We are *finally* getting married!

This is the story of a complex, city girl and a simple, country boy. City Girl: Born in New Orleans, but moved around a lot and mainly raised by her wonderful grandparents on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Country Boy: Born and raised in a very small town about 30 minutes *southeast* of Huntsville. We all have a past, so that's all there is to that.

One evening in early August 2015, after a long day of working at the veterinary clinic, I was taking Abby out for her nightly walk when we stumbled upon a guy wearing a cutoff t-shirt, smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer, and waxing his brand new 2015 Dodge Challenger. A few words were exchanged, but I quickly moved on. The next night...same time, same thing. This time was a little different. This time cell phone numbers were exchanged. Texts were swapped for a few weeks, but nothing ever came to fruition.

One Friday night in June of 2016, I had just gotten off of work at my second job. My dad was hanging out with some people over at his garages at our apartment complex, so I made a drink and Abby and I headed out to hang out with him. After a few minutes of being there, Shannon walked up to me and asked what I was doing there. I explained that the almost bald guy over there was my daddy and I had come to hang out with him. Shannon's face turned red. Apparently before he had approached me, he had said something about me, unknowingly, to my daddy. (I didn't find this part out until way later in our relationship.) After two-and-two were put together, we hung out and made small talk for the rest of the evening. Because he was in a relationship at that time, and he is a gentleman, again, nothing came to fruition from that encounter.

One Sunday on July 17th, 2016, I received a text message. To my surprise, it was from Shannon. I debated back and forth for about 30 minutes whether or not to respond. Why should I? Last I heard he was in a relationship. Why was he texting me? Against my better judgement (or so I thought at the time), I texted back. He informed me he was making lasagna for dinner, and would I like some. He hit my soft spot for Italian. Of course I wanted some lasagna. I was so nervous. But it was just dinner. As friends. He made it clear he was seeing someone already. So I went to just frozen lasagna dinner. We watched "Captain America: Winter Solider". Throughout the evening, I found out that he was no longer seeing someone. He was single. It was finally a good time for him. For me!

We texted every day for the next week. He told me "Good Morning" every single day. We would talk about everything, and anything. We made plans to see each other again the following Saturday, July 23rd. He picked me up at my apartment. He "formally" met my daddy. We went out to dinner this time. At Rosie's Cantina in Huntsville. And we got finished eating so early. So we went bowling. We laughed. We hugged. It was the best first date ever.

After our first date, we became inseparable. The next day, we went swimming in our apartment pool. We went to eat dinner with his ex-in-laws. It was weird, but comfortable. They've always made me feel like part of the family. We spent every waking moment together. We quickly fell in love. I met his family. I took him home (the first guy ever) to meet my family.

He tried to get an audience with my dad, but because he's so busy, it just wasn't working out the way he planned. Shannon ended up asking my dad's permission in his living room. And because I wanted my grandmother's ring, my daddy had to quickly make plans to fly to Philadelphia to have the rings split and sized.

We flew to Philly on Monday. We spent the week with family. When it came to Thursday, apparently I was being difficult. I already had plans to eat dinner with my Aunt and Uncle. This gave Shannon no way to get the ring from my grandmother. (Of course I didn't know any of this until afterwards.) He teamed up with my Aunt Robin who played an integral role in making sure that Nana and the ring came to dinner that evening. The ring was exchanged at dinner that night, in secrecy from the rest of my family. The next day, with the help of Mandy, we got on a train to New York City. After navigating the city and having a difficult time checking into the hotel, we had made it there. We spent the remainder of our day taking a tour of the WTC attacks and visiting One World Observatory. We ate dinner at the hotel and went to bed. The next morning we woke up to catch sunrise on the roof of the Brooklyn Bridge Hotel. And what a beautiful sunrise it was. After multiple tries by Shannon to go back to the room, and my decline, the morning proposal at sunrise attempt was foiled. We got ready and went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. (If he was going to propose, this is where I thought it would happen.) But it didn't. We left the Statue and headed to Ellis Island. I had given up in my head by then. He didn't propose. He wasn't ready. And I was okay. Disappointed, but okay. I was enjoying my day at Ellis Island. When we got back to Manhattan, there were two things I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to find a liquor store so I could have something to drink that wasn't $17 a drink during the Alabama vs. LSU game, and I was hungry. Walking our way through Battery Park, I googled the nearest alcohol store walking us about 10 minutes out of the way each direction. We went back to the hotel and got off our feet for a few minutes, then went out to eat at a local pizzeria. We missed sunset on the rooftop of the hotel. Unbeknownst to me, foiling all of Shannon's proposal plans.

Even after all of my difficulty throughout the week of our vacation and weekend trip in New York, he still proposed to me. And it was unexpected. At least the timing of it was, since I had given up after the Statue of Liberty. After we got back from eating at the local pizzeria, and I devoured an amazing New York Cheesecake, we went onto the rooftop to see the Manhattan and Brooklyn night skyline. It was so beautiful. It was romantic. And then, he got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. Now, I didn't technically say "yes". I said, "of course I will". And that answer was as good as any, because he put the ring on my finger. And...Alabama beat LSU that night 29-0. You couldn't ask for a better scenario to ask to spend the rest of your life with your best friend.