We met through mutual friends and kept seeing each other at the same parties. What started as quick hellos turned into actually spending time together, and before long we were hanging out all the time and dating. Not long after, he left for basic training for five months. It wasn’t easy being apart, but it made us even more sure about what we had and made the time we did get together mean that much more. When he came back, we planned a trip to Cape May. I had a feeling the whole day that something was going on—he was a little too intentional, a little too focused on keeping me occupied—but I went along with it anyway. As the sun started to set on the beach, everything came together. When I turned and saw what he and his friends had set up, it was even more perfect than I had imagined—and that’s when he asked me to marry him.