We're Getting Married!

Our parents, Greg and Jan and Bill and Dana, have been friends for over 30 years. Jan and Greg babysat Blake and his sister, Carmen, when they were little so their parents could take an anniversary trip. Our families have attended Christmas Eve midnight services together. So Blake and I have known each other for most of our lives. We ran in different circles, lived in different parts of town, and did not attend the same schools. Fast forward to 2022 on a Saturday morning at a restaurant in Franklin, TN called Meridees. Our parents and a few other couples were eating breakfast together. The men were at one end of the table talking sports, and the women were at the other end of the table talking about their families, when one of the ladies said to Dana, "Your son, Blake, would be a great catch for one of our daughters." Then, my mom immediately responds, "Woah! Hold on! I have already chosen Blake for my daughter, Jessica!" All of the ladies laughed together, but the seed was planted at that point as they say. Dana may or may not have mentioned this conversation to Blake, but I am guessing she did. Several months later around Thanksgiving, Blake came walking downstairs at his parents house and told them, "I think I might be interested in an arranged marriage!" That weekend, Blake sent me a text asking if I might be interested in getting coffee the next time he was in Birmingham (I was living in Birmingham and working at UAB Hospital). I replied, how about dinner! It was a date! Dec 9, 2022! Blake, to this day, is not sure what made the memory of our parents at breakfast come to mind, or what made him text me that day, but I truly believe it was God's plan all along! That's how our story begins.