Technically we met twice! The first time we saw each other was in 7th grade at a Christmas party that both of our families were invited to, but we didn't really talk. The second and more official time was the summer after 8th grade when he started going to my church. It was at church where we became friends, and then, later on, realized that we might want to be more.

Third time's the charm apparently! Before he asked me to be his girlfriend, he had asked me to go to the movies with him, twice. Both times I had to say no because I was going to be out of town, but I'm pretty sure he just thought I was rejecting him, even though I definitely wasn't and I really really wanted to go to the movies with him. About a month after asking me on a date the second time, he asked me if I was going on our school trip to Carowinds. I told him yes, I was, but I wasn't going to ride any rollercoasters because I hated them. "However," I said, "I will ride one if you ride with me." Being the smooth operator that he is, he said "Okay, well, I'll only ride a rollercoaster with you on one condition... if you'll be my girlfriend?" I mean, how can you say no to that?

It was our 5 year anniversary and we were planning (or so I thought) to go to Red Lobster for dinner, like we have every year on our anniversary. He came to my house and we started driving, but we went right past the restaurant! He said that he had to go to his house to grab something first, but I had a sneaking suspicion that that was not the whole story. We got to his house and he told me that he wanted to go for a walk. So, we started walking and I saw an envelope with my name on it tacked to a tree. I opened it and read the card that basically says that there will be 4 more envelopes (one card for each year of our relationship). We started walking back behind his house toward his pond and along the way, I found 3 more cards (they all had love letters written inside). The 5th and final envelope was on the dock of his pond, along with a blanket and lots of candles. He asked me to read the last letter out loud. So I read it, through the tears because I knew what was happening, and at the end, it said, "I'll only ride the rollercoaster of life with you on one condition..." and I looked up and he was down on one knee, asking me to marry him!