Welcome to the start of our forever.

Our first date was to watch Sonic the Hedgehog in theaters. Nothing like meeting someone and immediately sitting in silence for two hours. However, after the movie, we sat and talked outside for hours. Then, he beat me in bowling and I beat him in laser tag (and he's still too scared to rematch). COVID hit two weeks later and this had seem nice while it lasted... and for some reason Michael decided to stick around. Due to COVID, we skipped straight to the boring part of the relationship, but it never felt boring for us. We binged movies, TV shows, worked out in some nearby parks... Not only were we falling in love with each other, we were becoming best friends in the process. You figure out you really love someone (or really don't) when you can enjoy just being in their presence. You get these moments where their smile brings you so much joy you want to do whatever you can to keep in on their faces. You also get to see them at their worst and you can be their comfort in a sea of uncertainty, because that's what you do when you love someone. And the rest... well, you can see how it's going.

I was maybe NOT in the best mood on the day of my proposal. I mean, to be fair, everyone was conspiring against me so that Michael could pull this off... and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Michael had the brilliant scheme of proposing to me while my cousin, Tanya, took photos. My maid of honor, Zoey, and Tanya convinced me to go out and take nice pictures at a park as a Mother's Day gift for my mom. Sure, nothing suspicious there. Michael had told me he had birthday plans for me that day, but abruptly cancelled them due to a "car meet". He told me he would be home around 9 pm and we could celebrate then. I felt crushed- I'm a teacher, 9 pm is my bed time. He made a big deal about birthday plans with me, and then cancelled them? I brushed it off and allowed myself a quick phone call to cry to my mom, who was actually in the car on the way to watch my proposal. As we pulled up to the park, Michael accidentally shared his location with me. I thought it was weird he was only four minutes away from me, but remembered he used to go to car meets in Sugarland and figured his just happened to be close to the location Tanya picked for photos. Felt like salt in the wound, but I got situated and we started taking pictures. After about 15 minutes, Michael appears holding a bouquet of flowers. Aw, how sweet. He lied about the car meet to come surprise me and take couples photos with me. It was such a thoughtful gift. However, it was more. He led me to a sign and candles that said "Marry Me" and got down on one knee. I'll be honest, my heart was pounding in what seemed like every part of my body. All I could do was stare at this wonderful partner of mine who had decided he wanted to be with me forever. How could I not say yes? For someone who is usually so indecisive, this was the easiest decision of my life.