I had always heard my dad tell the El Chico Man story and how he and his buddies dented the back of Jamie's truck during a night of fun, but low quality behavior back in the late 80’s. So, I knew of the Walker family, but had never put a face to the name until I met Alex at a funeral in 2019 where we hit it off as hunting buddies. Little did we know what inviting me up to hunt at the family farm would lead to. After that initial deer and turkey season (which included many missed turkeys and teasing from Jamie), I was invited on the family vacation to Hilton Head as Alex’s friend. During that trip this short girl (his sister) caught my eye. She was a rising junior in college who had her act together. The thought entered my mind, but I was a couple of years younger than her and dismissed the idea, thinking “These people have been too good to me already. I can’t mess this up trying to date their daughter." After graduating from McCallie, I moved to Tennessee Tech and spent most of my weekends at the farm. Emma was often there and those past thoughts began to seep back into my mind. One day, I took Emma hunting and we spent some quality time in a tree stand. I realized she had qualities that were non negotiable for me. She was honest and realistic, smart in every aspect (unless she’s out in public with me, then her brain shuts off), as well as beautiful both inside and out. However, I still couldn’t pin down how she felt. A man can make an educated guess, but at the end of the day it is still only that…a guess. Over the next few months, I found myself at the farm even more and this time it wasn’t to hunt. I told myself that I was helping them get ready for Alex’s wedding, which I was, but one could say my reasons were twofold. From there a birthday party and a Cody Johnson concert allowed us to spend some quality time together outside of the woods, which led to me ponying up and finding out just how she felt. After a few dates, which included Mexican food of course, we made things official and the rest is history. I still like to kid around that Dad always told me I wouldn’t find a girl if I was constantly in the woods or on a boat, but boy did I prove him wrong!

I first remember meeting Evan at our family farm on my college Thanksgiving break in 2019. Believe it or not, he was there to hunt! He was my brother's friend, so he continued to hang around the next several months. I thought he was cute, respectable, and smart, but also just a baby of course! I didn't think anything beyond that, until he ended up going with us on the family vacation to Hilton Head the following summer. That's when my little crush began! Once again, he was still younger and I never thought he would like me back, so I just kept to myself. Over the next couple of years, my mom and I would joke around how my type was "an educated country boy" and Evan was definitely that. He continued hunting and hanging around at the farm and in the Fall of 2022, he took me hunting (at my mom's request). I think she was definitely hoping for some matchmaking. I managed to impress him by killing a pretty nice buck that day. After that, we got a lot more flirty, especially during Killer Uno games at the farm. I was never quite sure if he was just being nice or he actually liked me. I think we were both unsure about how the other person felt and we didn't want to ruin anything with the farm or my family's relationship. Over the next few months things began to change. We bought tickets for a group trip to a Cody Johnson concert (technically an unofficial triple date), he drove in from Tech just to come to my small birthday party I had planned with friends, and there was lots of texting! We had our first official date in February of 2023 and have been inseparable ever since! I remember thinking before our first date that we would either both think this whole situation was weird or that we would end up married. Thankfully, it was the latter! After that first date, I never had any fear that our relationship would end. Believe it or not, we actually talked about marriage on our second date!