July 3rd, 2013 will always be a special day. We met at our local gym (shocking right). I (Jason) had noticed Ashlee a few times while working out but never said anything to her, however she quickly became my gym crush. I noticed her normal gym time was in the evening so in hopes of getting the chance to talk to her, I started planning my workouts around her normal gym times. One day, I saw her, and I thought "this is my time to talk to her." I was trying to figure out what I should say to her to spark conversation, and I came up with an idea to ask if she competes in body building. We happened to be walking down the stairs to the locker room at the same time, and I finally got a chance to talk to my gym crush. I asked her if she competed, we exchanged names, and that was it. It was brief, but I was happy. A few weeks went by, and the next time I saw her she was on the stair master. I walked up to her to say hi and catch up until she almost tripped on the machine!! LOL! I said "I'll let you get back to working out so you don't bust your head." A few minutes later, I felt someone looking at me at the corner of my eye and it was Ashlee. We made eye contact, and she came over to me! I knew I had her this time! She had to redeem herself after almost falling in front of me. I asked her on a date and the rest is history!

...For Him. I had noticed Jason at the gym multiple times. Of course I thought he was cute and I definitely noticed his muscles. I never had any intentions to talk to him, though. Let's face it, the gym just isn't the place to meet a good guy plus I'm always in the zone when I'm working out. I had noticed him in the gym one evening and remember us smiling and saying hi to each other. No big deal. I started taking classes in the evening, and I started noticing him more and more in the evening. (Later I realized this was because he changed his gym schedule around to see me). One day, we were walking down the stairs to the locker room at the same time, and he asked me if I competed. This was slick, because anyone who works out a lot LOVES to be asked if they compete. Lol! I said no, but we continued a brief convo in which we exchanged names. His eyes and extremely laid back demeanor left an impression on me. A few weeks went by before we saw each other again. I was on the stair master.... about to lose a lung. He approaches me, and we start talking. I can barely breath, but of course I had to play it cool, until I literally missed a step and almost busted my head wide open. It was embarrassing AND funny! "Let me let you go before you bust your head open" he says. I laugh it off, but knew I couldn't go out like that. I stayed on a few minutes longer, keeping track of where he was in the gym. I got off the death... I mean stair master and found him on a machine. I made a joke about myself and laughed it off. He then asked me on a date! Our 1st date was to the restaurant 45 Degrees on Mass Ave. in Indy where we enjoyed sushi followed by walking around the canal downtown for hours listening to 90's R&B music and singing together. It was perfect. We've been inseparable since. What was meant to last a summer (in my mind) turned into FOREVER!

The winter of 2018 was really draining due to it being so cold, and it was the busiest time of the year at my job. Running around getting a lot of last minute things finished for work, I was on edge and ready for the holidays to be over. Luckily, our family had decided not to do Christmas gifts for each other, but to instead put together Christmas bags for the homeless. That was the 1 thing I was looking forward to doing with my parents and Jason. Later that evening, we picked Jason's mom up and we met my parents at their house for my mom's infamous Christmas Dinner. I noticed Jason was acting kind of weird, but i really didn't really think much of it. My parents and Jason's mom were in the living room watching the kids open gifts. Jason was sitting across the room in staring at me, and i'm wondering what he's looking at! Lol! I'm sitting on the couch scrolling through social media when Jason approaches me and says "There's one more gift!" He bends down on one knee and pulls a tiny black box from his pocket and opens it up. A diamond ring was in my face but no words came out of his mouth. I was shocked and unfortunately my 1st words were "what the hell?" (I know... I know! But, *shrugs*) He's just looking at me, sweating, and I say with so much joy " Are you gonna ask me!! ( I could tell he was nervous just like I was). Finally the words " Will you marry me?" came out his mouth and I said "YES!!". What started off as me just trying to make it through the holidays, turned out to be the best Christmas ever! He saved me!