We both went to Williams Baptist College (University), but Dylan was 2 years behind me in school. He says he remembers seeing me in the athletic trainers office or out on the ball field but never interacted much with me. (Apparently I'm intimidating). He attended FCA which I led but we both went our separate ways after graduation. He played Soccer (I wasn't much for entertaining grass fairies), and I was busy playing softball. I feel like our paths crossed, but the stars didn't align. (So much for Ring by Spring or my money back)

Like Justin Timberlake says.. what goes around comes back around. In 2017, Dylan and I began to get to know each other on the basis that we both went to WBC and enjoyed slow-pitch softball (washed up has-beens unite!) However, distance/time were not in our favor. I was in the middle of Graduate School and living in Central Arkansas and he was in the Memphis area working making meeting/dating difficult. We would hang out during weekend co-ed softball tournaments but never officially dated. Pause until late 2019 into 2020 when I moved back to Jonesboro and took a job at NEA and was finally settling into my career. We began to rekindle a spark as the stars seemed to finally align for us this time. (3rd time's the charm, right?) and after several months of getting to know each other we began officially dating in June of 2020. One perk I found out of the Pandemic was Dylan! Side Note: Dylan asked me to be his girlfriend with a constellation poster of the night of our first kiss (Under the stars outside of Dupree Softball Park in Jacksonville, AR) in the parking lot of the Southside Jonesboro Softball fields. (Anybody else see a theme building here?)

I think we realized pretty early on that we were both in much better places to pursue a relationship and conversations quickly turned towards marriage and building a life together. So the part you've all been waiting for.. THE PROPOSAL. But before we dive into that story, there is one thing you should know about me.. I HATE surprises. So much so I ruined my own proposal. TWICE. Dylan is a romantic. It's one of the many things that I love about him, because if you are lucky enough to know my sappy side I am a sucker for a good Hallmark movie (yes I'm aware they all have virtually the same plot line, no you will not convince otherwise) So when it came to proposing, Dylan had a hard time surprising me. 1.) I'm super nosy. 2.) I don't like being the center of attention. I knew when he got the ring by context clues, but didn't know how, where, or when the proposal would be. He initially tried to get me to go to Eureka Springs for a "tournament" but I wasn't able to go that weekend due to a work conflict. Then he was going to propose when I was coming back from an Army mission in South America at the airport and my plane got delayed by 2 days. (Gotta hand it to him, he's persistent) So again, 3rd time's the charm! He scheduled "Family Photos" for both his mom and sister and my parents. That seemed super fishy to me so I figured something was up. But kudos to the photographer who had a special code word to have us back to back and facing away from each other so that he could get on one knee! Although I had a suspicion it was coming, nothing prepared me for the actual moment to turn around and see him with a ring!