Our story begins in 2021 in Harmony, MN at the Gunderson Nursing Home where I worked as an Activity Assistant. Wallace began working as a CNA, so I didn't speak much to him. After a while, before I was about to head home for the day, he had sat down to talk to me for the first time starting small talk. Then he asked if we could keep in touch outside of work. I agreed and swapped numbers with him. We started talking, and at first, it was small talk but eventually, he wanted to know everything about me and asked deeper questions. Initially, I was reluctant but opened up, and then we became close friends. We hung out all the time, talked way too much at work, and went out to eat. I honestly didn't think much about it, I just figured I had a good friend...until he started to do my dishes after a long day and bought flowers for the hard days.

In December of 2022, I was in a harder place and Wallace helped me out. We got close within that time and he had asked me to be his girlfriend on the 29th of December. From then on, we did everything together, he attended all family events, celebrated birthdays, and helped me when I was sick. After about a year and a half, Wallace got into Winona State so we decided to move to Winona away from home so he would have an easier time getting to school and back. It was a hard change but Wallace made it all worth it and helped me adjust.

On April 6th, 2024, Wallace set up a hiking trip on the Winona lookout. I didn't think much of it so I got dressed and ready to go. I hated hiking but somehow he was able to convince me to look up there and check it out with him. We had our dogs, Oakley & Ivy. Wallace waited until the outlook was empty before heading up there. After getting up there, he got down on one knee and proposed. I was pretty shocked and overjoyed. I was excited to start our lives together.

I think it's amazing how two people could live so close together and have no idea the other exists. Wallace had gone to Fillmore Central where my siblings had gone and I had no idea. I am so grateful that we had crossed paths because I have no idea where I would be without him.

It was my first time walking around the Gundersen Harmony Care Center, and I was told to find the nurse and to get a TB test. I was nervous and asked the first person I could find when I got to the nurse's station and that person was Hannah. From the moment I saw her I was taken aback by her beauty. I thought she looked stunning and I remember reading her name badge and ensuring I committed it to memory. She very kindly directed me to the nurse that was standing just beside me and that was the first time I laid eyes on her.

When I started training to be a CNA I watched closely as she would sit and chat with the residents and I would always find her incredibly funny. I wanted to get to know her better but I would always feel anxious when I would be near her because I was nervous I would say something dumb and that she wouldn't like me.

A few months passed and I was slowly working up the courage to get her Snapchat and we slowly got closer. Unfortunately, I gravitated toward her too much and she had to remind me that she didn't feel the same way about me as I did for her. So we stopped talking for a while and then we slowly became just friends again.

I was lucky to have been invited to spend more time with Hannah and slowly I became best friends. During the summer of 2022, I would go and hang out with her daily. Since Hannah and I were such close friends her family started to like me and started to suggest that we start dating. It wasn't until late December I asked her to be my girlfriend.

To make a long story short, we lived together in Preston and I was going to school finishing up my Associate's degree and spending as much time with Hannah as I could. I would work 12-hour shifts with her every chance I got and I would go home and make us supper. We got a little doggie named Ivy and she is our little pride and joy, but in the beginning, she was a ton of work. Ivy took a lot of hours and plenty of training to get her behaviors under control and from that experience Hannah and I got a taste of what it might be like to bring a child into this world together. I graduated from the Tech school and started going to Winona State University for a Biology: Allied Health Bachelor's Degree continuing my focus toward PA school. I would drive to Winona 3 times per week during the Spring semester (January-May) and Hannah and I recognized it was unsustainable for me to continue driving so we moved out of Preston to Winona in March. Moving cities was big for us and I thought that to move and us growing together I should ask her to marry me. After saving up everything I could I asked her parents if I could marry their daughter and with their permission, I started planning. I settled on proposing at the lookout and she loved it.