We're getting married!

At Shepherd University where Kiana and I both were student athletes, her lacrosse and me football. For those that don't know, Shepherd is a small D2 college; all the athletes practically know or knew of each other. Prior to our sparks officially flying, we (or should I say myself) always knew of one another. From sports meetings, parties, mutual friends, etc. However, it wasn't until my Sophomore year and Kiana's Junior year we officially met. Kiana claims she always heard friends talking about a "Brad guy" but never put the two together when we met. She says meeting me was a breath of fresh air and nice to meet someone so free spirited! Time has now passed and we are about to start a new school year. Great news is that I was living off campus AND would be Kiana's neighbor. Kiana drove an old BMW that was on its last limb. One morning she texted the neighborhood group chat that she needed a ride to her class since her car wouldn't start. Not even seconds had gone by and I immediately responded!! Thinking nothing of it, I didn't realize the impact that short car ride to class was going to make. From that point moving forward we conveniently found ourselves in more situations where we were hanging out together. Whether it was a ride to class, a party, or Kiana secretly snapping pictures of me from the stands at my games; we continuously found ourselves gravitating towards one another. Little did we know what was sparking up between us. December 31st, 2016 - New Years Eve. I received a call from my buddy Cam, asking me to come to Power Plant Live in Baltimore to celebrate. In the background I heard Kiana, "Hey, you should totally come with us"! Easily a no brainer for me after hearing her voice. We proceeded to have to best time! Singing, dancing and laughing all night, we just fed off of each others energy. It was to no surprise when midnight rolled around and that ball dropped who was sharing that New Years kiss. Clear to say the rest is history.

Monday July 20, 2020 I made the best and easiest decision of my life! We were on my family vacation at the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The entire day my head was racing with so many thoughts. Though prepared and knowing what I wanted to say I still wanted everything to turn out perfectly which added extra pressure. As time was ticking away, I began to separate myself from everyone else - I'm pretty sure Kiana thought I was mad at her about something. I wasn't, just nervous for later on. My original plan for the proposal didn't look as if it was going to be possible so I had to make a vast decision. Think of a new plan and still do it that day or just plan for a different day. I was so anxious and had my sights set of that day so I decided to come up with a new plan! I went to different members of my family and asked them for help: my sister to find seashells, my brother in law to pick up Tiki Torches and my mom to gather paper and an empty bottle. I told them my vision and they said they would make it happen! Around 2:30pm Kiana and I head back up to the house. I told Kiana I wanted to go to a couple shops and then we could meet back up with everyone later on. A couple hours later right as the sun begins to go down I'm texting my family, they almost have everything set up. So to give them a couple more mins we make one last stop at the liquor store. As we are pull into the driveway I tell Kiana, "everyone is hanging out on the beach right now, we should go join them". (Each carrying cases of beer I must add) We walk up to the beach! As we appear at the top of the dune we are met by a Tiki Torch lit pathway leading out to the middle of the beach. "Its your Love" by Tim McGraw is playing. My family is all standing off to the left. My brother in-law standing to the right with Kiana's family on Facetime watching. Kiana stood there frozen with a shocked look on her face. I grabbed her hand and we walked down the path. She was in so much shock I had to reminder her she could put the case of beer down. We are met at the end of the path to a heart made of seashells in the sand. In the middle of the heart laid a bottle with a message in it, which read "WILL YOU MARRY ME"!? I proceeded to get down on my knee and said "I love you so much and cant wait to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me"? with the biggest smile she said YES!!!