Our first encounter was during our junior year at Campbell High School in Smyrna, Georgia. The year was 2007, and we were in AP U.S. History together. Like all great relationships do, we started out as friends. Initially, we had study groups and hang out sessions. Then during our senior year, we went to prom together. The rest as they say, is history...

Also known as: Operation "Pop-Goes-the-Question" It was the day after Thanksgiving and our good friends (co-conspirators) came to DC for a visit. From the start, they put a heavy emphasis on seeing the monuments, specifically on Friday night. When the moment finally arose, there was resistance from Allison. She stated that she was exhausted from the activities during the day. In an act of desperation to not go out in the cold weather, she proposed that our friends go see the monuments while she parked and waited in the car nearby. My co-conspirators and I knew that this would not suffice. Luckily, we were able to pull her from the couch and convinced her to get dressed. She grew suspicious when I pulled out my velvet blazer (the drawbacks of not dressing up very often). We went to the front of the Lincoln Memorial right across from the reflecting pool. As my hands trembled from the 28-degree weather and nerves, I got down on one knee and asked for Allison's hand in marriage. She immediately wanted to FaceTime her parents, but I had hid them by the side of the monument to surprise her. When she finally FaceTimed them, she saw that they were also at the monuments. Seeing them caused her to burst into tears (still slightly frustrated she didn't start crying during the proposal). We spent the rest of the night with her parents (also co-conspirators) and our friends. When she went to take her parents to their hotel, I used that 15 minutes to smuggle her sister from her cab from the airport into our apartment. Upon seeing her, the waterworks started again. It was an amazing night. One that we will never forget.