On November 4, 2017. I was out with my best friend, Beth visiting our friend Bonnie, the bartender at the Stir lounge. We were catching up and waiting for the LSU vs Alabama game. I didn’t notice Paul at that time but he states he noticed me. It was getting close to our friend’s end of shift and I was getting ready to leave to take Beth home. We were a little tipsy by then 😜 We were all taking a picture and I heard someone (Paul states it was him) mention that “we are all going to the Blue Ghost Tavern after this.” I decided to join them since the night was still young and the game wasn’t over yet😜. When I got to the Tavern I heard Paul call my name. I was waiting to see everyone else from the other bar. We were watching the rest of the game and talking. It didn’t look like anyone else was going to show, so I thought I’d just finish watching the game and go back to my Mom’s place. Paul and I talked for a long time and I realized this guy had a lot of the same interests. I remember thinking I had never met anyone who knew more about movies than me. He and I could recite lines from favorite movies. We both watched old movies with our dads and both like classical music and Phantom of the Opera was our favorite. We continued to talk and exchanged numbers when suddenly the lights at the bar came on and we looked up and everyone was gone. We had closed down the bar. So I dropped him off at his hotel and went back to my mom’s house.

The following weekend Paul told me he was driving back to Ohio and wanted to take me to dinner that Saturday. He said he would be driving through Gulfport. I wasn’t sure about this and told him we could meet at Shaggy’s on Hwy 90. I wasn’t planning on going, I was going to ghost him 😈 I realized I couldn’t just ghost him like that so I offered to let him park at my house. When he was only about 5-10 minutes away I let my dog, Chloe out and waited for him to arrive. I started looking for Chloe because I thought she had wandered off and I couldn’t find her. I was calling for her for quite awhile so my neighbor came out to help. Paul arrived, got out of his truck, and started helping me look for her. He was calling her and looking all over for her. It turned out she was back inside sitting on the couch wondering what all the fuss was about. I remember thinking how wonderful Paul was to be helping me look for a dog he had not seen before but wanted to find for me. That was when I realized he was someone special. We went to dinner at Shaggy‘s and toured the city and the rest, as they say, is history.

We decided to take a trip for our 3rd anniversary. The day after my work retreat, Paul came to the house in Orange beach and picked me up. We decided to stay in downtown Pensacola and spend our anniversary weekend there. It just so happened that the Seafood Festival was going on that weekend. I wanted to take Paul to Pensacola Beach so we could see the area on Santa Rosa island where my family used to spend a week every summer. We went to the area where we always rented a house. I wanted to park and take a walk on the beach. We walked along the beach and took a selfie. Next thing I knew, Paul was down on his knee asking me to marry him. I said “YES!” and we were engaged. It was very special to have that moment in a place that meant so much to me. We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you. See you in New Orleans!