The Way I See It...

Publisher's Letter 

Robin Rogers, Ed.D.

January 2025

This past October, my son Briley, who we lovingly call Bear, got married to the love of his life, Ashlyn. We have called him Bear since about the time he started crawling. He didn’t crawl on all fours like most babies; he crawled with his hands down and his legs straight up, hence the nickname Bear. “Briley Bear” just worked, too. He was the kind of kid who would hug you tight and never be the first to let go. His sweet disposition coupled with those big bear hugs meant he knew just how to get everything he wanted from his parents and grandparents. As he grew, he loved Lego, guitars, puppy dogs, and anything funny. Joke books, pranks, movies, games—if laughter was involved, Briley was right there. From a pretty young age, his favorite television show was “The Office”; I remember that series playing nonstop in our game room.

Luckily for his parents, teenage Briley didn’t chase girls or sneak out (that I know of). He was kind of nerdy, but not in that straight-A kind of way (as the baby of the family, we were happy with A’s and B’s). He was nerdy in the way that he loved his teachers, and he would stay after school just to visit with them. He would rather hang out with his grandmothers, who would cook him anything his heart desired, over spending the day with a bunch of other kids. He was a fairly easy child, if there is such a thing.

So when he told me about “dating” this girl Ashlyn from school, I had a few questions. The first and most obnoxious question a parent asks, and of course I asked, was, “How are you ‘dating’ when you aren’t allowed to date?” In my day (and I know I sound ridiculous now), teenagers were “going together,” even if they only talked on the phone and never went anywhere. I’m sure there is a new term for being a couple in 2025 that I haven’t heard about yet, but according to 16-year-old Briley, he started “dating” Ashlyn the day he stole the dessert that she was eating at the lunch table in the cafeteria at school. I can imagine the scene right now: loud kids sitting at long cafeteria tables eating; she doesn’t see him coming; he grabs the fudgesicle right out of her fingers and pops it into his own mouth; all of the boys, knowing his plan, laugh hysterically; Ashlyn is embarrassed but also laughs. And, that was the beginning of forever.

Turns out, “dating” those days involved a lot of texting and hanging out, streaming old episodes of “The Office,” and playing video games together. What I would call their first “real date” was a Texas High homecoming dance. Like every other mom trying to find the most Pinterest-worthy homecoming “proposal” for her teenager, I dug into the internet like a researcher on a dissertation. I had ideas, and he vetoed every single one of them. It was like I was the dumbest mom on the planet. So, I backed away and let him do his thing.

The next thing I knew, he had recreated a prank scene from “The Office.” In my refrigerator was a stapler suspended in yellow Jell-O. I was so confused. I was in my child-raising years, so I didn’t watch much TV, and I was especially not interested in whatever the kids had running in the background. Briley assured me that Ashlyn would get the joke, and all I had to do was find him a yellow shirt and a “bad tie.” Then, he let me drive him over to her house to pop the question. “HoCo?”  

Ashlyn said “yes” to their first real date and their first real dance.

Those two kids became inseparable. Where there was one, there was the other. Birthdays. Holidays. Family days. High school graduation. When they told us that they were going to the same college, several hours away, I worried. They were still kids, and if a breakup was to happen, I wasn’t going to be close enough to be the giver of the bear hugs. But they were a tight duo, and no matter the parents’ fears, they were both going to UCA. Ashlyn and Briley grew stronger over the next five years in Conway. They experienced college graduation, their first full-time jobs, being on their own, and eventually moving to Fort Worth. I wasn’t surprised when he told me that he was going to ask her to be his wife; she is the perfect person in the world for him. 

Now, some sons listen to their mothers more than others. You know I had ideas about the proposal: where he should ask her and how he could ask her and when he might ask her. But just like that first homecoming proposal, he wasn’t letting me have any part in it! There would be no photographer or mountain vista background or family members allowed to watch from afar. This was his and Ashlyn’s journey, and even if he wanted to dress up like Jim from “The Office” and propose to his real-life Pam with a stapler refrigerated in Jell-O, it was going to be his way.

I’m smiling ear to ear right now thinking about these two. They have been married for three months, and without a doubt, I know that they are one of the lucky couples out there, together for all of the best reasons: friendship, laughter, admiration, trust, and love.

While every wedding we included in this special issue was cover-worthy, I pulled a once-in-25-years act and put my favorite son, with his beautiful new wife, on the front cover. I hope you enjoy it, and as always, thanks for reading FSLM.