In October of 2015, two dorky 14-year-olds wound up on the bleachers together, “watching” their high school football team play (it was a blowout that day, sorry MP). Neither of them were really there for the game: Julia wanted to watch the marching band do their halftime show, and Conrad had been on parking duty with the JROTC crew. Conversation wandered to a shared love of Lord of the Rings, and when Julia revealed that she and her friends had spent their middle school years learning how to write in dwarven runes to be able to pass notes to each other, it was all over for Conrad — he was smitten.

The two were fast friends, but then Conrad and his family moved across the border to South Carolina after that first year of high school. They stayed in touch over the years, and when Julia needed a “tall and attractive” date to junior prom, she knew who to ask. Conrad had gone to prom the week prior and had already returned his tux, but Julia didn’t need to know that, so he lied and said he still had some days left on the rental, and when should he plan to pick her up?

They dated through all the rest of high school, long distance, with Julia spending many of her first hours as a licensed driver making the trip to and from Spartanburg. When the time came for college, they continued the long distance tradition in Texas, spending every possible free weekend together, surviving hurricanes, concussions, ice storms, a global pandemic, and corps training.

Following Conrad’s commissioning into the Air Force, the two moved in together in College Station, before making their first PCS move to Enid, where they’ve built a home together with their three cats during Conrad’s time as an instructor pilot.

After over a decade of friendship and love, Conrad and Julia are thrilled to be celebrating their marriage with you. Thank you all for being a part of this story — here’s to so much more to come!