Shelby was teaching in NJ and Cody was controlling airplanes in Djibouti (that's in Africa!). Shelby's students wrote letters to Cody and his friends across the sea. Shelby decided to write a letter, as well, thanking Cody for reading the letters (she knew what kind of writers they were since she graded their essays...). Cody apparently really liked the letter and asked Steevi (see: bridal party) if Shelby would go on a date with him when he got back to the states. Shelby agreed because, as she says, "what did I have to lose?"
The first official date for Cody and Shelby was on Black Friday in November of 2017. Shelby was not feeling well, but she decided that she would go out with Cody anyway, and he would not have had it any other way. (Was it a stomach bug or just nerves? The world may never know!) They went to Hoboken that night for their first date, then went to NYC the next night for a friends date (yup, Shelby met Cody's friends on date #2...).
Cody and Shelby were visiting one of Cody's friends in Connecticut and hanging out waiting for her to get home from work. At this point, they had spent every weekend together since Cody returned from deployment. Shelby said to Cody "We are basically in a relationship, why don't we just make this thing official?" Cody obviously said yes. A week earlier, Cody said, "I love you," and Shelby didn't answer. But don't worry, she said it eventually.
Because Cody is stationed in Maryland for the Navy, the first eight months of this relationship were long distance. Thankfully, Cody liked Shelby enough to come see her as often as he could. In May of 2018, Shelby went to visit Cody in Maryland, and on a whim, they went to look at apartments, which led to a deposit and a promise of a Maryland move for Shelby come July. Shelby quit her job, packed up, and moved to Maryland to be with Cody in July.
Cody made Shelby think that they weren't going to get engaged in this century for months leading up to the actual proposal. On the day of the actual proposal, Cody was so nervous, he avoided Shelby the entire day by playing video games. They went to their favorite coffee shop to meet with friends for a dinner reservation, and while there, Cody popped the question, to Shelby's absolute shock! The frosting on the cake, Cody planned for all of Shelby's friends to come from NJ to be at dinner to celebrate!
Thanks to Covid, Shelby and Cody made the (very difficult) decision to postpone their wedding a full year at the start of the pandemic. Shelby thought Cody was crazy for thinking we'd still be dealing with the pandemic in October as of April, but as it turns out, he was right. (She'll probably never say he's right again, but she'll let him have this one.)