Grant and I originally met in 2018 when we were both at NOBTS. We were very briefly neighbors and had a lot of mutual friends, including a couple of our roommates. In spite of these connections, we did not become friends in 2018. We didn’t interact much, but we did once go to dinner with our roommates. We even sat next to each other but, since we both knew the other two people at the table, I don’t think we said a word to each other directly. The whole of our interaction in 2018 amounted to one small talk conversation in passing and adding one another on Facebook. Since then, there were multiple times we both planned on attending small gatherings with mutual friends but one of us always ended up having to back out at the last minute. At the beginning of the pandemic I was at home in quarantine and Grant was going back and forth between his apartment and the hospital where he worked. I like to joke that Facebook decided we should be real friends because we both started seeing all of the other’s posts. We realized that we had a lot in common and started talking. New Orleans was still in lockdown, so we both had a lot of time. Going from lockdown into the summer, we had nothing but time and talked all the time. We found more mutual interests, some of them bizarrely specific, including our favorite novel, musical, and spot in the city. The first time we were able to meet up in person, Grant asked me to meet him to watch the sun rise at our favorite spot. We sat six feet apart and talked for hours. We started spending a lot of time together to see where this could go. Covid restrictions had a massive impact on our relationship in the early days, but I think it allowed us to get to know one another in ways that may not have been possible at another time. We eventually made things official. I spend Covid Christmas with Grant and his parents and we made things “Facebook official.” We’ve both talked about how in the craziness that was 2020, our relationship feels almost like it happened in a parallel universe. Starting a relationship in the year the world turned upside down was crazy and wonderful. It certainly took me by surprise and Grant has been the sweetest surprise.

What you are reading is actually the second attempt at writing this story. About 30 seconds after finishing the first one, my computer decided it wanted to nap and promptly died. What I’d written was still on the screen when I rebooted my computer, but, then, Zola decided it was a rubbish story and closed the window, deleting everything I’d spent the last hour writing. Given that my proposal was not at all what I had originally planned, this seems peculiarly on brand! After deciding in late summer 2021 to move to Memphis, Allison and I originally thought we would both move in the spring. As we crept closer to Allison’s graduation from seminary in December, through a series of circumstances, it became clear that it would be best for Allison to move sooner and for me to follow a few months behind. I had always planned to propose before we moved and was not willing to change my mind – I would simply have to propose sooner than intended! Thankfully, I had been looking at rings for quite some time, and settled on one that I thought would suit her perfectly: an Art Deco-inspired halo setting, complete with antique milgrain and etching. The ring was ordered the day before Allison’s graduation with a local jeweler in my hometown of Starkville, MS, and my mother was tasked with monitoring its progress and with picking up the ring on my behalf when it was ready. 2-3 weeks was the estimated wait period, leaving a window of a couple of weeks between New Year’s Day and Allison’s move to Memphis just before MLK Day to start her new job. Much to my dismay (and increasing anxiety), the ring was delayed several times. With each delay, a new plan had to be formulated on where and when to propose. To all of my family, friends, and coworkers that were subjected to my verbal anxiety spirals with each delay, you are all treasures, truly! After what seemed like months rather than weeks of waiting, the ring was ready. There was just one problem: it was not ready until the weekend of Allison’s move, a move that itself had to be moved up due to a winter storm that was on track to hit Memphis at the same time Allison would be starting her new job. Thinking that a proposal and a hurried move to avoid a crazy weather event AND starting a new job would be too much all at once, I considered delaying proposing for at least a couple of more weeks. After all, I would be in Memphis to see Allison at the end of the month. As soon as my mother delivered the ring to me, however, I discovered that I could not bear to wait any longer to ask Allison to be my wife. The move itself went smoothly, and the snow began to fall minutes after we arrived at my sweet sister’s home in Memphis. She, along with my amazing brother-in-law, had opened their home to Allison until she could find housing in the area. Because their home backed onto a lake, complete with a gazebo on the water, I knew that I’d never have a more lovely or memorable scene in which to propose. I prayed it would snow all night, and the Lord gave me, the next morning, a beautiful winter wonderland as the scene for my proposal. Deciding to integrate our love of letter writing into the proposal, I wrote Allison a letter, pulling-in sections of Proverbs 31 (one of her and her late mother’s favorite portions of Scripture) and even lyrics from one of our favorite musicals (‘She Loves Me,’ where the lead couple fall in love while writing each other anonymous letters). Using the chance to take pictures in the snow as a pretense, I walked with Allison to the gazebo, and, asking her to read something for me, handed her the letter. By the time she got to the final line of the letter (“Dear friend, will you marry me?”) I was down on one knee. After she’d said “yes,” and the much-delayed-but-perfect ring was on her finger, she rested her hand on my chest and exclaimed “Your heart is racing!” “It is quite stressful,” I replied. Stressful, yes, but worth all the delays and uncertainties, always. And forever.