anymore either. At the end of junior year, Mary found out she would be moving back to Houston, and I was a romantic who thought everything was coming together perfectly. I hoped – will we? Mary was my first girlfriend for almost a whole month (wow) until she realized she was going through too much at the time and called it – we won’t.

That senior year, Mary gave my sister, Emma, a ride to school every day. It meant we sometimes saw each other in passing… but our friendship had turned into the occasional awkward coffee outing at best. That Valentine’s Day, I left a heartfelt letter and drawing of a rose in my mailbox for Mary (she still has them all these years later). I didn’t know what she was going through, but I knew I missed our friendship. It was a tough senior year of high school for us both, and it looked like the days of talking for hours were long in the past.

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Our story would have ended there if it weren’t for our friend, Trevor! Johnny and I went to separate colleges, but Trevor was always the glue encouraging our old trio to catch up when Johnny was in town. By his senior year of college, my feelings had come full circle and I was secretly hoping Johnny would move back to Houston. Trevor and I even drove all the way to Notre Dame for his college graduation! Johnny did decide to move back to Houston, and this time it was my turn to be a romantic. I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again, and I thought everything was coming together perfectly. I hoped – will we? Ha! Johnny had a new job and a brand-new social life, so he had different ideas this time – we won’t.

That seemed to be the end of it once and for all. Johnny and I spent a good 5 or 6 years not hearing much from each other, even though we lived in the same city. We were lucky if Trevor happened to relay some information about how the other person was doing. Cordial but distant – we like to refer to these as the dark years.

Eventually, I moved from the suburbs into the city. I started being more social again, and it wasn’t long before Trevor, Johnny, and I started hanging out like old times. The stars had aligned and we both found ourselves single at the same time. One day, I decided to text Johnny to escape a work happy hour, and it turned out he had his own happy hour to escape as well! We ended up talking until the bars closed that night, and then we saw each other three more times that week. I went home and wrote a letter for Johnny to read on our wedding day – I knew we would. Johnny was… a little slower to realize what was happening. But eventually, he showed up at my doorstep with another rose, and this time it was a cupcake! He knew we would too.

At the beginning of 2025, Johnny proposed, and of course, I said yes. We will! (Finally!)