Our Story

I should probably start this by saying that I have a generally terrible memory. Summer, on the other hand, has the memory of an elephant. She reminds me about things we've done all the time, so there's a decent chance she'll read this and correct a few details.

Thankfully, I remember the important parts pretty well.

How We Met

Summer and I met online, even though technically, we weren't supposed to. We had our distance ranges set in a way that should have kept us from seeing each other, but for whatever reason, the app recommended us to each other anyway.

We talked for about three weeks before meeting in person. We'd talk on the phone and FaceTime for hours almost every night. From the beginning, Summer was incredibly easy to talk to. We had a lot in common, seemed to think about things in the same way, and I never felt like I had to be anybody other than myself around her.

By the time I actually met her, I felt like I'd already known her for years.

One thing I remember from those first few weeks was how interested she was in my job and what I wanted to do with my life. Apparently, Renee noticed it too. Summer hadn't exactly been known for taking much interest in the other guys she'd talked to. She just didn't really care enough to ask. So the fact that she actually wanted to know about my life was apparently a pretty good sign.

I first invited her to Columbia for one of my roommate's birthday parties. It was going to be a big get-together with a bunch of my friends, and I was really hoping she'd come.

She decided driving all the way to Columbia to meet a guy from the internet at a giant house party probably wasn't the best first meeting.

Fair enough.

She stayed home, but I spent most of that weekend distracted anyway because I was constantly talking to her or Snapchatting her.

The next weekend was Mizzou Homecoming, and I finally convinced her to come.

She got off work late Friday and drove straight to Columbia. When she got there, we grabbed takeout, had some wine, wrapped up in a blanket, and sat outside on the deck of my townhouse.

The townhouse was shared with a couple of roommates and definitely wasn't in the best part of town. I had a little metal table and a firepit outside. It wasn't exactly some elaborate first date setup, but we sat there talking for hours.

The next day, I took her around to several Mizzou Homecoming tailgates. That night was our actual first date.

I took her to Kampai, which was the best sushi place we had in Columbia. I remembered Summer telling me weeks earlier that sushi was her favorite, so at least I was paying attention.

After dinner, we went downtown and met up with some friends at a couple of bars.

At some point while we were walking around that night, I asked her to officially be my girlfriend.

We'd only been talking for about a month, so I knew it was early. But I also knew I really liked her. If we were going to make a relationship work while living more than four hours apart, I felt like we needed to actually put a label on it.

So we did.

Summer drove back to Springfield after that weekend wearing my Mizzou hoodie. I later heard that Sage was on the phone with Renee when Summer walked into the house and said something along the lines of:

"Your daughter just walked in wearing a Mizzou hoodie."

I guess that made it pretty official.

The Early Years

One of my favorite things about the beginning of our relationship was getting to introduce each other to our lives.

I got to show Summer all of my favorite places around Columbia, and she showed me the places she loved in Springfield. We spent a lot of time with both of our families, and we've probably played more games of Spades at our parents' houses than I could ever count.

Our first winter together, we drove to see a Christmas light display while it was snowing. It started coming down pretty hard, which apparently scared everybody else off, because we ended up having almost the entire place to ourselves.

Then there was Alt-J.

About two months into dating, I took Summer to an Alt-J concert. In my defense, I had bought the tickets months before I even knew her.

For anyone familiar with Alt-J, you know they're a pretty unique alternative band and definitely not everybody's thing.

Summer had never listened to them.

She did not enjoy herself.

At all.

But now when I play Alt-J, there are songs she'll sing right along to, and she knows most of "Breezeblocks." So personally, I think she's finally seen the light.

Since then, we've managed to pack in a lot of memories.

We spent our first Fourth of July together at the Lake of the Ozarks with her best friend, Autumn, and Autumn's boyfriend, Brent. I went to Chicago with Summer and her family for our second Christmas together. A few months later, we went to the Florida Keys with Renee, Jonah, Sage, and Vicki for Renee's 100-mile Keys ultramarathon. We spent time in Key Colony and Key West, and I even got to meet up with my uncle's sister who lives in Marathon.

About a month later, I dragged Summer to another concert of my choosing—Cake this time.

In July, we went back to Florida, this time to Jacksonville with some of our friends from Columbia: Kolton, Rachel, Nick, and Courtney. We spent our time between the pool and the beach.

For Christmas in 2025, we celebrated my brother graduating from college and went to see the lights at the Kansas City Zoo.

And most recently, I got to watch Summer graduate from Missouri State and start her career. Our parents also finally got the chance to meet, which was surprisingly difficult to make happen when they live more than four hours apart.

We've had some great trips and experiences together, but honestly, some of my favorite parts of our relationship are the normal ones.

We like cooking dinner together and then binge-watching a show. We spend a lot of time with our families. More recently, we've been spending as much time as we can out on the river or lake.

I just like doing life with her.

When I Knew

I don't have one specific movie-worthy moment where I looked at Summer and suddenly realized she was "the one."

I think I just knew pretty early.

Within a couple months of dating, I remember thinking there couldn't possibly be a better person for me.

Everything with her came easily. We were on the same page about the things that mattered. We wanted the same things out of life. We thought in similar ways. She liked me more than anybody else did, and I liked her more than anybody else.

Sometimes I still look at her and wonder how I managed to convince her to be with me.

I knew I loved her within the first month or two of dating.

I didn't actually tell her until our first New Year's Eve together.

