Criminal Minds, online, was how it all started. No, we did not murder anyone. We met September 6, 2019 and we ended up living with each other during COVID. There were times when we wanted to murder each other...but we didn't. We did not have guest appearances on Criminal Minds. Our love of movie dates prospered, as well as our love for hiking and each other. We knew we wanted to spend forever with each other. I would hint, very obviously, that AJ should propose soon. AJ started law school at Wake Forest. I finished my degree at App State a year later and moved to Charlotte to teach. We tried to spend every moment together, even if it wasn't as often as we wanted. During this time, AJ gave me a riddle and the answer was when he would propose. I'm pretty sure he made it up on the spot just so I would quit asking. I figured it out with his help, and promptly forgot all about it, and he might have also. A year went by, and almost every conversation ended with me trying to get him to propose or threatening that I would propose before he could. AJ knows I have the memory of a goldfish, and I remembered nothing about that riddle. May 6, 2023 came around, and I was finishing my first 6 months of teaching. He had just finished his second year of law school. We took a weekend trip up to Boone, NC where we met. We went hiking, visited kitties and puppies at the Humane Society, went to our favorite brewery (wedding kegs), and watched many movies. Funnily enough, the afternoon before he proposed, we watched Mamma Mia!. I hinted the ENTIRE TIME that he should propose, but didn't expect him to. We had plans to get photos taken on the Blue Ridge Parkway that night. We decided to meet each other at the parkway, since AJ had to "make a video for his grandmother for "Mother's Day"". I got to the parkway all dressed up for photos, and not five minutes later, got a call from AJ saying his car wouldn't start. I truly believed him (very old car), and I drove back to the Airbnb, even taking time to stop for the Fruit Loops he asked me to get. When I got back to the house, AJ was nowhere to be found. I eventually went out to the back porch, which overlooked a beautiful river and the mountains. There he was, dressed in a formal black suit and tie, a bright orange and pink sunset behind him and colorful flowers and candles surrounding him. I started crying immediately. AJ held me for a while, and then got down on one knee. Throughout his proposal, I cried and kept saying "yes" before he had even asked me to marry him. He kept telling me to let him finish. :) Obviously, I said yes. <3 Nothing could have made that moment better. I am so lucky to be marrying AJ, and we cannot wait for "forever". November 2, 2024 cannot come soon enough and we'll celebrate with everyone we love! P.S. AJ used every bit of my naivety and gullibility when he proposed. During Mama Mia, he really wanted to tell me, "If you ask again, you will have to wait another three years." I just think made him nervous. Oops :) From Mom or future Mom-in-law: Before he proposed, AJ called me. He said, "I'm so sorry to bother you. I can call back." Not only was it odd for him to call me, but he sounded nervous. "No, you're not bothering me. What's up?" "Could I come to Atlanta to ask you and Lee an important question?" "Well, of course you can." Although I didn't know that Robin was threatening to march him to the courthouse, I did know what he was going to ask us. So, without Robin ever knowing, AJ came to Atlanta and asked for our permission to ask Robin to marry him. 29 years before, AJ's future father-in-law did the exact same thing. And we did the same thing that my father did. We gave him my engagement ring, which had been my father's mother's ring. Their love is carried in a ring that has almost 90 years of love already in it. I couldn't ask for a better son-in-law for my beautiful daughter.