The morning started out as any other day. Mary was planning a work trip to Dallas for the week and Ashley was flying to Texas for army training for the next month. That morning, Mary downloaded Bumble and created her dating profile, she set her searching distance to 15 miles, looking to meet someone nearby. Fast forward to that afternoon in Dallas, while on lunch Mary opens the app to browse. And who should appear? A beautiful blonde, veterinarian, with the cutest pup and the best part - less than 15 miles away! SWIPE RIGHT! Meanwhile, that beautiful blonde (Ashley), was rushing through the Dallas Love Field airport getting ready to board her next flight to San Antonio. When she landed, she checked her app and saw that someone had liked her during her one-hour layover in Dallas. Ashley, swiped right back. The First Move Mary sent the first message to Ashley and it went a little something like this "Of course, I match with the most adorable girl on Bumble and she lives in fucking Ohio". It's not Shakespeare, but it's close. The First Meeting Ashley and Mary finally met face to face on March 3, 2023. After weeks of talking on the phone and Facetime, Ashley was set to travel back to Ohio, but before she went she made a weekend stop to Dallas. A nervous wreck, Mary drove to the airport to pick up Ashley that Friday night, taking her ride or die dog, Harper Grace with her. Had it not been for Harper, Ashley may never have known who or where Mary was because Mary never told her what kind of car she was driving - but once Ashley saw the cute little Aussie face in the passenger seat of Mary's rental, she knew! Ashley sat in the backseat the whole ride back to Fort Worth, allowing Harper to keep her front seat passenger status. Later that evening, Harper would climb into Ashley's lap choosing her and the rest...well, as they say is history. The First Year Because Ashley and Mary cannot do anything easily (or according to plan), the first year together was eventful. They traveled back and forth as much as they could spending weekends together before Ashley deployed for six months to the Middle East in July. Before Ashely left for deployment, Mary gave her a stack of letters, one to read every night before she went to bed while she was deployed and an extra stack of letters to reach because somedays, just one wouldn't be enough. Ashley and Mary talked every day during deployment, and it was during that time that they made the plan to start their life together once Ashley returned home. The day after Ashley returned home in December, they finished packing up Mary's U-Haul (insert lesbian joke here), and left Texas for Ohio. The Proposal Brunch has always held a special place in Ashley and Mary's heart. Their first true date was going to brunch and every time they were together at least one day they would go to brunch. While sipping mimosas, Ashley and Mary talked about their future. Mary, who was two bottles of champagne in at the time, started asking Ashley about this "alleged ring" Ashley had put a down payment on. Instead of answering the questions about the ring, Ashley instead asked Mary how she wanted to be proposed to. To which Mary replied, "it doesn't need to be fancy, it needs to be simple like us. At home, with our kids, just us that is what is important to us, that's our life." That day, when they got home from brunch, Mary went upstairs with the dogs to get in her sweats to get ready for a Netflix binge (the perfect after brunch activity) when Ashley came into the room. On one knee, in their bedroom, with their kids all around Ashley asked Mary to be her wife. With tears of happiness streaming down her face, Mary said yes, a million times yes! And now we plan our forever.