In the early winter of 2009, a warm night in the middle of nowhere, Chris and I were introduced by two of our best friends. At this time, we had no inclination of the roller coaster that life was about to send us on- to one day be spending the rest of our lives together! On our first date, we went four wheeling in the woods. He even let me drive! Our relationship had been cut short by life and responsibilities before we ever really became anything. We had, in fact, become something without even knowing it. Needing time to grow ourselves before understanding how important our life together would be, it was a build for another day. 11 years later, we found out that we were still fond of each other. We went on another first date, and we saw "Chicago" at The Peabody in Daytona! It was so perfect, Chris is such a gentleman and didn't even make fun of me for singing along the whole, entire time. A little while later, we met at the Taco Shop for lunch (which is a big deal because I was one of those girls who did not like to eat in front of people and I had no problem making a mess with my quesadilla in front of him). Since we do have offspring, we didn't have much time for dating, so, instead... we dove right in! We felt as if our stars had finally aligned. On July 4th, 2020, we celebrated the holiday and the beginning of our journey together, creating the perfect blend. In November of 2020, we went on a spur of the moment Vacation to Puerto Rico. We had been swimming all day, went on a little beach adventure exploring the ocean life, and found the perfect hole in the wall restaurant for dinner. Then, there we were sitting on the porch overlooking the beautiful waters off the island, listening to the waves, and Chris finally said the "L" word after steering away from it for so long (even after I had already blurted it out). It was so romantic, he really does know how to make me feel special and make even the littlest of moments absolutely perfect. With so many of life's hurdles jumped without each other and the hard times over, we have really let our love flourish with the maturity to grow together, support one another, and be the strength the other needs. We wouldn't want it any other way.

After a year and a half of growing stronger together, Chris popped the question! "Want to go to New York?!". We have both been to New York City at different times in our lives and we can all agree that this time was the best. Do you know what love is? It's mushrooms! You read that right, mush-rooms. We got into NY and after checking into our hotel we went to find food. Correction, first, we watched some of the street performers and then we went into the Disney store (yes, Disney in NYC! They even had a Minnie Mouse Statue of Liberty!), and then we continued on our search for food. We found a true Italian restaurant and sat upstairs. I had absolutely no idea what to order. So, I got wine and I didn't have to order- Chris did, and he shared his marsala with me! He is the best. Tama and Brice shared their pizza with me, they're pretty awesome too! I thought we were there for her birthday, why else would we travel somewhere in the middle of our busy life?! The story starts months before when Chris was working on his master plan to make the love of his life into is lovely wife. He spent some time to have the perfect ring made, to him, everything had to be just right. He thinks I deserve nothing less than the best. It wasn't long before he knew that it had to happen in New York City, a place he loves so much. He even agreed to see "Chicago" again and bought tickets for the Broadway show! He knew the back drop had to be set in Central Park, at Belvedere Castle. A castle for his queen to be. Close friends of Chris were brought in to help, Tama and Brice. The time set for fall, and Tama's birthday. I had no clue that the entire trip was built around me! Fast forward to October 16th, 2021, Sweetest Day in Central Park. Chris was doing the best he could to conceal the massive box in his pocket and I was in heels, it felt like we were walking forever! We took pictures here and there... it was a warm, beautiful day. We saw statues, bridges, play grounds, rocks, and a beautiful water fountain. As we got closer, there were signs for Belvedere Castle! We were all excited because Chris said he had a surprise to show us which meant we were almost at our destination! I wanted to see the water so I started to walk towards the ledge to look out over the water. I got stopped and I thought it was kinda weird that Tama had taken everything from my arms, it was hot though so I didn't mind. The next second Chris asked me if I knew why we were there! Like yeah, duh, it's a castle. Apparently that was not the right answer, so he asked again. Then he knelt down on one knee, even though I tried to stop him, and asked if I'd marry him! The answer to this question was a no- brainer, yes!!! We walked back to our hotel, blisters and all, to get ready for dinner and "Chicago". We found an awesome sports bar, had tacos, and made it to our show. We celebrated with champagne. It was the best day ever.