Back in 2014, I was a freshman at Baylor, and would often go to a bible study with our mutual friend Kathryn Hong (Kat). Kat and I were great friends with a shared problem, we didn’t have a vehicle, which is where Molly came in. As the years went on, we'd travel to visit each other every once in a while. This had many wild stories, including locations such as Louisiana and Galveston. There also may have been a New Year's party involving a flaming marshmallow. Our friendship was always interesting. After the needlessly long meandering, I found myself charmed by Molly’s kind character. Not only was she polite and supportive, but she was also willing to take me down a peg if needed. I knew that she was someone I wanted to spend my life with. So on October 29th 2022, when Molly came to visit next, I waited for a good opportunity to make a move, which luckily came while we were relaxing in the hammock. The good news was, Molly had interest in a relationship as well.

Luckily for me, Molly wanted to move to Austin long before we started dating. She'd decided to move to Austin once her contract in Deer Park ended. We both visited my family, and seeing that everyone got along, I knew that I was ready to take the next step. I found myself spending a lot of time mentally preparing, instead of doing. Luckily for me, Molly’s best friend Rachel gave me some strong support (pressure) to move along and ask her dad the question. Now, something I didn’t realize is how complicated a proposal can be. On one hand, Molly knew I was planning to propose, and had informed me that she did want to marry me. On the other hand, I wanted to make sure I asked her in a way that showed her how special she was to me. This plan went through many iterations, and even today I am confident that no one (me included) had a good understanding of what the plan was until the morning of the proposal. On August 26th, 2023, both of our families got together, and commenced the plan. 1. Our families would go to Galveston together for the Art Walk, grabbing food at ‘The Spot.’ 2. Molly’s best friend Rachel would rendezvous with us while we were eating. 3. While eating, my parents would create an excuse to visit the beach before the Art Walk. 4. While visiting the beach, Rachel and I would distract Molly, while Molly’s dad hid a shell with my proposal written on it. I wrote “Will you marry me?” in both English and IPA, IPA being the language Speech-Language Pathologists such as Molly use to transcribe sounds. 5. Rachel will leave Molly and I, so that I can walk with Molly to the shell her dad hid. 6. As Molly uncovers the out-of-place shell, I get on my knee and pop the question, which I had produced a strong way to persuade her to spend the rest of her life with me. 7. She says yes, and we go to the Art Walk to celebrate. I’d love to say we pulled off this plan correctly and give the full story of how it happened. Unfortunately, I cannot quite do so. I felt perfectly normal leading up to the moment, but when the moment came, all the stress hit me. So… I don’t remember proposing. I remember going to the beach, and then I remember celebrating. I do however know a few things: 1. She said yes! 2. I didn’t say anything that I planned. I just said, “Will you?” and started shaking. 3. Lemon Drop martinis are amazing for releasing stress.