Sabrina and I shared the same major in college. We studied public relations and had a couple of smaller, project-based classes that caused us to spend a lot of time together. This is when we began to get to know each other. Sabrina and I were early for our group meeting one morning in the on-campus coffee shop. Before the other three members arrived, two who were engaged and the third who was already married, Sabrina, nonchalantly, said, "Isn't it funny how we are the only people not dating in this group?" Me, who had already began entertaining the idea of asking Sabrina out on a date thought to myself, "Ha. Yeah, pretty funny."

Austin and I were working on a group project together in December 2019 for a class. I noticed that he gradually started texting me more about things we had in common rather than class or assignments so one day after we had left for Christmas break (and our class was over) I called him out on it. He FaceTimed me that night since we were in two different cities and asked if I would like to go on a date when we got back to Jackson! I said yes and almost two months later, we went on our first date to Olive Garden. We still joke about how bad our first date was. It wasn't that either one of us had a bad time necessarily, it's just that I'm claustrophobic and we were at Olive Garden on a Friday night, that we had a small disagreement, that when we window shopped afterward there was an older saleswoman blatantly flirting with Austin, and that I cried at one part. So all that to say, it was just bad. But the next day was beautiful and sunny. I decided to go out on a limb and ask Austin to go with me to Cypress Grove Park, one of my favorite places in Jackson (with open wide spaces). At the end of the day, Austin asked me out on another date and every date after that too!

After a year of dating, Sabrina and I knew that we wanted to marry each other. We had picked out a ring together, however, the proposal itself was going to be a surprise. Sabrina and I love the outdoors, especially mountains and scenic views, so I wanted to incorporate that somehow in the proposal. I had a plan to take Sabrina to Max Patch, North Carolina, and propose to her there, and afterward going to an Airbnb to have a celebration with a group of our friends. Unfortunately, COVID-19 had just begun to shut everything down, so I had to scrap that. Plan B was to take Sabrina to Nashville for Mother's Day weekend to visit my mom and then go to a local state park to pop the question there. Sabrina had to work that weekend, so I reached out to one of her co-workers asking if they would cover her shift. Things were going according to plan until she decided that she would feel too bad about not spending Mother's Day with her own mom, and we had to cancel our trip. Back to the drawing board. My final plan was to take her by surprise and propose to her in Jackson, TN. Jackson is a charming town, but completely void of the mountains and scenery that we both love so much, so I needed to be creative. Sabrina and I would often drive a few backroads outside of town, spending time with each other, and having good conversations. I had the thought of asking her to marry me on her favorite part of one of those roads, however, after a morning of non-stop rain, I had to once again come up with a last-minute plan. Sabrina loves plants. Succulents, flowers, and vines are some of her favorite things, which means we spend a lot of time at nurseries. Morris Nursery immediately came to mind when I was thinking of an indoor location. After calling them to ask if they would stay open a few hours after closing for the day, they ecstatically agreed and even set up a nice location full of colorful flowers for us. The day could not have been more perfect!