Our Story  

Ah, where to begin? After a semi-successful freshman year (by that I mean I was not asked to leave Texas A&M University), I needed to find a job. Scholarships could only pay for so much school, and even though I earned a lot of them, the money would dry up. I can’t even remember where I found this opportunity. My guess is somewhere online. But nonetheless, I found a job that I thought to be intriguing. It was to work with the 12th Man Foundation. For any none Ags out there, the 12th Man Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works hand in hand with Texas A&M Athletics. The job was to work in the ticket office for sporting events. Cool, right? I thought so too.

Anyways, fast forward to our new hire orientation (of course I got the job, that would’ve been a terrible intro if I hadn’t got it). There were about 10-12 of us freshly hired to be part of the Texas A&M ticket staff. Most of us were sophomores or juniors, but there was one freshman in the mix. A legacy sent by her parents who had also both been student workers in the ticket office during their time at Texas A&M. Her name, Kaylee Cogbill. A quiet one she was, never said a word until one football game day. We were gearing up to open our ticket windows in Kyle Field and all of a sudden I heard a scream come from the opposite side of the room. Kaylee came running into the room with tears streaming down her face. What had happened? A dead bat had fallen out of the window blinds and onto her keyboard at her ticket window. All I could think, as she cowered in the furthest corner from the bat, was “oh brother, we got a city girl.” Boy was I right.

After the bat incident, there wasn’t much communication between us hardly ever. I mean we were friendly and said hi, but rarely anything more. I guess it wasn’t until our second year at the ticket office, I was a junior and Kaylee a sophomore, that we really got to becoming friends. Spring sports were winding up which meant baseball and softball, the best. I wanted to work as many of those events as possible with the ticket office. In nearly all of my softball shifts, one other student worker would be there as well. Kaylee. After our shifts we would get concession stand vouchers for working and the two of us would head up to watch some softball or baseball. A friendship formed. Actually talking to her and getting to know her, I realized how cool she actually was. And it was there in the spring at the softball games where I came to see how confident she was in who she is and who she wants to be.

Later that spring, she asked me on a date to Krispy Kreme donuts (a theme that will continue throughout our relationship, Kaylee chasing me). I turned her down. Well, not really. I dodged going on a date with her until summer and we never really talked after that. But when fall started back up and we got back to the ticket office, things went the opposite direction I ever thought they would. Of course Kaylee chasing me might’ve helped, but she eventually wore me down and after a work dinner I came clean. I told her that I had feelings for her and knew she had feelings for me. About a week later, on November 8, 2019, just sitting on the couch, I asked her to be my girlfriend. It has been incredible to be with her and learn more about her and be with her. I know nothing is gonna change that either.