Colin and I met freshman year of high school. We were both in band. He played French Horn and I was in color guard. We officially met on the way to an away game that fall. I turned around in my seat to ask him which middle school he went to (I knew the answer, but it seemed like an easy way to break the ice). He answered and I turned back around. Conversation over. We were in the same friend group throughout high school and had many of the same classes. We were friendly, but there was quite a bit of competition. A couple years down the road, my mom and I saw Colin in the grocery store. I hid from him. My mom said "You're going to marry that boy someday." I wasn't so sure about that. Fast forward almost 10 years later to 2019. Colin and I had been dating just over seven months. My contract for my TV reporter job had just ended, so we took a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. On our first full day there, my best friend got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. Without any hesitation, I said yes. Fourteen-year-old Shelly had no idea 24-year-old Shelly would be engaged to Colin Fortner, but God has a sense of humor- and He's the BEST at writing love stories.