After Easter in April 2025, I started to feel it was necessary to move forward with life and make some female friends. I felt that it would help with the healing and grieving to find somebody I could talk to and connect with. I was resistant to these feelings, but they kept popping up, occupying my thoughts frequently. I had previously made the decision to get off social media, yet when I was about to close down my accounts, it didn’t feel right. So instead of doing that, I joined an LDS Singles Widowed and Widowers Facebook group.

I made my introductory post. I was reading through the comments on that post and noticed a reaction to one of them. If I remember correctly, it was just a “heart” reaction. It was from Amber Gallup. The last name stood out to me. I had a roommate in college the summer of 2006 for one semester with the last name Gallup. His name was Jordan. I sent Amber a message asking her if she knew Jordan. Before she could respond, I Facebook‑stalked her. I realized she was married to Jordan, and that Jordan had gotten sick. I didn’t know. Jordan and I were friends on Facebook and had brief interactions since college, but I didn’t know he had gotten sick. I responded to Amber and expressed my condolences.

The initial question and my expression of condolences were all I intended to share with her and then move on, but for some reason we just kept responding to each other. And it went on, and on, and on, for days and days, and then a few weeks had passed. I think it was non‑stop, from sunup until sundown. We talked about the loss of our spouses—the grief, the pain, the trials we were going through. It was comforting to chat with somebody who knew exactly what I felt. While the stories of our loss were different, the general experience was similar.

Amber told me that had it not been for me knowing Jordan, she likely wouldn’t have responded to any messages. She wasn’t looking or ready to get to know anybody yet. We also talked about movies, books, and board games we liked; music; vacations we’d been on; raising several kids alone; the Church; the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ; and much, much more. From the very first response from Amber, it was just so easy to talk with her.

We had a couple of conversations about what the next steps were for us. We could just keep chatting or move the friendship along. At some point, we decided to talk via FaceTime and see how that went. I was nervous the first time, but she was very laid‑back and easy to talk to. I’m sure I was awkward and looked nervous. At any rate, we decided to meet up in person, and we scheduled a time during Memorial Day weekend. With her living in Arizona and me being in Utah, I decided to fly down to meet her. I got a hotel and a rental car and picked a location to meet up. We decided to exclude the kids on the first visit, and to make her feel safe and comfortable I didn’t even go to her home.

We went out to eat that first night, then went to a park and talked. The next day we went to the mall and walked around and just talked more. It all felt comfortable and natural. Over the next several months, we flew back and forth visiting each other. We talked via FaceTime every night and constantly kept in touch via text. Things, of course, progressed, and we started discussing marriage. I’ll summarize the rest of the story by saying that, following a change to the original timeline and the resolution of several logistical and family considerations, the wedding was scheduled for April 18, 2026. I proposed to Amber at the Gilbert Arizona temple.