Wedding bells are ringing for junior Astrid Montanaro-Spann who is currently engaged  to her boyfriend of almost two years and quickly approaching her wedding date on November 25, 2022. 

          Montanaro-Spann joined the ROTC program in the summer before her freshman year, where she met Triston Tyler, her commanding officer at the time. 

     “I thought he was really cute from the beginning,” Montanaro-Spann said.  

     At the time, they only considered each other work friends and their only conversations were about the program. As time went on, Montanaro-Spann said she developed a crush on Tyler and would go to any and every event to see him. They began to grow closer as friends once Tyler started walking home from the ROTC program with her, and developed mutual feelings for each other.

  When Astrid Montanaro-Spann was participating in a race at a competition for the ROTC program in 2019, she had successfully made it halfway through the race, before she fell and injured her hip. As she lay on the ground, Tyler ran by and noticed her pain. He stopped what he was doing and helped her up. 

Tyler carried her for 1 ½ miles before they made it back to the bus. He continued to reassure Montanaro-Spann that she was okay and she had no need to be nervous or worried. 

Tyler laid her on a bus seat, positioning himself between her and the window, as a way to make sure that her injured hip would not hit the bus wall on the bumpy ride home. 

Once she was comfortable, Tyler looked into her eyes and asked for permission to kiss her. She politely rejected his offer and he complied. Yet, as they stared deeper, he leaned down and gave her forehead a peck, leaving Montanaro-Spann with a warm, new-found feeling of comfortability. At that moment, she said, she knew he was the one.

 “It just kind of clicked after a little bit,” Montanaro-Spann said. 

     On January 28, 2020, Tyler asked Montanaro-Spann to be his girlfriend. From then on, things started to move quickly for the young couple. When they were just one month into their relationship, Tyler gave Montanaro-Spann a promise ring. 

     “I called him crazy and insane and he replied, ‘I know, but I’m gonna prove it.’” 

   Following the pattern of moving fast, they later got engaged a year and a half later on May 17, 2021. 

     “His parents were all for it, but mine were on the rocks,” Montanaro-Spann said.

     Even though her parents were hesitant about the engagement, they gave their blessing seeing as both of them were 18. ( Future quote from grandma)

    Montanaro-Spann said she wants to be a nurse and Tyler will continue his career as a Tarrant County Sheriff Deputy.  They plan to move into an apartment at first, and then buy his grandparents’ house to live in.

“Why should we wait? It has no effect,” Montanaro-Spann said.

Although they have been together for just about two years, it is clear to see that they truly love each other and are ready to take on life together no matter how young they are. 

“It’s like being around my best friend,” she said. “He doesn’t expect anything out of me. He cares more about how I feel, than what he needs.”