We began texting back and forth the summer before 8th grade and quickly fell in “like” with each other. Within 2 months we were dragged together in the courtyard of Deerlake Middle School where Alex kind of asked and kinda told me that I was now his girlfriend. I of course said yes to the question that was not even a question and we spent many mornings holding hands secretively in the courtyard because PDA was against the school rules. At the time me nor Alex expected our middle school crush to blossom into anything more. But as the story goes, it did blossom into something unexpected. We celebrated 6 months of our relationship by getting dropped off at Applebees in order to go on our first real date. It was here that I stared at the cars out the window instead of Alex because I was nervous; to this day, Alex does not let me live that date down. Through high school we continued to go on dates, bicker about silly high school things, and had many new experiences. After high school we spent a year and a half adventuring, exploring, and growing in Tallahassee. In March of 2017 Alex entered the Air Force. The relationship we had known was no longer face to face and a car ride away. Instead it became letters, phone calls, plane rides, and eventually only a few hours drive away. I think Alex and I can both agree that adjusting to long distance was not easy but neither of us would trade it for the world. It was because of our long distance relationship that we have really begun to understood the definition of love and what it means to love each other..

Two and a half years after I was sworn into the military, and on the day of our 9th anniversary, Ashley and I took a trip to North Georgia to celebrate. It was at a stop in Athens, Georgia that I decided to pop the question. It was at this stop that Ashley was reminded that I can pull off an outrageous surprise in a perfect Ashley and Alex fashion. It was at this stop, in Athens, at a park, that I tricked Ashley into thinking a dog was behind her only to turn around and find me half way down to my knee. It was at this park I asked Ashley to be my wife and it is where Ashley replied with the same yes she had given me 9 years earlier in the courtyard of Deerlake Middle School.