When I was playing my last year at Dixie, I remember my parents mentioning that Jackie had signed Ricky up late for little league. As a result, he had to play up that year and ended up on my team. I remember playing and seeing Jaslyn in the stands with Jackie for the first time during the opening season tournament. In between games we’d eat brisket as a team in the press box and Jaslyn would be there. I remember being nervous to talk to her but not too nervous to think I was a badass in my cut-off around her. The first time Jaslyn and I talked was on Facebook one night after I heard our mothers talking and Jackie mentioning that Jaslyn thought I was cute and called me “The Babe” when I’d go up to bat. A few days later we went to see Spider-Man at Cinemark. The night I asked her to be my girlfriend we had gone to eat at Rosa’s after one of her softball games. I remember asking her on the way home and she smiled and said yes in the backseat of her mom’s car. From there, I just wanted to see her and be around her; I would sometimes choose to play with the Warriors at Dixie instead of my travel team just to get the chance to see her.

In 2014, my mom signed my brother up late for baseball at Dixie, resulting in my brother having to play with an older age group that year. I remember going to Dixie to watch his games and really only paying attention when the really cute catcher was getting ready to bat. Matt would be on deck with his catcher gear still on, swinging the bat around. I had the biggest crush on him and would embarrassingly make a comment to my mom every time he would go up to bat. As I’m sure everyone will hear at some point, he was “babe” to me before we ever even met each other (though Matt swears he noticed me before Dixie, at a youth football game). Once we met though, we were inseparable - constant texting, hours long phone calls, and never ending requests for me to go over. It was then, at ages 13 and 14, that our love story began. As embarrassing as it may have been for my mom to tell his family about my crush on him, I am beyond grateful. It was the start of our forever.