Joel and Abbye met in May of 2022 when Abbye came to Wichita to intern for Textron Aviation where Joel worked full time. Around this time, Joel was about to begin his transition to a new role within the company. Before making this transition, he’d seen the cute new intern, Abbye, around the building but was unsure which group she worked with.

When the time came for Joel to take on his new position, he discovered that she was the intern with his new group. Even though they had met briefly in passing with only a few interactions, they had both caught each other’s attention.

Abbye decided to pursue this positive feeling she had about Joel. She began making more conversation around their cube, trying to get to know and develop relationships with the team and, of course, with Joel.

One day as Joel was leaving work, he noticed Abbye was on the phone while studying her car. Joel made it to his own vehicle–coincidentally the exact same VW, just two years newer than hers–but as he began to pull out of the parking lot, he saw that Abbye still hadn’t left. He decided to check on her and see if she needed help.

Little did Abbye know that this flat tire really gave her the perfect opportunity to get to know Joel!

After helping change her tire and put the donut on, Joel learned that Abbye’s new tires were still under warranty. They exchanged phone numbers and Joel followed Abbye the half-hour drive across town to the Volkswagen dealership, offering to give her a ride all the way back to her apartment. He even offered to go out of his way just to give her a ride to work.

A couple weeks later, as Joel and Abbye were leaving work for the weekend, Abbye mentioned she was craving ice cream as her last anecdote before they went their separate ways. That Sunday, Joel drove past Freddy’s after his grocery run and remembered Abbye’s comment. He realized that ice cream did sound really good, and he made the stop for a small vanilla M&M’s concrete. He sent his inspiration a picture of the ice cream. She replied with a photo of the exact same order she had just gotten at a different Freddy’s!

And just like that, Joel and Abbye’s shared coincidences and their rom-com worthy meeting developed into the best story of their lives.

After Abbye completed her summer internship at Textron that year, she went back to Kansas State for school. Joel and Abbye decided against committing to a long-distance relationship but promised to keep in touch. This was short-lived though; they began officially dating that October.

In May of 2024, Joel and Abbye visited a winery in Kansas City, where Joel planned the perfect surprise and proposed.