Nicole and I met during the summer of 2012. I was just graduating from Bureau Valley High School and she was headed into her senior year at Midland High School. Our good friend, Derrick Johnson, introduced us to one another. We exchanged phone numbers and, after a little smooth talking and breaking the ice on my part, I took her on the most romantic date imaginable: A “2 for $20” at Applebee’s followed by the cinematic experience that is Marvel’s The Avengers. Was it my culinary acumen or my theatrical affinity that won Nicole over? Who knows? Regardless of what it was we have been happily in love for nearly seven years now, and no amount of cheesy action movies or overpriced frozen food is going to stop us.

I proposed to Nicole on March 3rd, 2018 at a dog beach in Pensacola, Florida. Anyone who knows Nicole knows that she has a crippling soft spot for dogs. So I knew that if there was one place I could lure her for a surprise proposal, it would be a scenic beach at sunset reserved for our four-legged friends. I hired a photographer who was willing to sit on the beach and play the role of a photography student who would approach us and ask for a few photos to complete a school project (Meredith Roberts is the G.O.A.T.). So with my secret plan slated to kick off at 4:00pm, we were driving to the beach to “check it out and pet some dogs” before dinner. Naturally, we hit bumper to bumper traffic on the way down there. With my nerves sky high and my frustration starting to build, I even shouted words not suitable to repeat at a few pedestrians who decided to walk too slowly across the street. Luckily, we made it to the beach just past 4:00pm. When we began walking down the beach I could see the photographer a few hundred yards away. As we got closer my heart raced faster. Nicole, in her adorable obliviousness, looked at me and said “it’s kind of cold out. We should turn around.” It took every ounce of self control in me to not scream at the thought of turning around this close to the proposal and, instead, I calmly convinced her to walk just a little farther. The photographer finally spotted us, walked the last twenty yards in our direction, and asked if she could take our picture for a school project she was working on. When the photographer stepped back to take our photo, I laid my sappiest lines on Nicole, got down on one knee, and asked the age old question: “Will you marry me?”