In October of 2011, we met at a movie theater in Tuscaloosa during our senior year of college, through a mutual friend (Kelsey Smith). We had our first date in February. Meredith wasn't feeling it. She immediately put Shaw in the friend zone where he stayed for the next 5 years, until he eventually broke out of it. During this 5 year span, they remained close friends with a lot of road trips to weddings and football games. Shaw stuck around despite how little attention he was given by Meredith. He knew early on during the relationship that Meredith would have a huge impact in his life, he just wasn't sure how. Fast forward to April of 2016, Shaw is getting ready to leave for basic training/ tech school and will be gone for 7 months. At this point, Meredith decides to express her feelings for Shaw 10 days before he leaves. While at basic training the only way to communicate is through written letters. So they write letters back and forth for 2 months and as soon as Shaw gets access to his phone after leaving tech school he calls Meredith and made it official. The first five months of their relationship was spent apart. Shaw in Texas, Meredith in Alabama. She was able to visit twice and Shaw came back once. Shaw finally returned to Alabama in December and they finally were within an hour of each other. After dating in person for about five months, Shaw finally popped the question in May and the rest is history. (as told by Shaw...)