Paul and I met in middle school, we even dated in 7th grade, like hold hands, band class, and group movies type of dating. That obviously didn’t last long. Life happened, and we grew apart. I moved to Kalamazoo and went to Western for college and Paul went to LCC in Lansing. There were years where we didn’t talk besides the occasional comments here or there on Social Media.

Our separate paths during these years were not always bright and life sure had its way of knocking us both around. In times of darkness it can be challenging to understand the purpose of it all, and in 2015 I finally began to understand why.

In 2015 I moved back to Lansing with my beautiful daughter, Avalene. The first couple of months back home were frightening. Starting all over again was not ideal, change is hard for me.

Until one day I got a message from Paul Cook…my 7th grade boyfriend? He saw I had moved back to Lansing and asked how I was. It’s hard to explain but before I knew it, I was giving him my entire life story, I felt the need to tell him everything. And in return, he did the same. I think we both sat there in shock, awe, and well relief. There has not been a day that has gone by since that first message that we have not talked. There was something about him that made my whole world make sense.

Fast forward…It’s now December 25th 2018 and Paul is insisting that I open his presents first, even though we said we weren’t doing presents and just wanted to focus on getting the kids gifts. He set one on the couch and tells me to open it. He stands behind me, because well he’s 6’6 so that’s the normal. I open it and it’s a picture of the sky with a prediction of how the stars look on this very day! Underneath there is a quote that says, “The night the stars were perfectly aligned”. I turn around to tell him thank you because I absolutely love it, and there he is down on one knee with the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. I’ll be honest, I have no idea what this man said to me, because I just started crying, I’m a ‘cryer’ so it comes very easily to me. He wiped away the tears, put the ring on and I said, YES, well at least, I think I did. I was crying so hard I’m not sure if the words came out of if I just nodded my head 😊 We spent the entire day celebrating with family and I couldn’t imagine it any other way.

The feelings he gives me can’t be put into words. His love is selfless, and his heart is pure. He loves me unconditionally, the good the bad and everything in between. He loves my daughter, as if she were his own, and for that I am forever grateful. He makes me laugh until I’m in tears and always pushes me to be a better version of myself. He is my inspiration, my rock, and my best friend. I am so truly blessed to have him by my side. I cannot wait to say, “I do!”. Love you Now & Forever.

The Romance

Emily and I first started dating in 7th grade, where she fell madly in love with me. Due to the stresses of our extremely busy and responsibility filled 12-year-old lives we eventually split up. I went to a different high school and she eventually moved away to college. We continued to follow our own separate journeys through the ups and downs of our lives. After many years, I learned Emily moved back home to Lansing and I decided to send her a message. The following message would forever change the course of our lives. As I gathered up the courage to send the message, I typed the following words in the phone “Hey, how have you been?”, and eventually hit send. After several anxiety filled minutes of waiting for a reply, my phone beeped with a response from Emily that I am still trying to understand today. The response felt like it was several pages long and was the exact opposite of what I was expecting. Rather than the typical “Thing are good, how about you?”, she proceeded to openly and honesty tell me how things in her life were going and according to her, things were not great at the time. Still to this day I do not know why she decided to answer that simple question with such detail and honesty, or why I did not shy away from her response. Was it possible she felt that comfortable with me after just one question? Was it fate? Or was she possibly just at a point that she was ready to unload on the first person who asked. I am not sure if I will ever know the answer to that question, but we have talked every single day since. After several years of dating I decided it was time to take the next step in our relationship. I planned my proposal for several months as I worked out all the details to make sure it was perfect. On Christmas eve we opened the comfortable pajamas and fuzzy socks that I planned to for us to wear on Christmas morning. When we went to bed that evening, Santa Claus delivered the final presents that completed the perfect Christmas morning proposal. When we awoke on Christmas morning, she opened her first present, a framed astrological map of the stars in the sky on December 25th, 2018 with a quote stating “The night the stars were perfectly aligned”. As she focused on opening the present, I pulled the ring from my pocket and got down on one knee. When Emily turned around, she was in tears before the words even came from my mouth as I asked her to be my wife. With both hands over her mouth and tears streaming down her face, I heard a faint “Yes” squeak out, muffled by her hands as she nodded repeatedly. The proposal was completed by opening the presents left by Santa the night before. The presents from Santa were wrapped in white tissue paper, signed with a curl on the bottom of the S of Santa’s name. Two framed Michigan State basketball jerseys with the name Cook on the back of both and the numbers 20 and 18 representing the year of the proposal. On the bottom of one it said, “He Asked…” and the other “She Said Yes…” As if Santa knew what was going on and what her answer would be. The process of planning out wedding together and the thought of spending the rest of out lives together is a feeling that motivates me to be the best person I can be for myself, Emily and our children. I have been through many struggles in my life that I would not wish upon anyone but now that I know it all lead to Emily and our lives today, I would go through it all over and over again if it would lead me to her every time.

Emily's Story

Paul's Story