Abe and I met at a conference for the ACE program. I was a site coordinator for De Leon Middle School in McAllen and Abe was a site coordinator for Driscoll Elementrary School in Robstown. We first saw each other at Omni Barton Creek Resort in Austin, at the pool side. I was hanging out with people I had met before at the National Conference in Washington DC. As I checked him out, he caught me looking and smiled. After that, we have been inseparable.

It was a beautiful sunny day. A good day to be at the beach. We got our lounge chairs and our ice chest loaded it up in the truck and off we went. We made it a family trip to the beach, us and the dogs. We drove far into the beach, isolated from everyone. So it was just our little family. We let the dogs off their leashes, opened up our chairs and enjoyed the country music, the view and the company. It was wonderful. Love song after love song, the sun was setting behind us and it was about that time to head back home. He goes to his truck and comes back with a bag. He gets down on one knee and asks me the words that I had waited so long to hear “Will you marry me” . As I struggled to open the bag and unwrap the box, my eyes tear up and my heart feels full of love and emotion. Excited to begin our new adventure together.