Christian and I first met in 6th grade at Carver Magnet School. Not only were we in the same English class, but our desks' were right beside each other. One day, Christian passed me a note as we left English class that said, "Will you be my girlfriend? Yes or No. Call me.". Being the very shy person that I was, I did not call but simply wrote "No, we can just be friends" on the note and handed it back to Christian the next day at school. The next year, 7th grade, Christian moved to a new middle school due to re-zoning and I stayed at Carver. Therefore, we did not reconnect until high school, where we sat at the same table in 9th grade Geometry where Christian's smart comments used to drive me crazy. Our next connection was when Christian started cheerleading with us at Dothan High School. Christian would come to the gym with us to practice tumbling and stunting. One night, we were at the gym practicing and our friends thought it would be fun for me to try flying in a one-man stunt with Christian basing. Long story short, I had no idea what to do as a flyer and ended up falling and snapping my arm, which landed me in the hospital with two surgeries ahead. Even though this was tragic for my cheerleading career, this caused Christian and I to start having frequent conversations about my injury. A month after breaking my arm, my friend and I were walking around the Peanut Festival where we ran into Christian and one of his friends. We ended up riding rides together and hanging out all night. There was a small spark that started that night and is still burning to this day.

For a relaxing beach getaway before I started my first year of teaching, Christian took me to Cape San Blas, Florida. This is the place that Christian and I go to get away from our busy lives to spend special occasions together. We started our day by picking up a pizza and drinks to take to the beach for a picnic. When we arrived, we laid out our quilt, set up the picnic, and ate while we admired the beautiful view. At sunset, Christian set up his camera so that we could take beach pictures together before we headed home. As many of you already know, Christian always has some crazy picture idea, so as we posed he told me to face the ocean (away from him) while he adjusted the camera. Little did I know, Christian set the camera to video and snuck the velvet black box out of his camera bag. Christian kneeled beside me and said, "Tara". My heart exploded as I turned to see Christian on one knee with the most beautiful diamond ring shining in front of me. As some of you know, I can be a little impatient, so before Christian could say anything else I grabbed that rock and put it on my left hand. Christian laughed and then asked, "Will you marry me?", and through the happiest of tears I said, "Yes!!"