I learned that Andrea first had the hots for me back in 2020 when she conveniently left her water bottle at my house after a game night with some of my friends. She says it was truly an “accident,” but I know that she’s much smarter and more clever than that.

We started dating, fell in love, and quickly decided to get married.

Okay, maybe that’s not exactly true.

Three years after our initial dating stint, Andrea came back into my life, first as a friend, and then by suggesting we give it another run.

I let her know that I was the same flawed, confused, and unnecessarily complicated man, but I figured if she was up for the challenge, then I would be too!

But fast-forward to 6 years since we met, after numerous dates, card games, travels, and both fun and hard conversations - and me forcing her to listen to many podcasts and YouTube videos - here we are more confident in each other than we could ever be.

I love this girl so much and everything about her. How did I get so lucky? Before I met her, I did not realize there could be someone as beautiful, smart, funny, career-oriented, and sporty, who would date a loser (mostly kidding) like me, but I’m darn lucky that one exists.

We’ve gone to South Africa, Portugal, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Hawaii, and all over the U.S.

We’ve skied, hiked, run, and biked. Been to numerous weddings, concerts, sporting events, and family reunions. I’ve been taken care of and felt overall loved by this amazing girl.

I will do my best to make her forever feel just as lucky.

In 2020, my friend Ansley invited me to a party and said that I should try and meet a guy named Eric Hedberg while I was there. Turns out, she told him something similar. I don’t remember much about meeting Eric that night, but the next day he texted me that I had left my water bottle with him, which led to us meeting up at Memorial Park and going for a (very slow) three-mile run together.

We began to see more of each other over the next couple months. I remember being impressed that I found someone even more social and extroverted than I was.

(We can skip past through the part where two months later, I got cold feet and called things off with Eric at a Sonic (this will matter at the end)).

Fall of 2022, I start running into Eric again through mutual friends and wonder, “hmmm why did that end?” I started to find excuses to be in the same places as Eric, the most notable of which was the night of Eric’s New Year’s Eve party where I stayed until 4:00 AM helping him clean his house. As I was leaving he said, “I’m so glad we’re friends again!” Just what every girl wants to hear. I told him I wasn’t there just to be his friend. 😉

From there, we began spending more and more time together, months that turned into years. Our relationship has been full of fun: meeting each other’s friends and families, becoming travel companions and road trip warriors, playing countless card games (I’m winning, for the record), walking Houston’s trails and parks, cooking dinners together, and enjoying movie nights (where I watch the movie and Eric falls asleep on the couch).

Our friendship continued to grow as did our love for each other. In Eric I saw a man who was an incredible listener, a deep thinker, and a loyal friend. I knew I never got tired of being around Eric (even despite his boy-ish tendencies of spilling food or losing things).

Anyone who knows our story knows it had its twists, turns, and moments of hesitation. There were plenty of questions, a lot of uncertainty, and many prayers about what the future would hold. But in God’s timing, we both arrived at a place of peace and clarity. Looking back, we are so grateful for every part of our story, because it led us to the love, joy, and peace we have now.

So, it was March 20th, 2026 when Eric gave me the very best birthday gift in the world by asking me to be his wife. He surprised me with family and friends in town to celebrate.

Before taking me to our surprise engagement party, Eric drove us to Sonic, where we got to pay homage to that place I told my FUTURE HUSBAND in 2020 that I “didn’t see this going anywhere.”

I’m so glad it went somewhere 😊