Till Death Do Us Part

I grew up in the small town of St. Johns, AZ. After my sophomore year of high school, my family and I moved to the opposite corner of the state, another small town called Wellton down by Yuma. After we moved away, Hunter moved into my old house with his uncle and aunt/best friend/mother. He lived in my room, repainted my horribly painted walls, and helped make my childhood home so different but so beautiful. We didn’t know each other, but being that it was such a small town, we heard a lot about each other from our now mutual friends. During senior year, I was invited back to town to attend the prom, and I met my future husband for the first time. We probably said a total of 5 words to each other while he drove me and some friends around in his uncle's jeep, and after that night we didn’t keep in touch. Except for the time he Facebook messaged me to let me know he was painting the room, and then forgot to text me back for 4 years. We graduated high school across the state from each other and began very different lives; me starting a long and frustrating journey at college, and Hunter joining the Marine Corps. Four years later in 2020, after some of the chaos of Covid had begun to die down, Hunter returned to AZ and civilian life. We reconnected! Thanks to Tinder… and sometimes I feel like that could be embarrassing, but I’m forever grateful to that ridiculous app for bringing me to a life, a love, and a family I wouldn’t give up for the world.

It was Super Bowl Sunday and my sister was having a bunch of her friends from college over for a big watch party. My family used to have parties for the Super Bowl all the time when we were kids, and it was really nice to return to that chaotic fun. The day and game went on, people were drinking, shouting, cheering, and we had some games of our own going on. It was a great day, and when the sun had gone down and everyone had left, Shelby and Hunter sat down and began to have one of their debates. When left alone together, they often find themselves engaged in a heated discussion about politics, police, government; things of that nature. They’re pretty interesting to listen to, but I had to use the restroom so I made my way downstairs. In the bathroom I stumbled upon a pregnancy test that had been tucked away in a drawer. How long it had been in there, I had no idea, but for some reason I had the urge to pee on it. So I did, and then I capped it and let it sit on the counter while I finished up and washed my hands. As I went to pick it up to through it away I noticed the little plus sign, along with a smiley face. I stared at it in full shock for a good five minutes. I paced around the bathroom, not quite sure what to do next. I went back upstairs and his the test in my bag, thinking I would talk to Hunter about it when we got home. Shelby and he were still going back and forth about whatever, so I paced around them waiting for them to stop. They didn’t, and finally when there was a pause in their discussion I blurted out that I needed to tell them something. Here are the two most important people to me, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. They stared at me waiting for my announcement. I ran back to the living room to grab the test and as I was coming back up the stair to them, Hunter said, “Oh God, did you pee on a stick?” I put the test on the table between them, and they also stared in shock for a few minutes. We quickly decided that we didn’t know how old the test was, and we should go buy a few more to be sure. A trip to CVS and two more positive pee tests later, I walked up to my mom’s room and crawled into her bed. She woke up and asked what was wrong and I showed her my stack of tests. She said, “Oh Baby…” and I cried. It wasn’t a sad cry, but more so a worried one. It was such a surprise and I wasn’t sure how everything was going to work out. But Sammy has been our biggest joy ever since he made his world entrance on September 10, 2023!

I knew I wanted to ask Hunter to marry me almost immediately, but I never knew when the right time would arise. After we found out I was pregnant, I thought, "He's stuck with me forever now anyway, might as well make this thing official!" I tried to do everything right - I asked his parents for their blessings, I bought a nice ring I thought he would like, and I planned an entire date around what he would enjoy. I took him to the AZ Science Center, because he had told me about how much he loved it when he was a kid and how it sparked his passion for science and knowledge. I had never been, and I was excited to experience for the first time and also see Hunter excited about it. But when we got there, he told me that they hadn't updated anything since he had been there as a child, which was surprising and disappointing because technology has come a long way and he was expecting it to be amazing. I had originally planned to get down on my pregnant knees during the show in the planetarium because I thought it would add to the beauty and drama of the whole event. However, since he was so disappointed with the whole place I decided to wait. After we left, we got lunch at a little Mexican restaurant with the fastest service either of us have ever experienced, and between the waitress coming back every couple minutes to check on us, I tried to give my cute little speech about how much I love him and how much he means to me, and how I couldn't imagine my life without him. But in the middle of this mushy speech, Hunter interrupted me to ask, "Are you breaking up with me?" To which I responded, "Yes, I planned this whole date that revolves around you in order to break up with you. Please let me finish." I was interrupted again as I fumbled in my bag for the ring, "Are you proposing to me??" So, my plan didn't work out exactly as I wanted it to, but he did say yes, and it was a memorable, happy day that we can laugh about for the rest of our lives. He's too smart for his own good, and I love him more for it.