Let's Get Married!

Matt's mom casually brought him up to me one Sunday while we were serving together at Pneuma Life Church. "Are you looking?" She asked. "I'm not NOT looking," I replied. "Okay, well I just wanted you to know that I have a son." She would go on with details later. How he loved hiking and photography (all things she knew I loved) and that he was an Environmental Science major at USF and that he was 22 and coming to service TODAY. All I heard was '22' and I immediately let her down easy. Matt came to service that day, but I never met him. I would later learn that he had ALSO denied the thought of meeting me too. He was in Tampa. I was in Jacksonville. It would never work out. Three weeks later, I was leading worship and our opening song was about to start. As I was greeting the congregation through my microphone, I noticed an extremely attractive bearded man walk in through the back. Now, I'd been at this church for almost a year now, and I KNEW that there were absolutely NO single, hot, Jesus loving bearded men. Until I saw this one walk over and sit next to Margaret as the lights dimmed. THIS was the man I had denied less than a month earlier? Are you freaking kidding me? I made it through the service trying hard not to stare. But afterwards, Margaret and I were talking when she called, "Matthew! Alyssa! Come here!" After awkward introductions (we both knew why we were standing there), we talked for about 10 minutes, I hastily told him it was nice to meet him and I'd see him soon. He touched my arm on the way out and flashed a flirty smile. I think I waited an hour before I added him on Facebook.

Maeghan and I had planned a trip to see fall foliage in the Smokies back in May. I knew immediately that was when I was going to propose. The time had finally come. I drove the entire eight hours up to North Carolina because I was so nervous she would find the ring and because it helped keep my mind off of how nervous I was. We drove up to Clingman's Dome and to no surprise, it was raining and there was no views (raining is a common theme of our Smokies trips since it seems to rain everytime I go anywhere). Regardless of the rain, we still made our way to Asheville to have a night out. We had some great food and beer, and afterwards, we went back to the Air B&B, where Maeghan pulled me close in a very romantic way and decided to tell me how happy she was just being my girlfriend. As she said this, I glanced over her shoulder at the backpack that held the ring that would no longer make her my girlfriend, had a mild panic attack, but kept my cool since she didn't know I was proposing. Didn't sleep much that night at all. The next morning was the longest hour and a half drive of my life. We were on our way to a hike that would bring us to a firetower, which is where I had planned to propose to her. As we approached the road that goes over the Fontana Dam, the road was CLOSED. Not only was the road closed, but it was raining and cold (no surprise there), which left little chances of views. We stopped at the dam's visitor center to use the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and had a quick prayer. We got back in the car and Maeghan suggested that we didn't hike, given the weather. Which was fine. Because I had nothing planned around that hike. EXCEPT THE BIGGEST MOMENT OF OUR LIVES. From there, I suggested we go look at the dam. I grabbed my rain jacket with the ring and we walked up the stairs. On the edge of the of the dam, overlooking the rain, lake, and mountains, I poured out my heart and dropped to one knee. Needless to say, she said yes!