The story of Reagan and me doesn’t start when we first met each other in 2023, but instead it was the meticulous handiwork of God to orchestrate different moments before and throughout our lives to place us in the right place at the right time.

Back in 2008, my family had moved to Qatar, and we lived there for roughly 4 years. During the summer months, my mom would take my brothers and me back home to Texas, where we would see old friends, hang out with our extended family, and of course, drive her crazy. Since my mom didn’t have the sanity to keep 3 boys under the age of 10 at bay (I mean, who would?), she researched Christian summer camps in Texas and found a camp called Pine Cove that had great ratings. My brothers and I ended up spending a week at Pine Cove every summer, and it easily became the most anticipated week of the summer every year.

Fast forward to 2020, I was having a rough first semester at A&M because of COVID, and during the winter break, I randomly had this idea to work as a counselor at Pine Cove, despite not thinking about that camp since my last summer as a camper in 2014, and not knowing anybody who worked there. I ended up working my first summer in 2021 and would continue to work every summer of college.

This brings us to 2023. I was entering my third summer working at camp, while it was Reagan’s first. Reagan had heard about Pine Cove because her best friend had accepted an offer to work there, so she dragged Reagan along with her. (“When I showed up on property and saw Noah for the first time, I ran to my friend and told her I had just seen the cutest boy I had ever seen” - Reagan) Reagan and I had become friends over the course of that first half of the summer, but in my head, I wasn’t ready to date, and I didn’t think the long-distance thing would work. She was only working the first half, and I was working the full summer, so our friendship kind of ended as quickly as it started because she was going back to Fayetteville, while I was finishing my senior year at Texas A&M.

At the beginning of my senior year, I had accepted a spot in a post-grad program called The Forge that was offered through Pine Cove, so I figured staying single was probably going to be the smartest decision… right? Towards the beginning of the semester, I found out that me and Reagan had a mutual friend who went to A&M named Beckett. He was a hometown friend of Reagan’s who wanted to join the same men’s organization that I was in. He would come over to my house occasionally to hang with my roommates, and during one of these times he came over, out of the blue, Beckett tells me that I should think about taking Reagan out on a date because he thought we would be really good together. I politely declined (so stupid!) because I got scared of the distance we would have to endure, the unknown of me graduating while she would still be in college, and because I was downright foolish.

Fast forward to December of that year, I was about to leave to go on vacation with my family, and Beckett texted me out of nowhere again and said, “I know you already said no, but I really think you should reconsider taking Reagan out on a date,” to which I replied, “maybe I will”. What I didn’t know was that Reagan had just been hanging out with Beckett and some of their friends back home, and they had asked her if there was one guy that she would go on a date with tomorrow, who would it be, to which she replied, “Noah Cantu”. During that vacation, I ended up having a great conversation with my dad about the story of how he and my mom started dating, which really encouraged me to just ask Reagan out for a first date… it wasn’t like I was going to commit for the rest of my life, right?

After our first date in Waco, I knew Reagan was special, so one date was not enough. I ended up driving 8 hours to spend a weekend in Fayetteville for dates 2,3,4, and so on. Naturally, we were officially dating by the end of the trip.

The next year and seven months of dating would be filled with a lot of excitement, love, and celebration; however it was also met with a lot of hardship. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Reagan and I have endured a lot together, from a lot of money spent on gas to go see each other (Thanks Mom and Dad!) to so many sad goodbyes because of how fast our time together flew by. This all culminated on August 23rd, when our dream of forever started to become real.

The engagement day started with my brothers and best friend dressed up as medieval heralds to deliver a letter and flowers to her on her doorstep. To set the scene better, I had 2 trumpeters from the UArk band play a royal entrance song because… why not? Reagan’s friend then drove her to 3 different locations that I picked out that meant a lot to us in Fayetteville, with her friends waiting there with letters I had written. The 4th location was me waiting under a tree, about to throw up because of how nervous I was. The day was absolutely perfect, just how I imagined it would be!

I can’t wait to be Reagan’s husband. She is compassionate, patient, and virtuous. Reagan will sit with you for hours to just be a listening ear if you need it. She has a strong conviction to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord and has a deep reverence and fascination for His Word. I am astounded that the Lord has chosen me to take care of and protect His daughter. I can’t wait for forever with her!

- Noah