Adam and I worked in the same building complex for five years, and yet we have no memory of each other; although we probably interacted with one another several times over the years. Flash forward to the year 2015 when I moved to Oak Harbor for 17 months. It was during this time that Adam and I met on a dating website. We hit it off immediately and made plans to meet up. Our first date was at my best friend Jen's Halloween party where I got the approval of Adam from my friends. We became a couple from that day forward. There was just one little problem, distance. I was living in Oak Harbor and Adam was living in Tacoma. For months we drove the 125 miles each way to visit one another. After Rochelle finished her schooling for her state certification as a home care aide she decided to move to Tacoma. We swiped right and a Halloween party turned into a lifetime together.

Before I moved in with Adam I would drive the 125 miles to his house from mine every weekend. One weekend we were hugging goodbye and Adam said "I love you" in my ear. I heard it but it did not register and then I was not sure that I heard him correctly so I didn't say anything. I later got confirmation that he did in fact say "I love you" first and replied "I love you too".

After celebrating my birthday the night before, we were tired and decided to take the day easy. Adam suggested that we go for a drive. We drove to the Point Defiance Rose Garden where we walked around smelling all of the roses and admiring the garden. While we were walking along the path we decided to sit down on a bench to relax. Then Adam got down on one knee and asked me to marry him to which I replied "Of course!". After many happy tears I said to Adam "in case I didn't say it earlier, YES!". Then we celebrated by driving down to Owen Beach, where we watched the sunset and basked in the afterglow until the park closed.

Adam and I both have birthdays on the 13th of different months, and 13 is a lucky number for both of us. We refer to ourselves as Team 13.