So, it is true. Sean and I met through Tinder in the Fall of 2020. He had just moved to Grand Forks two weeks prior to us matching and I was living in Fargo and completing my final semester at NDSU. I was home for the weekend to do my laundry.

The night that we matched I had been showing my mom what dating in the 21st century was like. When we came to Sean's profile, I was originally not interested because he had more photos of Winston than of himself. As I was about to swipe left my mom told me to stop, I was being too picky. She immediately made me pull up his profile and referred to this sweet photo he had of him and his mom walking arm in arm together. She told me I HAD to meet this boy. So I swiped right, and two weeks later we went on our first date and the rest is history. Take a step back to watch us grow up together.

As time has gone on, we have done a lot together and endured a lot together. For the first year of our relationship, we technically did long distance. This is because I was bound and determined that I was not going to move to Grand Forks and wanted to stay in Fargo. I'll skip to the point, I ended up moving to Grand Forks a year later to go back to school, pursue other opportunities, and move in with this kid. I just liked him that much.

As we hit one year together, moved in together one month later, and got ready for the holidays, we met our first real test in our relationship. As many know, we were involved in the 70-car pile-up outside of Ashby, MN on 12/25/21.

Sean and I both experienced serious life-threatening and life-changing injuries from the accident. His mom, and sister were also injured and his dad was fortunately OK. We are still grateful for everyone making it out alive and there being no fatalities in this incident.

The year of firsts, as I call it, brought change and challenges. Sean and I had to live separately for 3 months after the accident because we needed support and care from our families to do daily tasks. We went through a lot of change and a lot of rough patches that year, not only as a couple but individually.

We realized that year that we could be better and stronger together. We are fortunate to say that we are now three years post-accident, and while things linger, we are doing very well. We like to joke that marriage is going to be a cake walk.

And now we're here! We have been together for 4 years now and have experienced many changes. This year alone has brought so many exciting things. The best being getting engaged on January 10th, 2024, getting another dog, Sean graduating college, Katie getting accepted into graduate school, buying our first home in Grand Forks, getting our 4th cat, and taking on our home projects to make our home ours.

We have traveled. We have gotten to work together in football at UND, grown into adults together, and really established a life together. We are excited for this next point in our life and to see where it takes us.