Distance can be crossed. Time will pass. Forever is what matters.

“Long distance? Good luck with that.”

So many people say long distance is doomed to fail.

But a love that endures distance + time creates the most beautiful, climactic triumphs of love I’ve ever experienced. When two people forced apart are finally together, they can’t help but show the world they are in love, no matter who is around.

I roomed with Sarah in college, so I got to know Rufus very well over the course of their relationship. They were all over – living in NC, going to school in Ohio, from totally different areas of the world. To meet the way they did, in student outreach, and then to continue reaching for each other all that time was incredible. They wanted to take their time. But when it was time, it was time.

Rufus reached out to me in 2022, told me he was getting Sarah’s father’s blessing. A few months later, Michael, Rufus and I were planning a surprise proposal in NYC. Out of the 100 venues and vibes listed on a spreadsheet of “Where”, only one was proper for their truth. A waterfront pier across the river from the United Nations building, where they both participated in our college’s Model United Nations. See, Sarah was in NYC for Model UN.

It was touch and go to start, with the clouds dumping rain and the wind pushing something fierce. We were loading too many boxes into a tiny Uber just hoping to get to the pier in time. Thank the Lord, the rain stopped just as we arrived, the sun peeking out from behind the clouds and the ground glittering like it was strewn with diamonds.

It felt like the wind was blowing with us, giving us a push as we set up tables, backdrop, candles and more. Hardly done, we dove behind a car as her Model UN friends brought her to the spot (under false pretenses of course!).

I watched her jaw drop when Rufus appeared out of nowhere—the jig was up. She knew her moment had arrived.

The words they shared before he got down on one knee will stay between them. But the “yes”, the ring, and the pure, unadulterated joy that followed resonated with all of us. They took a moment to pray together and thank the Lord for their relationship and to ask Him to be with them in the next chapter.

What could have been more pure? I could not have felt more blessed to be there.

This wasn’t just another proposal. Not for me. Not for them. It really was about them, a cornerstone of what brought them to say, “You. Forever.” Every detail, how they danced together after she said yes, the tears of joy she cried, their prayers and the laughter we shared was real. 

What he said, the “yes”, the first time she wore that ring, all of those are moments that happen so fast, with so much excitement and anxiety, they can fade so fast, not being able to linger in those feelings as so much changes in just a few words.

They’ll never be without reminders of that incredible time.

That joy will never be forgotten.