Jackie and I met on a dating app, Tinder. Which means it didn't all start with a kiss; it started with a swipe. Luckily for me a "right" one. You see, Jackie isn't from Northern Virginia and let's be honest probably never dreamed of coming here either. She's one of those real "small-town girls" from Clifford Pennsylvania; a town where everyone knows everyone and the stone is real. It wasn't until the last year of Jackies Doctorates program when choosing her last clinical rotation she decided to give the "Big City" a try and selected Arlington Virginia. It's important to note this is 29 miles away from Manassas Virginia where I was living at the time. Unfortunately(or luckily for me, fortunately) at the last minute they told her Arlington wasn't available and she needed to choose between Leesburg(30 miles away) or Reston(19 miles away). Not having a clue about what either was like she luckily picked Reston Virginia. You might be asking yourself... Thomas why all of the stuff about distances? It's so important because on the Tinder app you could select a max radius distance for finding matches. Mine was set to 20 miles: That last mile changed my life.

Leading up to this time, Jackie and I had been messaging back and forth on the Tinder app and things were going great! Do you know when they say "Opposites attract"? It couldn't have been truer. Jackie's profile had one simple sentence written in it. "You can find me in the library, eating breakfast, or in the gym." Three things at the time, I'd never say. While my profile read - "Just a young Entrepreneur looking for his life secretary." then I'm sure something about politics, guns, and America. So to be honest I wasn't sure if we were going out for a first date or if she thought she was just getting a head start on her career by interviewing for the Secretary position. Finally after trying to creep on her Facebook; finding a private profile whereas the only thing I could see was her outdated profile picture from 2013. I decided although there was probably a good chance I was getting "Cat-fished" I'd give it a shot anyway and in small-town fashion, I asked Jackie on a first date to the local Starbucks. I want you to picture this with me- Jackies anxiously waiting for me outside of the Starbucks unsure of what to expect; likely thinking she'll meet a young respectable businessman who she'd want to take home to her father. Wondering as each guy pulls up if maybe it's me; the guy who she will eventually fall in love with and marry. Then a 1996 Ford F250 and all its rusty glory came pulling into the parking lot with a thick cloud of diesel smoke behind it, and when the dust finally settles she can just make out in almost illegible handwriting "Honk for Trump" written on the back window. She'll never admit it, but I've always imagined she prayed to herself in that moment of fear "Dear God PLEASE don't let this be him." A couple of seconds later I jumped out and introduced myself and as the old saying goes... "The rest is history." I made her worst nightmare come true that day and 4 years later she's making my best dream come true: Becoming my wife.

Before we get into the story about our engagement I want to share a quick side note. Let's just say when Jackie says "Thomas knows everything" She's right. Its October 13th, 2016 and I'm already head over heels for Jackie. I had just left hanging out with her and I remember I pulled over on my way home and wrote a note on my phone. Go check out the photos section and find the screenshot of my note I wrote that day. I told you I know everything.

I'm finally going to ask Jackie to marry me; It was no surprise. Jackie thought it wouldn't be until Christmas, which I originally planned on. I just couldn't wait any longer. The minute I bought that ring it was burning a hole in my pocket. BUT FIRST! I needed to ask Jackie's father for permission. Jackies Father is a hell of a respectable man; who literally breaks stone for a living, built his family's home with his bare hands, hunts, fishes, and provides for his family any way he can. I mean come on, could it get any more intimidating? Could I possibly be good enough to marry his first Daughter? Well, I asked and he said Yes. THE PLAN It was simple; get Jackie to hold a sign that said "Will you marry me?" without her knowing and get a picture, then get on one knee and propose. HOW Jackie's sisters were coming to town and part of the reason was so her sister could take photos of us at the Bull Run battlefields. So I told her sisters I wanted to propose and needed their help! If you remember back to our first date and the "Honk for Trump", my handwriting is almost illegible. So I had her sister take two chalkboards and write "Will you marry me" on one and hide it in my truck and leave the other one blank as a decoy. We told Jackie it would be cute to write little messages on the board and use it as a prop in photos so the three of them brainstormed and wrote messages on the decoy board on our way to the battlefields. While taking photos I snuck back to my truck and grabbed the proposal board and swapped it out for the decoy. Mid photo Jillian handed us the board making sure Jackie couldn't see what was written on it. She thought it just said something cute and so we took a couple of photos with it. Before Jackie knew it; I was on one knee and sweating bullets. I turned the chalkboard towards her and she completely froze and after what felt like the longest couple seconds of my life. She said, "So you really like me? YES!" She said YES!