Sept of 2012 I was a rookie at FLCI. A single mother, who day & night focused on making a better life for my daughter. Life was insanely crazy working & going to school full time. Long hrs with forced overtime, late nights studying & raising my daughter the last thing on my mind was finding love. Loomans was a young single guy, who was living day to day looking forward to the next hunting trip or late night with the fellas on the farm. Everyone told me watch out for Loomans, he was wild & crazy! Loomans is amazing at his job, everyone trusted him, & wanted him around. Loomans was also quite the bad boy. All this talk made me hate his guts before I had even met him. Most of you have never been inside a prison but soap operas have nothing on the rumors that go on inside. Him & I were no exception. Everyone was talking about us before we had met. I never saw the guy everyone was talking about. I saw man who loved his job, & would do anything for anyone who wore a badge. Soon we became friends. He wanted more, I didn't. Nothing stopped him. He wanted to have a shift party and needed my # so he could text me the invite. “Smooth move buddy, not falling for it.” In late Nov after asking for what seemed like months for my #. I gave in. There was no shift party but several txts from Loomans. He never gave up, never stopped telling me I was what he wanted. He was patient, kind, & so respectful of my life. He wanted to show me he was not going anywhere. He had no idea, but I fell for him long before I was willing to admit. Loomans became Eric, & Galvan became Lindy. If you know me you know I am one of the most stubborn, impatient, demanding individuals who does things my way. Everything was on my terms, soon he became impatient. Eric wanted to meet my precious little gem that he had heard so much about. Summer 2013, he took on the most important role of his life. Maricela was just 3 & he called her his little buddy. Now he is her Buddy & so important to both of us.

What started as a regular busy summer evening of running to and from work and softball practice. Turned into a very magical day for our little family. It is a very rare event for both of us to attend Celly's softball practice together, due to our work schedules. So we all were looking forward to practice, only for it to be cut short due to a horrible thunder storm. With a little extra free time in our night, we decided to cook out for dinner. Eric had his truck and I had mine at practice. So in my right mind one of us was to stop at the store pick up what we needed, while the other one went home and got things started. Eric had other plans, he insisted on driving both of our trucks home. So all of us could ride together to the store. Of course I had a fit, and complained the entire way. As always he just smiled and killed me with his patience. He did this to buy time because he knew the weather was going to clear. I think he had a deal with the man upstairs because his timing was just right! On our way back to Beaver Dam, he decided to take a detour. "It sure looks beautiful out now that the rain has cleared" he said as we turned in to "our spot". A secret location our little family often retreats to. This secret spot was a place I had gone since I was younger, a place where I pondered many thoughts and shed many tears through out my struggles as a single mom. A place where Maricela and I had our first picnic, and had many memories just her and I. Celly and I shared our secret spot with Eric only a few months before. This brightened my mood but still I was grumbling under my breath. We reached our spot, and Eric dropped to one knee. Celly and I just stood there, he asked me "Will you marry me?" I stood in shock! Eric then turned to Celly and took out the littlest ring slid it on her little finger and he said "Will you be my little buddy forever!" Instant tears on all of our faces! Maricela looked at me and said "Mama we are getting Married!!!!"