I met Jake December 10, 2022 at Tin Roof in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was there for a girl's night out, just wanting to scream Shania Twain with my best friends on the dance floor. He was there for Santa-Con visiting his friends who had just moved back to town. I was a few tequila sodas in and I saw this tall, handsome man dancing with his friends behind me. He was so in the moment dancing without rhythm and singing off-key, he didn't notice me inching closer to him. Finally, with some liquid courage on board, I got his attention and he asked me to dance! We danced to our hearts' content, with him singing all the wrong words in my ear. When the party was over at 2am, I asked him for his number. He insisted not to give it to me, as he told me he was just in town visiting friends and he lived in TEXAS. I didn't care, I had nothing to lose and he was so much fun. He finally gave in. We kissed goodbye with all of my best friends around me ooing and awing. He left, but I had his number and I texted him quickly asking for one more kiss. He came back to the bar, conveniently staying across from it in Doug and Sophie’s brand new apartment. We went back up to the apartment and that's where the magic happened...we stayed up talking for 4 hours!! We asked questions you never would dream of asking if you were on a first date. Later in the morning after staying awake all night, he walked me out to Kira. When we hugged goodbye, I knew Jake would be important to me. I just didn't know in what capacity. I wanted to stop texting him, especially when he sent me a picture of him in his Buc-ees Santa onesie, but for some reason I couldn't! He was so fun and witty and kept me belly laughing. Texts turned into phone calls, phone calls into video calls, and after an impromptu trip to Texas, I was hooked.

Parents' blessing? Check. Ring? Check. A week-long all-inclusive resort stay in Mexico with our friends? Check. I had been planning our proposal for months prior to our trip to Mexico. Me and Erin went ring shopping back in June and she gave the jeweler three different options that she was thinking of. I picked a design, picked a stone, and picked up her new favorite piece of jewelry the next month, all without her knowing. For those of you who don't know, I am terrible with secrets and even worse with hiding ANYTHING from Erin. Somehow I managed to not only pick up and hide the ring for 3 months, but I also came up with the plan for Mexico. The date was set for October 8th, a nice candle-lit dinner on the beach. I recruited Doug and Sophie to assist with the execution, with the plan being the girls getting ready for some nice beach pictures while me and Doug are scoping out the dinner location. The girls would come and meet us and that's when Erin would see that there was something special in the works. Well, as with most plans, they never actually go to plan…Hurricane Milton was brewing. Milton was supposed to pass by Cancun the day of my planned proposal. Time to scramble for a Plan B. Conveniently enough, we had scheduled a catamaran for Monday the 7th. We would be taken to Isla Mujeres and what was supposed to be a beautiful beach. Well, Milton strikes again. Our excursion got postponed to later in the week. When me and Doug went to the desk to try and hash out our excursion plans, I told him it's happening today. I can't carry this secret any longer and if I keep waiting for the right moment, it's never going to come. So enter Plan C. The weather Monday night wasn't terrible, but I wasn't going to have the sunset I really wanted. I texted Sophie asking her to talk to the other girls (minus Erin) and propose that we go to the beach and get some pictures that night. Erin was reluctant to get ready that night after a day of fun in the sun, but thankfully she did. I knew she would want to look great for the pictures to come, even if she didn't know at the time why they'd be so important. The group meets up and we walk down to the beach. Me and Doug stayed in the back and I got a little pep-talk as I moved the ring into my pocket. When we get down to the beach, everyone gets some pictures. Last ones up, me and Erin. We do our couples pictures, and when we finish she says "Ok that's enough. Let's go." But I grab her arm and ask her if I can ask her something. What followed was a blur of tears, shaky words, and lots of nerves. Once I finally get the words out that I wanted to say, I start to get down on a knee and pull the ring out of my pocket. I got the yes I was hoping for, and we were able to spend the rest of our trip in paradise engaged!