Prior to starting college, Rick and I did not know each other. He was an Indiana city boy and I was a small town Illinois girl, who would both end up attending Murray State University in Murray, KY. The University created a "Class of 2015" Facebook page so people could connect prior to classes starting. On March 9th, 2011, I was looking through the people who had joined the Facebook group, and I stumbled upon a picture of a guy in a MSU baseball hat signing a letter, and thought "Oh! A baseball player!" (as I was a bit of a cleat chaser back in the day). I then messaged him via Facebook and introduced myself. He responded with "Well thank you miss creeper". We told each other about how we found Murray State and how excited we were to begin college. There was definitely some instant flirting, and by the end of the conversation he had given me his phone number. Over the next few months we would chat occasionally, mainly bonding over our love for softball/baseball and our futures are Murray State. On Sunday, August 14th 2011 is when we officially met in person. It was the big night before classes started. There was a big welcome party at one of the fraternity's. I came with my roommate and some new friends I had made in my dorm. He came with his roommates and baseball buddies. I saw him earlier in the night and introduced myself officially and he responded with "I know who you are" ;). While we went our separate ways that night, I came up to him occasionally to try to bum some alcohol off of him (sorry Mom).

The first semester of college, Rick and I would see each other in passing on campus and wave, smile, and say hello and a lot of the times just tease each other by saying something sarcastic. In November, 2011 we hung out for the first time. I came to his dorm room and we played video games and talked for hours. I felt so comfortable around him. We began talking more frequently and stayed connected over winter break. We hung out the first night back on campus for the Spring 2012 semester. I was hesitant to begin a relationship with anyone, at that point in my life. I knew that Rick and I had a real connection and that he would be around for a while, but I was hoping not to label our relationship until after Valentine's day. But on February 10th, 2012 Rick came to my dorm room and with tears in his eyes, he asked me to be his girlfriend (his first girlfriend ever, by the way). I couldn't help but say yes. Rick had always dreamed of having a girlfriend before the start of baseball season so he would always have a fan in the stands cheering him on. His dream came true that day. I was there to cheer him on through 4 years of collegiate baseball.

I woke up anxious as my dad, who's battling stage 4 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, had an oncology appointment, where we would learn the results of his latest CT scan. Only halfway through chemo, the CT showed that the metastatic tumors in Dad's body were gone or nearly gone and the main tumor had reduced half its' size and that they were confident in putting him into permanent remission. My best friend Trisha came over shortly after and we cried together celebrating the good news. Trisha and I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon together and even got our nails done. It was shaping up to be a great day, as Rick and I had dinner reservations at one of our favorite restaurants in town. I didn't think the day could be anymore perfect. At the restaurant, Rick states that we have a reservation at 6:30 for Linton. The manager says "I'm sorry sir, we have you down for 7:30". Rick insists that he made the reservation for 6:30. The manager politely states that they have the reservation for 7:30 and the next available table wouldn't be ready until that time. Rick calmly looks at me, smiles, and says "Okay, well we'll go kill some time walking around downtown". I looked at Rick in shock as we leave because he's so calm about the mix up. Also, I am HANGRY. We began to walk towards the river, totally casual. At the riverfront, he became very quiet and I could see him looking out of the corner of his eye. I was a tiny bit suspicious but convinced myself it was nothing. We got to the middle of the riverfront when he said "I'm sorry I screwed up our dinner reservation but I think I can make it up to you". I asked how and that's when he dropped to one knee and asked "Will you marry me?". After saying yes, I heard people screaming. Out of every direction, up walked all of our close friends that were there to celebrate with us. We all headed back to the restaurant for that 7:30 reservation, where the manager was in on the whole thing! It was the perfect day.