Keyan and I met in 9th grade, as 14-year olds. We met through a mutual friend, who happened to be my boyfriend and his best friend at the time. At the end of the 9th grade school year, I was admitted to Primary Children’s, where I had to stay for a few days. It was Keyan’s idea to come visit me in the hospital, and his mom was willing to get off of work early to drive him down to Salt Lake. That summer, Keyan and I started to hang out with a group we called, the flock, a group of 6 that included our mutual friend that introduced us. We hung out almost everyday that summer. That fall, Keyan and I started our sophomore year, leaving 3 members of the flock still in junior high behind. My boyfriend and I broke up, but the members of the flock stayed in touch with each other as we made new friends and had our own experiences. At the beginning of the school year, one of my friends and I decided to sit at a random lunch table and start to make new friends. We sat with them for a few days and got to know them. One day on my way to the lunchroom, I noticed Keyan sitting in a hallway all by himself with his lunch. Without thinking anything of it, I immediately offered him an invitation to the new lunch group we had formed. Little did I know that this was a very important day in Keyan’s life, the day he found his high school friend group, and the day he claimed to have fallen in love with me. I never knew about this until later, but I did know about his very obvious crush on me. I heard it from everybody, and it didn’t seem like he was trying too hard to hide it. Unfortunately for Keyan, I was interested in an older boy, and kept Keyan in the friend zone. As I dated this other guy, Keyan remained one of my best friends. I was very on and off with this other boy, and no matter how many times I experienced my heartbreaks, Keyan was there to listen. I can’t imagine how hard it was to watch the girl you cared about the most talk about her feelings about some other guy, but he did it. During one of the breakups, Keyan sent me a message that I happened to screenshot. It read, “One day… I’m gonna steal your heart! Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not this year, maybe not even in high school, but one day I promise we are gonna be together. Believe me or not, I don’t care, but until that day, just keep being my best friend.” I honestly thought this was a very bold statement, considering it was right after a breakup, and I think I thought it was a little comical. However, we remained best friends as we went through high school together.
During one of the last months of senior year, Keyan got his mission call. The day of his opening, I had to work, and I wasn’t planning on going. But Keyan was my best friend, and I just couldn’t miss it. By some miracle I got my shift covered. That night as he opened his call and read his assignment, I broke down and realized how much I was going to miss him when he left. Leaving his house, I was a little confused realizing that after all of this time, I had feelings for Keyan. I did not want to tell him now that he had his call and was planning on leaving, so I didn’t plan on it. Eventually, it came out. We finished senior year knowing we had feelings for each other, but never establishing an official relationship due to the mission. We decided to make the most of the few weeks of summer that we had, and decided to make it official after graduation. We hung out almost every day. I never wanted to tell him that I would wait for him, because I didn’t want to make a promise that neither of us could guarantee. When the time came, we promised we would write and we did. We wrote and stayed in contact every single week, and I stayed close with his family. Keyan returned from his mission in April of 2020. After what seemed like 2 very long weeks of quarantine, we were able to start hanging out and dating again. We did everything together that summer, and started our fall semesters together. I’m shocked that Keyan still wanted to propose after witnessing me go through a semester of nursing school, but he did. I guess true love is loving someone no matter how stressed, tired, or crazy they get. He proposed on December 6, 2020. My dream was to get engaged at Disneyland, but he did something even better. He planned a trip to Maple Grove Hot Springs in Idaho for my birthday and there he created the happiest place on earth, wherever we are together. Both of our families snuck up there to capture the moment and celebrate with us, Mickey and Minnie ears included.
Keyan and I were married in Ogden, Utah on May 1, 2021. Everyone believes that their love story is the best, but we will forever believe that ours is unmatched. Ultimately, Keyan kept the promise in that message he sent me 5 years before. True love always finds a way, no matter the length of time, amount of distance, or the number of odds against it.
