I was living in Florida at the time and Derek was living in Pennsylvania. Our best friends were getting married and decided we should go on a date and get to know each other since we were both in the wedding party. A few days later, Derek said he planned a date for us and I was so excited that I drove straight home from Florida for 18 hours, took a quick nap, and got all ready. When I met him at his apartment, I was in awe (I mean, look at him!). We went to Beck's Land and Sea House for dinner, followed by a "wine and painting" night at a local shop. The entire night, I could not stop smiling with him. From that very first date, we spent the rest of the summer together before I had to go back to Florida for my next year of teaching. He made a detailed itinerary with flights planned for us to fly back and forth before I left. Every weekend was a mini-vacation of us getting to share new experiences. I knew he was the one and moved home after the school year to continue our lives together.

We were taking our second trip to the Virgin Islands but this time with our friends. We had a fun-packed itinerary with new restaurants, snorkel trips, and sunset sails. Once we landed in St. Thomas and arrived at Sapphire Beach, Derek immediately had to go in the water to snorkel. While I decided to enjoy the Caribbean sun. We all had dinner reservations at a new spot so I went inside to shower and get ready and found out the water was turned off for maintenance. So I just threw my hair into a bun and put on a vacation dress. This was our friends first time in St. Thomas and they wanted to take pictures before dinner since we were all dressed up. We walked out onto Pretty Klip Point, a beautiful rocky jetty, and as we were smiling, Derek dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. I was in shock and of course said YES! It was the most perfect start to our vacation and we were able to celebrate in the most beautiful place.