Happily Ever After

Once upon a time, Lady Kaylin was attending James River Church and sat down in a seat at random. This was strange for her, you see, as she generally tried to be a bit more strategic in her seating choice. She’d look for the strapping young sir sitting by himself, or for even the dashing group of bros studiously taking notes, and would try to situate herself within proximity to them in case one should feel the tugging of the Holy Spirit to introduce himself. On this fateful day, however, she was running behind and so happened to choose a spot right next to a young woman and her almost-two-year-old son, who was not about to sit quietly through an hour-and-a-half long service. In true small-child fashion, he was everywhere! Including, at one point, crawling up into the fair Lady Kaylin’s lap! At the end of the sermon, the young lad’s mother introduced herself, apologizing for the flurry of activity her son had taken up. Kaylin shrugged it off, being quite used to the activities of young children from watching her niece. It was at that moment that something peculiar and amazing happened. Something so rare and beautiful, that legends are written about such life-changing and pivotal moments in time. You see, the boy’s Mother felt the tugging of God that no single gentleman Kaylin had previously sought out, had felt before. She had been moved to take action not for herself, of course, but for her very dashing, very noble, Godly, and ever-so-elligable brother of hers. After confirming that the fair Lady Kaylin was, in fact, single and looking to mingle, names were exchanged, pictures were shown, and eventually, Kaylin’s cell number was passed along to reach the good Sir Titus Arnold, seven days hence. He contacted her for the first time on the 3rd of October, 2020, and the rest, as they say, is history.

It was on a magical trip to Arizona that Titus took Kaylin to see the Grand Canyon with his extended family. He’d had it all planned out: debts had been paid, the ring had been purchased, his family was in on it to photograph and film. Everything was perfect. The day was a glorious Friday in June—the 4th to be exact—of 2021. The weather was perfect, especially for Arizona. It was a mild 85* with a sky full of cotton candy and a gentle breeze drifting through the pines that lined the rim of the Canyon. The group could barely contain their amazement at the glories they saw before them. The Canyon seemed to stretch on endlessly, red rocks melting seamlessly into the blue sky on the horizon. A flurry of photographs were taken between spans of merely standing still, gaping in amazement. It was after a few couple photographs that Titus turned to face his beloved. The adoration in his eyes nearly brought her to her knees. She knew what was coming at that moment. “Lady Kaylin Nicole Stickley… I am so in love with you. I am so glad you were able to come on this trip—on this vacation with me, and I’d really love for you to spend every vacation with me from this day forward. I love you so much…. Will you marry me?” She stared in awe, excitement, and pure love at the man kneeling before her and was nodding before he’d even finished asking the question. “Yes… yes! Yes of course I will!” With shaking knees, she managed to stay standing while he slid the most gorgeous ring on her left hand that she’d ever seen, and they kissed with the Grand Canyon stretched out behind them as witness.