“My best day in my life is being with my husband.

 “Every Saturday we go shopping and get the meals for the week. We take turns paying. We enjoy cooking and just being together, or going out on a date. Sometimes we cook here to save money.

 “When he asked me to marry him, he turned the lights down and got the dinner ready. He wanted me to try on a dress. And then he bended his knee down, and I said, ‘What are you doing?’

 “Then he made a speech. He said, ‘I really want you to be my wife, and I want to spend all my life with you.’

 “I was happy-crying and saying, ‘Yes! Yes! I love you.’

 “We got married on June 27, 2015. I will never forget my wedding day, and especially the dance.

 “We live in a townhouse with two bedrooms now. We have a dog named Gracie. Sometimes she’s bad and sometimes she’s good. She listens to my husband more. But actually she takes turns not listening. We do share the dog. If she has accidents, some days I have to clean it up. We take turns.

 “I’m teaching now. I teach at Loveland School in the first grade. I give the kids some worksheets. They read to me. I help them with their reading and spelling. I sound words out. I work with them one-on-one.

 “My favorite part of the job is being with the kids, just being there and being happy every day. The kids love me and I love them.

 “I work two days a week at the school. Wednesday through Friday I work in the athletic department at the [Southern Kentucky] University. I work with the athletic director and I meet lots of people. I help him with staff meetings, and during home basketball games. I also deliver mail and put things together in binders and folders.

 “I went to Southern Kentucky for four years. I studied early childhood education.

 “My favorite place to be is to be here with my husband. We met when we played soccer together. We dated about 10 years. Now we’re married.

 “My advice to others about living independently is to just go for it. It feels good to be on your own. Here’s the key for you: Never say goodbye to your parents if you want to live on your own. That would be too sad for me. My parents live only 10 minutes away. Ryan’s parents live 5 minutes away.

 “My dream for the future is to be a teacher’s aide. I just want to teach the kids. That’s all I want to do—and to be happy and be healthy.”