Forever & Always

We first met in middle school, sometime around 2012 and it was anything but love at first sight. Ashley’s first memory of Tyler was telling him he was disgusting because his leg was emaciated after getting a cast removed. Unsurprisingly we didn’t talk much for a few years after that. In high school, we were very much the stereotypical jock & nerd. We were in different grades, Tyler is a year older, and definitely were not in the same classes or friend groups. But, Point Pleasant HS is a small place, and Tyler eventually started (conveniently) spending a lot of time at a friend’s locker a few down from Ashley’s. While Tyler was looking from afar, we didn’t talk much until we started working together at Shore Summer Camp. Tyler joined part way through the summer as a replacement counselor, working with the same group as Ashley. We hit it off immediately, but between Ashley’s mom being the boss, Tyler about to leave for college and our obvious differences, we stayed as flirty friends. We talked every day for the next year, but decided not to start dating since Ashley was about to head to Clemson.

After two years of the “talking phase” we finally decided to give it a go in July 2019, right before Ashley would leave for her sophomore year at Clemson. Throughout the long distance days we would sit on FaceTime for hours every day, and Tyler would visit as much as he could. As Ashley was dropping Tyler off at the airport from one early trip, he said “I love you” for the first time while getting out of the car. In true Ashley fashion, she just drove away and realized several minutes later what just happened. She called him back and said it while he was going to the bathroom outside TSA at Charlotte Airport. Luckily the pandemic and Ashley graduating a bit early gave us some reprieves from the three years of long distance, but it was still brutal. Eventually, Ashley got a job offer in St. Pete, and we decided to go straight from long distance to moving in together in Florida. We moved in the spring of 2022 and adopted our dog Nala almost immediately.

While we had lived together for years by the summer of 2025, we were young and in no rush to get married. Tyler had spent the past few years at the police academy and a rookie on the force, while Ashley was constantly studying for different finance exams. When we decided to go look at rings one day, it was more about figuring what Ashley would want one day than any imminent engagement plans. Ashley suspected nothing when we flew to NJ in October to celebrate his niece’s first birthday and do a family photo shoot to replace some decades old pictures in Tyler’s parent’s house. The morning of October 26th, we walked around Spring Lake park and eventually took individual pictures, each holding baby Charlotte. Before Ashley’s turn, his sister pulled off Charlotte’s sweater, revealing a “Will you marry my uncle?” shirt. Unobservant as usual, Ashley took several pictures with Charlotte, only realizing when the photographer asked what was on her shirt. Ashley screamed, turned around and found Tyler on one knee. So surprised and excited, Ashley wasted no time with the romantic speech Tyler had prepared, and ripped the ring out of the box before literally jumping into Tyler’s arms (with a dress on). After lots of happy tears, some more pictures, and Ashley quizzing Tyler on how this came together, the second surprise came: an engagement party with our friends and family and all of Ashley’s favorite foods. It was the best weekend of our lives!