Ellen’s Story
While home for Thanksgiving my senior year of college, my mom received a text from her long time friend and paralegal, Jennifer Lucas. She was texting to let her know that her nephew was going to be in Indianapolis for Christmas and that she was afraid he may be bored staying at his grandparents for an extended period of time. She wrote asking if I would be willing and available to “show her nephew around the city.” Of course, my first question was “how tall is he?” to which she sent a picture and not only was he tall, but he was very cute, so I said sure without thinking much of it. Later, during winter finals, I received a text from Mitch, but by this point I had completely forgotten what I has agreed to do. The first thing I noticed was how easy it was to text him, it did not feel like I was pulling teeth to set up our first time meeting. I remember standing in my apartment cooking dinner for my roommates when he texted back, “Great! It’s a date!”; immediately I was confused. For some reason it did not venture into my mind that it was a proper “date” and I thought I was just genuinely keeping him preoccupied for awhile. Fast forward to December 21, 2018, and we had both made reservations at an old greek restaurant in Fountain Square Indy. We spent the entire night talking and laughing, and then bar hopping until about 4 in the morning. Of course we texted throughout the Christmas festivities and we were able to see each other a few more times over the winter break. We basically never stopped talking . Mitch was able to come to my senior year formal as my date and that is when we both decided it was worth trying long distance dating while we both pursued our education. Our relationship turned into FaceTime dates, surprise Venmo cash for lunches or coffee, and flying between Michigan and Washington DC. We finally got a taste of being closer to each other once I was able to move to Detroit and be closer to him. We definitely got a mouthful of each other when COVID-19 forced us to live together way too soon. And now we finally have our own home together in Austin, TX. The night I met Mitch I told my mom, who was asleep on the couch waiting up for me, that I was really good at achieving long term goals; I would say being with Mitch forever will be my most accomplished long term goal yet.
Mitch’s Story
It was Thanksgiving in Austin, and all my family had come down from Indiana to enjoy a Texan turkey day. We were watching the Cowboys when my Aunt Jenny leaned over and nonchalantly mentioned her boss’s daughter was single, cute, and free for dinner during Christmas break. She showed me a picture of a girl with beautiful eyes and a cheeky smile. It didn’t take much convincing. I sent Ellen a message a few weeks later asking if she wanted to grab dinner when I was in town, and excitedly said “Great! It’s a date!” Dinner turned to dessert, which turned to a drink, which turned to leaving the bars at 4 AM. Far past my typical bedtime, but she was worth it. I didn’t know it, but from then on I found myself always wanting to spend as much time with her as I could. We spent the next days distracted from family holiday events and finding times to see each other again. After that we traveled to visit each other in Waco and South Bend before deciding we wanted to start dating. Across miles and months between visits, I knew I still wanted to do whatever I could to spend more time with this girl. Over the next few years we both moved to new states, started graduate school, and found every excuse we could to fly to Michigan and D.C. to spend breaks together or long weekends half way between in Pittsburgh. Between visits, we talked everyday, sent an incalculable number of texts and GIFS, and counted down the days until our next trip to each other. After Ellen finished graduate school, she moved all the way to Michigan and we had our taste of short distance dating with spending almost every weekend together exploring her new city, enjoying the nature and comfortable summers of Michigan, and finding every opportunity we could to be with each other. After a few more years we ended up in Austin together, and have loved moving from 1,117 miles away, to 650 miles away, to 155 miles away, to across the room. The day I proposed to Ellen, I told her that from our first date I have wanted to keep spending as much time with her as I can, and am glad that I get to spend the rest of my life making memories, having fun, and spending time with her.