I’m not sure you can consider our story a technical love story. I first met Kristen in 5th grade and the only thing I can really remember is hating her guts in Mr. Ballinger’s class. We were constantly at war over our math grades. If I got a 98 then she got a 100, and then the next assignment I’d get a 100 and she would get a 98. It was just a constant petty bickering between the two of us. The next I saw her again was in 9th grade in Mr Smith’s chorus class. Again, we never really talked because all we could remember of each other was that stupid war in 5th grade. As time went on we began having more classes together as well as chorus and show choir and eventually fell into the same group of friends and started finally being friendly to each other. Eventually it got to our senior year and on November 3, 2010, we were sitting in her old Cadillac peeling off the rubber layer of her steering wheel (should have been my clue there that she was a weirdo, but oh well) and I randomly just blurted out the question to start dating. I don’t really remember any specific reason why I asked except it just felt right.

To continue on with our weird story, our strange relationship continued on over the years despite our weirdness. Our first date involved eating at longhorn for my dad’s birthday, us watching a movie in my old Camry, and then me dropping her off with no kiss or I love you, bye (mainly because I was too scared) Our first anniversary date of antique shopping ended several hours early when I got a stomach virus and ran multiple red lights home to get to a toilet. Our first fight was over French fries because I asked if she wanted anything while we were in the drive thru, she said no, and then she ate one as soon as we drove off. I seriously can’t even begin to explain why we’ve stuck together except that only we could survive each other’s weirdness. As the next 8 years went on she went to pharmacy school in Atlanta and we saw each other every other weekend. Family and friends continued to pester about marriage. We had already discussed that if our relationship could survive the distance and my work schedule that it would all have to happen after she graduated (mainly because I knew her ADD could barely function between the studying and her friend Lauren getting engaged and married.) Eventually I decided that her final semester would be soon enough to pop the question. I remember being scared to death the day I asked her parents. She had just left with her Aunt to go on a trip to the mountains so I invited them to go eat at pit stop. After we were all finished eating I still hadn’t asked, and honestly I still wasn’t sure how I was going to ask. I eventually snatched the ticket from Mrs. Loretta (we always fight over her paying for my food) and told them I was holding them and the ticket ransom until they gave me an answer to whether or not I could marry their daughter. They both quickly started crying (yes I made Mr. Danny cry, and he’s probably going to beat me up for saying it), but they both said yes, but only if I bring her back if she starts being abusive to me.

So the next part I guess I should talk about would be the disaster plan of an engagement. I always knew I was going to ask at Disney World in front of the castle, but I didnt know how. The original plan was to ask after the Happily Ever After fireworks with the Disney photographers being there to capture the moment. Then the floods came. It rained a most of the time we were there. We ate at Tony’s Restaurant which is themed after Lady and the Tramp, one of her favorite Disney films. I remember sitting there soaked from the rain with absolutely no appetite because the dinner reservation was so close to the time for the fireworks, but the waitress was extremely fast and had us finished with 25 minutes to spare which I thought would be plenty of time to find the perfect spot to watch the fireworks. I was wrong. There were people everywhere and cast members were directing us away from the castle. Thankfully, I had brought mama and my sister Lauren along. Mama told them we HAD to get to the castle. They kept trying to usher us away, but mama whispered something and she quickly directed us to the next cast member. We bounced between 2-3 more cast members, whispering our needs (and literally dragging Kristen by the arm) until finally, a cast member took us to the handicap area next to the Walt Disney Statue. The fireworks came and ended but I didnt pay them any attention until they were over and I realized it was time. I went against the original plan and dropped to my knee. I don’t even remember asking “will you be my happily ever after?” What I do remember is the speakers blaring “Thank you for visiting Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom!” and the guy behind Kristen saying “OH S&@#!! LOOK HONEY NO SERIOUSLY LOOK D@#! IT!” I don’t even remember hearing Kristen even giving me an answer. All I saw was her jam her hand in my face and me shakily putting the ring on her finger. That’s our “magical” story so far. Call it fate, destiny, (a horse? Inside joke) but I love you most.

