1 Corinthians 13:4-7

To be honest, we have zero recollection as to when or how we met. We have basically known each other our entire lives. In 2005, I (Jaylee) began attending Fox Meadow Elementary School in Jonesboro, AR. Dakotah started attending the same school after his family moved to Jonesboro from California in 2006. It is likely we met somewhere during this time frame. However, despite being in the same grade and progressing through classes together, our earliest interactions that we can recall weren't shared until high school.

The earliest interactions we can recall between us are the texting back and forth during our freshman year of high school. Dakotah got my number from a mutual friend and sent the first text. Our conversations consisted of everything from video games we liked to how cool his basement was. At some point, we just stopped texting (Dakotah claims I never texted back and holds it over my head to this day). It wasn't until several months later at a pep rally that we rekindled after we sat near each other in the bleachers. The texting began once again, and after a couple weeks of conspicuous flirting, Dakotah asked me to be his girlfriend on May 12, 2015, after school had let out for the day. We went on our first date just a couple days later.

May 12, 2021, marked our 6-year dating anniversary. Due to other major events going on around that time, Dakotah played it off as if our anniversary was going to be pretty uneventful. When the day finally came, we pulled up to Dakotah's workplace because he "wanted to grab his camera" that he had previously left there. After finding the camera, he asked if I wanted to check out the walking trail on the property. We ended up walking the trail, and once we made it back, he asked if I was ready to get some food. I of course told him I was, and it took a lot of hints from him before I finally noticed the picnic set up for us under his workplace's gazebo. After we finished our picnic, Dakotah presented me with a small wooden chest that I had actually gifted to him for Christmas a few years prior. Inside the chest were several momentos he saved from throughout our years together. We reminisced about each item together, and once I finally reached the bottom of the chest, there was a note that said, "Will you marry me?" in Dakotah’s calligraphy style. Needless to say, I said YES!