This is my favorite book in all the world, though I've never read it. It has everything: Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles. Our story begins in room 4441 in Bancroft Hall of the Naval Academy, where I was hungry, and Brooke had a box of Cheez-itz and an Aaron Lewis song on her speaker. From there a deep friendship grew. Stronger feelings developed, but it wasn't for a few years that I was ready to admit my feelings, and about one week longer until she was ready to admit hers.

We fell in love driving all over the mid-atlantic singing country songs, on homework dates in our rooms, and watching football and rom coms on the couches of our sponsor families, though you'd be surprised who picked which.

When we graduated, our time together shifted to daily FaceTimes and long distance movie dates. We spent our days waiting for long weekends when we could meet in a random town in Virginia, North or South Carolina, and then eventually Florida. We'd meet each other wherever we could find a gym to workout in and an adventure to be chased. Despite the distance, we did and do our best to be each other's rock while we each chase our dreams, apart yet together.

I knew she was the one for a while, but in the summer of 2025 I was ready to make it official. The Great Plan was to take her to a beautiful park in Connecticut, near where she was going to Sub School at the time. However, she wanted to spend the day in NYC and see a Broadway play instead, totally unaware of The Great Plan. Using only my wits, Google, and my former roommate Ian Dinmore, who was in NYC going to med school, I developed The Greater Plan. I met her in New York City, took her to a quiet spot in Central Park that only had ~100 tourists taking pictures, got down on one knee and asked her to be my wife. She said yes, we kissed, and Ian brought flowers and filmed from the bushes. She may even have been surprised, despite what she'll tell you.

Which brings us to our next chapter: The Wedding. We want to thank you all for being in this chapter, and thank you for helping us write the ones that came before. We are so excited to celebrate our love and this new chapter of our lives with you!