Hayden and I first met at my cousin's wedding the Fall of 2018. We didn't talk much when we first met, but a couple of months later Hayden reached out to me via social media. At that time, he was living in Dahlonega, GA, which was about two hours away from me. He would often come to Rome, GA to visit friends of his and we started getting to know one another better and started talking more and more. One night while I was in Nursing School and was supposed to be studying for a test, Hayden convinced me to come to his apartment in Dahlonega to finally hang out just the two of us. During the first few months of us hanging out one on one, Hayden was closed off and was adamant that he did not want a relationship. I knew he was special and I would not take no for an answer. As time went on, our relationship developed into a love so amazing that neither one of us had ever experienced or could have expected. For the first time in both of our lives, we had finally met our perfect match. Hayden ended up making the move to Rome in the Fall of 2019 (after much convincing) and we became even closer than before. We finally ended up moving into our first home together in October of 2020 and then he asked me to marry him December 5th of 2020.

Every year, my family takes a weekend trip to Gatlinburg in the winter. This year, we wanted to invite Hayden's Mom, Shannon, and her significant other to join along with us. We had made plans to go to the mountain top to see the snow that had came in the night before. Unfortunately, we ruined Hayden's plan by taking too long to get ready and running late (of course). We had to be back in downtown Gatlinburg to go to a dinner show by 3:00 pm, so this left us no time to get to the mountain top and back without being late. We decided last minute to go over to The Island before the dinner show and explore a little bit. We were taking pictures and we decided to go underneath the big ornament at The Island and take a picture, little did I know, when we got done taking the photo that Hayden would be down on one knee. I knew what was about to happen when Hayden's grabbed my hand and his voice was shaking. This man is NEVER nervous. I began shaking in excitement and nervousness. I couldn't believe what was about to happen. Hayden was down on one knee and was telling me how much I meant to him and next thing I know, I began crying and of course said YES! Afterwards, Hayden began to tell me that my center diamond was my late Aunt Michelle's who passed away from cancer. He also told me that the triple braided band represent him, myself, and our relationship with God. This made the ring mean so much more to me than it already did. I am blessed with this man and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with him.