Kristen and I are two years apart - I won't say who is older because somebody, not pointing any fingers, gets a little upset by it. We both grew up in the town of Gaffney, South Carolina. We were raised in the same church, came up in the same youth group at First Baptist Church, and were both involved in athletics at Gaffney High School. Sounds like a simple, small-town love story, right? Not quite. We were just acquaintances, if you will, while growing up. We knew each other and had mutual friends. Kristen cheered with my sisters and actually dated one of my good high school buddies. Even if she was single, I'm not so sure that my mustache was what she was looking for. Kristen went to Clemson University to study nursing after graduation, while I went off to the University of South Carolina in 2009 and majored in Physical Education. After college, Kristen began her nursing career at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and I hopped around to different teaching and coaching jobs in Gaffney, Columbia, and Anderson. Other than an appearance at Delaney's in Spartanburg one Thanksgiving Eve - man, did Kristen look good - we would not see each other or communicate with each other again until Fall 2018.

I was always enamored by Kristen's beauty and developed the courage one day to "slide into her DMs" on Instagram. What exactly I said, we won't talk about, but it eventually worked out. I found out that Kristen was back in Gaffney while in school studying to be a Nurse Practitioner. After several attempts of asking her on a date, she finally gave in and agreed to meet me for dinner at Dudley's in Spartanburg in October 2018. I can still see her in her black tank top and black jeans. She was - and still is - the prettiest thing I have ever laid eyes on. What is it they say? The rest is history? I knew from that first date that I had found the last person that I ever wanted to have dinner with, but, man, did she intimidate me. So much so that I didn't kiss her until Thanksgiving Eve, and had no idea if we were "official" until I asked her, in the most awkward way, on Christmas Eve - don't ask me what I said because I have no idea. While our schedules and locations are different and it has not always been simple and easy, our love for each other has always prevailed. I asked my sister, Clary, to go ring shopping with me on July 19, 2019, and I proposed to Kristen on Saturday, August 10 in front of all of our families and some of our friends. Our love story epitomizes the fact that God's timing is the only time that matters. We are so grateful for the path that He carved out for us and can't wait to celebrate it one day at a time for the rest of our lives.