Wesley and Natalie had been attending the same church for 10 years and never crossed paths. They had some friends in common, but they were rarely in the same place at the same time. Then, in the summer of 2018, Wesley began to attend some events hosted by a mutual friend, Eric. Eric loves hosting events and had been creating group events for several years, almost all of which Natalie had attended. During the summers, Eric would host movie nights and game nights on Wednesdays. It was during that summer that Natalie and Wesley had the opportunity to get to know one another and become friends. Wesley didn't know it at the time, but Natalie had a serious crush on Wesley. He was (and still is) cute and funny, but his kindness and generosity to help others stood out to her. Unfortunately, it took quite a bit more time for Natalie to stand out to Wesley (she doesn't take it personally - she knows he just wanted to be sure before diving in and she appreciates that about him as much as it frustrated her at the time). Meanwhile, Natalie and Wesley's friendship grew throughout the summer with various group events - movie nights, game nights, a scavenger hunt (where they were placed on the same team - it remains unknown if that was purposeful or not), and a canoeing/kayaking trip (big thank you to all the people who were invited and didn't show up). Finally, the summer came to a close. Natalie was still holding onto hope that Wesley would make the first move and ask her out (the Lord was growing her in patience and self-control that summer just in waiting for Wesley). Then, late one night, after a couple of hours of texting back and forth, Wesley ended the conversation by asking Natalie out for coffee. Wesley was nervous as he waited for Natalie's cool and collected response of "yes, I would really like that." Wesley happily suggested where to meet and soon after went to bed. Natalie was awake for another 3 hours telling her friends the details of that historic night.

Toward the end of January, Natalie and Wesley had made plans to have dinner in Orlando and go for a walk afterward. Totally normal. This was something they had done on numerous occasions over the last few months. Food was good. Conversation was good. There was plenty of joking and laughter. An ordinary, yet delightful dinner. Totally. Normal. Afterward, Wesley suggested they go walk around Lake Eola. Natalie countered that offer by suggesting they walk around inside a nearby mall since it was quite chilly that night. Wesley insisted on walking by Lake Eola despite the sound logic Natalie had presented. Natalie didn't think much of it since she liked walking around in the cold anyway. They arrived at Lake Eola and began walking around the lake, making observations of the local water fowl, pretentious small dogs with no body fat (remember that it was cold that night, so many of them were in tiny little sweaters), and various historical plaques around the lake. Natalie, like the weirdo she is, actually made a game of trying to find the simple burial marker of the man after which the city had been named. Interesting fact: he was probably killed by local Native Americans. After making a full circle around the lake, Wesley suggested they go to a fairly secluded deck overlooking the lake. "Sure, why not??" They walked over to the railing at the end of the deck and made various comments about the noise level of the water fowl. Then, Wesley took a step back. Natalie assumed it was to sit on the bench behind them. Huh. Weird, but didn't think twice about it. Natalie was wrong. Wesley called her name, and Natalie turned around to see Wesley on one knee with a ring in his hand. Natalie was so stunned by what she saw that she immediately turned back around to process what she had seen for a few seconds before remembering Wesley was still behind her and she needed to turn back around. So, she did. And Wesley asked, "Will you marry me?" and she said, "Yes." Totally. Normal.