We met in the lunch line at Franklin Area High School in 2011. My first and only words to him were, "Aren't you Audrey's brother?" He said, "Yes." That was the end of the conversation, but the start of a crazy love story. I hadn't really known much of him before. We talked off and on for awhile. I got multiple passes to go to wood shop class and hang out. We had really wanted to date, but I ended up going back to my ex. We didn't talk for the entire summer. We disconnected. It wasn't until one football game. He was standing against the fence watching the game. I was back by the fence in the opposite direction. I knew I wanted to talk to him, but I was hesitant. I had screwed up. I didn't know if he would want to talk to me again. My friend looked at me. She knew what I wanted, but she knew I wouldn't make the move, so she pushed me over to him. Nerves are racing. I was terrified. I apologized for everything. I wanted to be together, and I wanted to make this right. October 23, 2011.

Our story is extremely unorthodox. Sit back and relax and read all about it. We were so in love. I was so excited to be dating a military man. How cool? This year was a rough year. No one knows what to expect when you're in a long distance relationship at 16 years old. We stayed together for almost a year. Things were just too difficult. We stayed in contact throughout the time apart. We saw different people. But really the love never died. It may have been put on the back-burner, but the minute it had a chance to resurface, it did. We married different people. The wrong people. We knew it wasn't who our forever was supposed to be. It wasn't until one day I texted him. I had just finished church, and the pastor said to thank people who have come into our life and made an impact. I thanked him and that was that. I then texted him and asked him how he made his marriage work (I did not know that he and his ex wife were not together). He told me he can't answer that because they were not together anymore. My heart sank. I had just married someone and now he and his wife were not together. Why couldn't this have happened before? This brought back so many different emotions. I just didn't know what to do. We kept talking. He didn't want to be the reason I left my marriage. To be completely honest, I wasn't happy. End of story. I wanted him. I wanted everything we had before. I wanted to make this work. I didn't ever want to give up on him again. I knew it would be tough, but I was ready to work. Compromise and sacrifice.

I had always wanted my proposal to be documented. I think he knew that, but I can't remember if I expressed that to him. We had scheduled for family pictures. Part of me really wanted it to happen during the pictures, but I didn't want to tell him. I wanted him to do it because he wanted to do it. The end of our studio time was coming and I turned around for one picture, Tyler was on his knee with a ring in his hand. Talk about a surprise! I was so excited. Liam was there. We have is all documented. Expressions. The love. It's all in the photos. A picture is worth one thousand words.