We met at the end of my junior year at JMU, just as I was getting ready for finals week during my hardest semester of nursing school. Mike didn't understand the pressure of nursing school finals. He kept asking me to hang out even though I had to study, so finally I decided I'd get rid of him. He agreed to come to a building on campus where I had been studying all day to hang out while I studied. I thought "perfect, I have no make up on wearing a ratty JMU sweatshirt and have been studying all day. My appearance alone will run him off." Well, he turned out to be kind of cool, and even though I got no more studying done that night, I decided not to get rid of him just yet. But that didn't change finals were coming, so over next two weeks, we planned dates, and I canceled dates usually about an hour before he was supposed to pick me up. He was such a champ about it, took it in stride, understandingly waited until I had an hour between study sessions to get a quick lunch. When finals week finally ended, we finally could go on a more proper date and went bowling with Micah. By midnight that night, we were standing on the top of Reddish Knob, the top of a mountain for those of you not from around here. And I thought "Damn, I actually kind of like him."

I was positive I'd know when he was going to propose, but he always told me I'd never expect it. He wasn't kidding. We had planned a trip down to Virginia Beach to meet a group of friends for the Patriotic Festival. I had worked the night before, so I slept most of the way down and had to finish some homework that was due when we got there. He seemed overly concerned with me finishing the homework as quickly as possible and kept complaining that he was starving. When I submitted my homework and was ready to go, he started stalling. He even went as far as to ask me for q-tips so he could clean his ears. Ok, weirdo. Eventually, he was ready, and we walked towards the boardwalk. He said he needed to take a picture of the ocean and insisted I come onto the sand with him to do it. He's holding his phone up to take the picture and says "I didn't want to come out here to take a picture." Next thing I know, he's on one knee. Obviously, I was skeptical. Anyone who knows how Mike Ray likes to mess with people would be. Even when he pulled out a box, I still insisted he was lying and told him to shut up and stand up. It wasn't until I saw the ring in the box that I realized he was actually asking me to marry him and said yes. Then we turn around, and some of my best friends, James, Janice, Ryne, and Meghan, were there cheering. I don't think I'll ever live down the fact that I didn't immediately say yes.