Clay likes to say that I fell in love when I heard him tell 15 minutes of his story at an AA meeting. Which is more or less true, at the very least I was intrigued. It took us 3 months, some Facebook admiration, and an unruly child to finally bring us together. So the story goes: Jessa and I got into a pretty heated argument one Saturday afternoon which resulted in her slamming my bedroom door so hard I was locked in; doorknob busted. I was on FB complaining with some amount of humor about my predicament. Clay saw this post and sent me a private message to meet him at the river. Which was actually a very safe invitation since I was actually unable to get out of my bedroom! Once I was able to escape, I found that Emma had stopped by while I was in lock-up to borrow my river gear. I messaged him back regretfully declining, asking for a raincheck. Thinking I had lost my chance to get to know him better. Three days later, I approached him at the sink at our AA hall as he was washing coffee cups. We spoke quickly about his river float that fateful day I had to miss, then I went home and made tacos. He messaged me as I was washing dishes to ask if I would join him for dinner. I was not about to miss the opportunity, nor did I tell him I already ate. We've been together ever since! Not without some tests. He took me on a hike that August to see if I could keep up. It was then that I really felt the love. He was out on a very large rock, encouraging me to join him. I have historically had a very large fear of heights. He held out his hand and said the serenity prayer to reassure me I would be fine. I guess I passed that first test alright as he kept me around and took me out on a first rock climb attempt in October. I guess I passed that one too. You'll have to ask him what the rest of the tests were... He proposed on Sunday, October 20, 2019. The proposal was the best surprise of my life and one neither of us expected. That is a story in itself! Blessed.