I don't even remember meeting Mitchell for the first time. I just remember developing a weird hatred for him throughout our 5th grade year for no real reason except that we had this unspoken competition with each other to see who could be more successful. And not just with our grades... I mean, I think that's where it started, but we would even race each other to see who could finish writing down homework assignments, or reading a paragraph. I distinctly remember telling my Mimi on our ride home from school one day how much Mitchell got on my nerves and she told me "Be careful! You'll end up marrying him, one day!" She probably doesn't even remember that, but my exact response was "Ew, gross." Mitchell and I ended up with a couple of classes in common after 5th grade, but we never really saw each other until 9th grade when we had chorus with Mr. Smith. Through chorus and show choir, we eventually became best friends. As seniors, we and our group of friends parked next to each other, and every morning we would pile in someone's car and talk before class. November 3rd, 2010, Mitchell and I were the first two to get to school, so he came over to sit with me. He started talking about senior prom. At this point, my mind jumped to "crap, he's going to ask one of his drama club friends" and I didn't want to hear it. Luckily, my best friend's boyfriend (now her husband) pulled into his parking spot. Interrupting Mitchell mid sentence, I practically yelled "HEY LOOK IT'S RYAN" and rolled down the window to say hello. Mitchell grabbed the door and yelled "NO. DANG IT, RYAN. HOLD ON" and rolled the window back up. He looked at me and said, "AS I WAS SAYING.. I wanted to take my girlfriend." "Oh" I said, feeling disappointed because this meant he wanted one of those drama club chicks to be his girlfriend. "Yep," he said " and I wanted it to be you." Eventually, I stopped giggling and said "Ok?" and that was the start of our weird relationship.

We graduated and went to ABAC together. In 2014, he graduated from the nursing program, and by 2015, I had finally taken enough biology courses to satisfy the requirements for pharmacy school. I moved to Atlanta, and for 3 years, we made long-distance work. I came home every other weekend if possible, and he drove up if I was unable to make it home. Somewhere along the way, our mutual love for Disney grew into something of an obsession. We eventually got annual passes and made the drive to Orlando every time we were given the chance. The final year of pharmacy school consists of 8 blocks of rotations, which meant I could move back home and effectively put an end to this long-distance madness. We planned a trip to Disney World in December (my all-time FAVORITE time to go) with Mitchell's mom and sister, and Mitchell bought us tickets to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. None of this seemed out of the ordinary because we literally went to Disney all the time. I got together with a few of my ABAC friends before the trip and we started talking about my upcoming Disney plans. They made jokes about a proposal, but when you've dated someone for over 8 years, EVERYONE makes jokes about a proposal. A few weeks later, someone stopped me and my mom and told me "Congratulations! Aren't you engaged?" I laughed it off and said "No, just graduating in May." (Again, this wasn't out of the ordinary. I got this a lot.) About a week before my trip to Disney, my mom and I went to get our nails done. I never get a manicure but my mom was borderline persistent about me getting one. I still refused and she let it go. A few days later, I was showing her the shirts I had made for the trip (yep, I'm one of “those people"), and she said "You just really need to dress nice." I made a joke about wearing a formal gown and high heels to ride roller coasters, but I was starting to get suspicious...

Still trying not to get my hopes up, but also wanting to be prepared, I slapped some polish on my nails the night before we left for Orlando and decided that if he was going to propose, he would do it on Thursday because that was when we had tickets for the Christmas party (less people, better photo ops). On Wednesday night, we finished eating at Tony's and made our way to the castle for the fireworks. It was super packed that night, and we were quickly stopped by a cast member who told us the park was at capacity and that we couldn't get closer to the castle. I was fine with that, because our view of the castle was fine. Mrs. Judy said "no, we can get closer", grabbed my hand, and started walking. We didn't get far before a cast member stopped her. She whispered something to the cast member and we were told to walk down a narrow path to the next cast member. That cast member told us the same thing as the last two. I was going to turn to Mitchell and suggest we just stop there, but next thing I know, HE is talking to the cast member and we are being escorted to the handicap viewing section right in front of the castle. Still trying not to get my hopes up (but it was getting really hard at this point), I told myself "he would be crazy to propose tonight in this crowd!" Well, he IS crazy, and at the end of the fireworks, he grabbed my hand, kneeled, and said "Will you be my happily ever after?" I'm not sure how long I made him kneel before I finally mumbled something, but after what seemed like forever, I gave him an answer. Except, I give a normal answer, like "yes", or "sure", or "ok... Nope. I said "uh huh." Do you know what "Uh huh" looks like in loud theme park with speakers blaring and a dude behind you screaming "HOLY S@#$!!! HONEY LOOK!"? It looks like NOTHING. So he just kneeled there staring at me. Waiting. I eventually shoved my hand in his face and he got the picture. So, that's our story so far. And to the Eugene to my Rapunzel, I love you most.