On March 24, 2020 at 10am, I thought the below prompt on this cute army boy’s Hinge page deserved a response - despite me swearing I would not date someone in the military. “Describe your most irrational fear:" "The assortment of rustic farming equipment hanging from the Cracker Barrel ceiling” I found his attempt at a joke on his Hinge page endearing, so I gave an effortless response of “this is totally fair.” Little did I know that this silly prompt and lazy response would lead to me meeting my best friend. On April 24th, 2020, after 4 weeks of making each other laugh via text and trying to figure out when COVID would end, we decided to meet at Sonic in Ashland City, TN. Over mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, and red wine in solo cups, we got to know one another - talking about family, work, values and so on. While I had been hesitant about meeting a stranger in a parking lot outside of Nashville, TN, I quickly realized I had no reason to fear. Will proved to be as kindhearted, witty, and intelligent as I had hoped. After hours talking in Will’s Jeep, he walked me back to my car. I quickly became nervous he wouldn't know how interested I was if I didn't make a move. So, when he went in for the hug, I went in for the kiss. It was quick, and I definitely had the nervous shakes, but it got the point across. I went home that night texting all my friends “I love him” and “I think I’m going to marry this guy." We continued seeing one another, and despite my obvious interest, I infamously turned him down when he first asked me to be his girlfriend. It only took me a couple weeks to realize my mistake, and I haven't looked back since. I am so thankful that our paths crossed, and I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with him. I can't wait to ring in 2024 as Will Smith's WIFE!

I met Kaileen shortly after I moved to Tennessee. It was the scary, unknown phase of COVID-19 where people were disinfecting their groceries, and I was living in the upstairs bonus room of my best friends’ house. Naturally, I thought it was the perfect time to meet strangers on an online dating app. Kaileen, being the intelligent one in our relationship, had her radius set to 10 miles - putting her safely outside of the 50 mile net I had cast. Fortunately for me, I wandered into her catalog of options when I decided to fly home from Nashville to see my parents. I seduced her with my sparkling sense of humor with the following Hinge prompt: “Describe your most irrational fear:" "The assortment of rustic farming equipment hanging from the Cracker Barrel ceiling” Kaileen validated my fears and that’s all I needed. We hit it off - talking almost everyday, learning each other’s very different roads taken to arrive in Nashville. After a week or so of talking, we agreed that we would go on a date once COVID was over. Well, that moment has still not come - thankfully we were willing to lie to each other and ourselves at this stage in the relationship. COVID didn’t go away and we slowly stopped talking. That was more my fault than hers. We went a couple of weeks without talking before Kaileen couldn’t resist any longer. She texted two words: “pulse check.” I replied dryly with my actual heart rate, which she insists was one of the funnier jokes I’ve made. We instantly hit it back off and I kicked myself for risking losing this funny, genuine, and incredibly caring woman. We realized that COVID wasn’t going away anytime soon, so we decided the date would have to happen regardless of the risks of long- term respiratory issues. Still restricted by the Army, Kaileen and I had to meet in the middle - at a Sonic in Ashland City, Tennessee. It was one of the only places open at the time, and Kaileen had recently expressed an affinity for drinking wine in the drive thru. So that’s what we did! We sat in my car, shared a bottle of wine and some mozzarella sticks, and talked for hours. I wore my West Point class ring to impress her and she wore a TLC shirt, because she was cooler than me. As the sun set, we decided to part ways. Kaileen, in another “pulse check?” moment, decided she would go for a kiss. That’s when I knew she was the one. She clearly wasn’t as impressed, as it took awhile before she would feel the same. The best night of my life. Or maybe the most important. We went on a few more dates before I asked her to be my girlfriend. Still unimpressed, she said no. So I spent a few more dates trying to impress her before, on June 19th, 2020, she finally said yes. There have been many more dates and adventures since then - dinners at our favorite Nashville restaurants, stay-in dates with Mario Party on the couch, camping in the Smokey Mountains; and each moment has made me fall more and more in love with Kaileen. She has become as much a part of me as anything else, which has made me one of the luckiest men in the world. Everyday has been a continual effort to win her over. That effort has brought me so much joy that I had no choice but to marry her. So hey, let’s party.