When a mutual friend said she had someone in mind that would be a good match, both of us were hesitant to meet as we were 6,500 miles away from one another. Steve was deployed in the Middle East and Britney was here in Maine. Snapchat names were exchanged, and the rest is history. We hit it off as if we had known one another for years. Conversations were easy and face times lasted hours. Steve came home in November and our lives as one began.

On a cold windy Maine maple Sunday we decided to venture to the sugar shack with Tucker in tow, to grab some delicious maple popcorn. Steve insisted we take a walk towards the barn even though it was chilly. As he tried to stop me midway to the barn I didn’t understand so I made him walk up the hill to catch the view. As we turned and walked back he took my hand and led me off the road and into the field where he had laid rocks in a path, with things he loved about me on them. They led to a large pile of the rocks in the center was our soapstone penguin he brought me home from Afghanistan. He then got down on one knee and after the sweetest speech he presented me with the most perfect pebble and asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes. The cold didn’t seem so cold anymore and our hearts and cheeks were filled with the utmost warmth.