We first met when attending Warwick Middle School. After just a few interactions, I knew Ben was a tenacious and sociable person who knew exactly what he wanted. Ben described me as quiet and awkward. There were very few interactions throughout middle and high school until senior year when we had the same English class; Ben would smoothly talk me into "sharing" my homework with him and he would frequently "borrow" test answers from me. Once high school graduation came, Ben headed to Lock Haven University and I went to Lebanon Valley College. We didn't keep in touch after high school, until our mutual friend would invite us to the same parties. During Sophomore year of college, we started to talk more frequently and our high school friend group would get together during our breaks. In December of 2017, we started dating and in July of 2021 he popped the question.

After being cancelled two times, we finally were able to make it to Jamaica with my sister and her boyfriend. Ben and his family introduced me to this beautiful island after our college graduation; it is Ben's favorite island and I quickly learned why. We were there for a week and on Friday evening we decided to dress nice because it was our last full night on the island. We had an employee help us a ton while we were there and Ben said we needed to meet her before dinner because she asked to give us a tour of the private part of the resort. I didn't think much of this because we had been doing similar things all week. It was raining on and off so we were trying to wait for a break in the weather before heading over. On the way over, I remember asking Ben what was wrong because he was on and off the phone a lot, so I figured it was another work call he was taking. He quickly said nothing and put his arm around me. Where we were supposed to meet got changed so people were pointing us in different directions and I just followed, not thinking anything of it. We went upstairs to a terrace and I walked past a photographer without even noticing. I walked towards the edge to look over at the water and when I turned around Ben was down on one knee and asked me to marry him - the easiest "yes" of my life! I turned around and was surprised to see his sister, our moms on Facetime, and one of our closest friends. It was such a beautiful moment that I will never forget!