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Taylor Swift is the invisible string.

Our love story began on December 13, 1989. JK, kind of, but not really (for the folks that don’t know, that’s Taylor Swift’s birthday).

But our love story did begin at a Taylor Swift concert… June 2, 2023, I drove myself from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Chicago, Illinois to attend The Eras Tour with some friends and a girl I had never met before, Kayla. Turns out that girl, Kayla, is my soulmate. 

Little did I know, before the concert my friends were talking me up, encouraging Kayla to shoot her shot. Meanwhile, at the concert I’m apparently trying to make everything as awkward as possible... desperately avoiding Kayla because she overwhelmed me. Fast forward a Cruel Summer, some Champagne Problems, a surprise song, and a friendship bracelet or two later, and while I don’t know a lot of things, I knew then and there that I met someone that was probably very capable of changing my life. So, naturally, me being me, I remained oblivious and ignorant of what was right in front of my face. We went our separate ways, me back to Iowa and Kayla back to California. Weeks later one of my officiants not so subtly assured me that Kayla was not going to text me first. And while I don’t “text first,” I was too chicken to think about the prospect of never talking to Kayla ever again. So, turns out, I do “text first.” And it turns out that “texting first” was a really, really good idea.

May 2024, our best friends, and now officiants, had us out to Chicago, Illinois, once again. This time, little did Kayla know, that we were there to celebrate not only the baptism of our godchild, but I had some other plans too. See, turns out, Kayla knew our friends were scheming for us to get together the first time, but I had not a single clue. May 2024. I flipped the tables. Surrounded by the very friends present the day we met, at the very same dinner table where we met, I asked Kayla if would be my wife. She said yes, thankfully.