Our Story
In 2018, Two 14 year old goofballs met in a gray classroom. They had been sitting on opposite sides of the room at nearly empty tables, when it was decided to merge their tables together. Friendship sparked immediately. They would spend their class time trying out their plethora of bad jokes on each other, and sharing their daily harvests of memes. Soon they started sharing lunch breaks and running track together.
As soon as they realized the love they had for each other, John was sent 5,445 miles away to a boarding school alone in the Czech Republic with only a few clothes, some books, and an old laptop. With a 7-hour time zone difference, he would wake up at 4am CET just to talk to Violet at 9pm CST; and she would wake up at 5am to sleepily greet him during his lunch breaks.
Minecraft dates, movie nights, digital concerts, and care packages; all to feel closer while being on opposite sides of the world. They stayed up to all hours of the night just to spend time together with what they had.
Minecraft dates, movie nights, digital concerts, and care packages; all to feel closer while being on opposite sides of the world. They stayed up to all hours of the night just to spend time together with what they had.
During his time away, John traveled to Karlovy Vary, Prague, Germany, Morocco, and once studied his engineering homework at the CERN supercollider in Sweden; all while Violet waited back at his home of sweet Texas like the Stone she is was.
![John with a stray puppy he found in Morocco that he considered keeping (his teachers said no [boring]).](http://texasredandhiswildflower.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG_5169.png){kind=link}
After the boarding school completely shut down amidst the lockdown in 2020, John got in contact with his Uncle Doug and Aunt Patrice in Alaska. The distance between the two slowly got shorter and shorter as he was kindly taken in by family in Alaska (4,000 miles) and later by his sweet grandmother Alberta in California (1,300 miles).
And on July 18th, 2021, after 3 years of being apart and dreaming of just one more moment to see each other face-to-face, the two got to meet each other for the first time all over again.
They were finally able to make up for all that time spent apart with things they never could do behind a screen, like skating, swimming, gardening, and their favorite: hiking.
And on December 18th, 2021, after receiving her parents blessing, they stood at the highest point of the Cactus Rocks trail at Balcones Canyonlands, overlooking the rolling hills and a rainbow winter sunset. Just one mile away from their sweet church and Cow Creek where they were baptized together, and just a few miles from John’s old home all those years back. After all the years they knew, she said yes, or rather “oH MY goODNESS, WOAH!! JOHN HJSHKWAH YES!!”
John is now attending LeTourneau University studying Mechanical Engineering in East Texas, while Violet is working in Graphic Design and Welding in Central Texas, just 200 miles apart. Once married, they will start their lifelong adventure together, starting with their trip to the wild Alaska, then living together in East Texas, finally with no long distance between.