In the summer of 2015, St. James Catholic Church, the bride's home parish, hosted a community service retreat called HOMEWORK for high school Catholic students in northern Mississippi. We were randomly placed in a group with four to five other individuals to serve local organizations in Tupelo. After that week, he and I, along with his brother, would visit each other once or twice a year. During the start of summer break in 2018, Joshua took me to a Mississippi State baseball game to "test the waters" but nothing came of it. Years later, Joshua moved back home to Starkville for work while I was still finishing up my degrees. The pandemic caused my academic schedule to have an abnormally long winter break which gave us more time to hang out. It quickly changed from three of us to just two after I invited Joshua to go to the Notre Dame vs Alabama game in Dallas. When I was returning to South Bend for the spring semester, Joshua wanted to try long distance though I was still unsure of my feelings. We continued to talk every day until he gave me an ultimatum to be all in or all out. I could not imagine a life where I wouldn't be able to talk to him, so on August 17th, 2021, I asked Joshua to be my boyfriend, and the rest is history!

We were in South Bend for the Notre Dame home opening game against Tennessee State. Up until this point, Joshua had been playing mind games with me to keep me off track, so that when he did propose, I would be surprised. Though I joked about packing the ring for our trip up to Notre Dame, our travel troubles made a proposal the last thing on my mind. Sunday morning, while I was getting ready for Mass, Joshua slipped the ring into his wallet. Being a game weekend, the basilica was packed, so we stood at the back of the church. Joshua took advantage of this opportunity and move the ring to a different pocket in preparation for the proposal. After mass, we had a couple hours to spare before our brunch reservations at Rohr's, so we made our way to our spot on St. Mary's Lake where we take our seasonal picture with the dome and the basilica in the background. We took a few pictures and when Joshua went back to the phone to start the timer for another, I saw him start recording. He grabbed my hands, turned me towards him, and told me he knew I was the one when we were at that spot during his first visit to Notre Dame. When he reached for his pocket, I did a little dance, he got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. I quickly responded, "Yes sir, I will!" - the most formal response to any proposal. We kissed and hugged, then he said there was someone here to see me. I turn around to see my younger brother and sister come out of the trees. I screamed and cried from the excitement and joy of having them there to capture this beautiful moment. We look forward to having our family and friends join us to celebrate our union in Dallas, TX where we start our life together as Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Rollins.