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I first met Mario during our Junior year at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh. Mario, who had lived all over the world with his Army family, moved to Raleigh and oddly enough caught my eye at church. I took this as a definite sign from God that perhaps I needed to learn more about this intriguing person that had entered my world. One day at track practice, someone almost crashed into me, it was Mario. Even so, I was pleased to know we were teammates and I could get to see him running around in little runner shorts (LOL just kidding not really). Mario may even say that it was our first significant interaction as we “ran” into each other. We finally got romantic at NC State’s Cross Country Camp later that summer. I dropped hints to Mario all week, but he was really oblivious. Since hints weren’t working, I finally asked him for his number…because girls can make the first move, right? We texted all summer and on 8.24.12, during the cross-country season that fall, Mario asked me to be his girlfriend. Little did I know that this would be the first “Yes” of many more to come.

While college took us in separate directions Mario at West Point and me at NC State University, we never lost sight of how special our relationship was. Over the five long years of being separated by over 500 miles, we always stayed close by having Skype dates and writing lots of letters. Honestly, with Mario’s brutal schedule, and my academic / division 1 athletic training, we barely had time left over for anything but studying. With all of the tech talk I eventually was nicknamed “Big Brother” by his roommates. LOL! The long-distance was a huge hurdle that helped our relationship grow throughout college. What I loved most about this time was that despite the physical separation, we still supported and encouraged each other every day. “Good Morning,” “Good Night,” and “I love you” texts were constant, and that helped strengthen and grow our relationship. I learned that if I was going to be an Army wife, this separation would be good training for the future. Every time we saw each other was like falling in love all over again and I will always cherish the romantic trips that we had during college. It truly was an adventure!

4.23.18 So many great things happened after graduation. Mario moved back to Raleigh and we were able to find our first home! As first-time home buyers, closing day was extremely scary. We were both so nervous on such a big occasion, that I did not think it was unusual for Mario to be acting strange, or have very sweaty hands! He seemed particularly anxious to get to the house to take pictures. I did notice a large “YES” sign which piqued my interest thinking, surely, he would not be proposing on this day, as so much had already happened. Once we got to the house for the final walkthrough, I was surprised to see the photographer there. Mario proceeded to get down on one knee on our porch and asked me to marry him. It was so amazing that he was able to plan the whole proposal while getting everything ready for the house. Truly, one of the happiest days of my life!