Building Our Life

We've both changed a lot since we first met.

When Summer met me, I was involved in a startup that ultimately failed. Since then, I've started my career as an engineer. Summer finished her degree and got her first job as a database analyst.

We've gone from me living in a townhouse with other startup founders to sharing a rental house together in Columbia.

And Summer has basically taken Pebbles, our Frenchie, full-time, so at this point she's become our dog.

Although I should probably clarify that Pebbles is still very much loved—and claimed—by the entire White family.

Somewhere during all of that, marriage stopped being something Summer and I talked about as a possibility.

We both just knew it was going to happen.

The Ring

The problem wasn't deciding whether we wanted to get married.

The problem was finding Summer a ring.

We looked at rings online. Summer went shopping with her mom. We went to jewelry stores all over Kansas City and St. Louis.

She knew what she wanted, but she couldn't find it.

Eventually, sometime in late 2025, we decided to check out a smaller jeweler in Columbia. The place had great reviews, but after looking at stores in KC and St. Louis, we didn't really expect a small shop in Columbia to have something the others didn't.

We were very wrong.

Almost immediately after we walked in, the jeweler realized Summer wasn't finding what she wanted because what she wanted wasn't sitting in a display case.

We didn't even have an appointment, but he sat us down and spent probably two hours working with us while Summer designed exactly what she wanted.

We bought the ring, and he gave us a rough timeline for when it would be finished.

Then he texted me when it came in.

By Christmas, Summer knew I had to have it.

She just didn't know what I was going to do with it.

She thought maybe Christmas. Or New Year's. Or Valentine's Day.

The problem was that she had specifically told me she didn't want me proposing on a holiday.

So I started telling her I was going to do it at her graduation.

She hated that idea so much that she told me if I proposed at graduation, she'd say no.

Which was perfect, because graduation had absolutely nothing to do with my plan.

The Proposal

For Summer's last spring break in college, I convinced her that we should fly to California to visit one of my best friends, Kaden. Our friend David would meet us there too.

What she didn't know was that I'd already been planning the proposal for months.

I had the location picked out. I had a photographer booked. I had dinner reservations that needed to be made about two months in advance.

By the time our plane landed in California, I think she knew I was probably going to propose during the trip.

She just didn't know when.

I told her that on Monday, we were going somewhere nice for dinner, so she needed to dress up.

I didn't tell her what time the reservation was.

Naturally, she assumed I'd propose at dinner.

That was exactly what I wanted her to think.

Before dinner, I drove us out toward Point Lobos in the Big Sur/Carmel area. I didn't want a bunch of people or traffic around the proposal spot, so when I pulled over on the side of the road, Summer was understandably a little concerned.

I told her Kaden had mentioned it was a good place to take pictures and that since we were already dressed up, I thought we should get a few.

She completely fell for it.

What she didn't know was that our photographer was already there, pretending to be a nature photographer.

There was a perfectly nice, dry path we could have taken.

Instead, I made Summer walk down a muddy trail in heels because I knew exactly where the photographer was hiding and needed us to approach from the right direction.

I'm sure she appreciated that.

Once we got to the spot, I got down on one knee.

Our "nature photographer" turned around and started capturing the entire thing.

For some reason, I was nervous.

I knew Summer was going to say yes. We'd designed the ring together. We'd talked about getting married for years. We'd flown across the country, and she already suspected I had the ring.

There wasn't exactly a lot of mystery surrounding her answer.

Still, I didn't want to mess it up.

So naturally, I put the ring on the wrong hand.

She said yes anyway.

We fixed the ring situation, recreated that particular photo with it on the correct hand, and then spent the afternoon taking engagement pictures along the California coast.

Afterward, we went to Chez Noir in Carmel.

And to be clear, it is actually a Michelin-starred restaurant - not "Michelin-starred because the locals say it's really good."

It was probably the best meal either of us had ever had.

The restaurant only serves around 20 people each night, so it felt incredibly intimate. We could watch the chefs preparing our food through a pass-through window from the dining room. We had multiple courses with a wine pairing, and somehow even the bread was better than any bread I'd ever eaten.

The staff made us feel incredibly special.

We talked about going somewhere afterward to keep celebrating, but by that point, we were exhausted. Between the proposal, pictures, dinner, and everything else, it had taken up almost the entire afternoon and evening.

So we went back.

I don't think either of us would have changed a thing.

What's Next

Now, I'm mostly excited that I get to build the rest of my life with Summer.

We're saving for a down payment so we can eventually buy a house and have a place that actually feels like ours.

In a couple of years, we'd like to start a family.

We want to spend more time with our families, more time on the water, take trips when we get the chance, and keep building a life together.

When I think about our relationship, I don't think it's one big moment that made me know I wanted to marry her.

It's all the little ones.

It's spending hours on FaceTime before we'd ever met. It's her driving four hours to Columbia and leaving in my Mizzou hoodie. It's Christmas lights in the snow, countless games of Spades, family trips, graduations, concerts she definitely didn't want to attend, cooking dinner together, nights on the couch, days on the water, and everything else we've managed to fit into the years we've had together so far.

Being with Summer has always felt easy.

She is my best friend, the person I want beside me for all of it, and somehow, despite knowing me well enough to fact-check this entire story, she still wants to marry me.

I can't wait to see what we remember, and what Summer has to remind me about, for the rest of our lives.