We both started attending Tennessee Tech in the Fall of 2021. We shared 2 classes and attended the same SOC church activities for 3 months without our paths ever crossing. The SOC fall retreat at camp leatherwood is where we first met and made a connection. Thomas invited me and several others to climb on the roof of the mess hall to star gaze. It wasn’t many weeks after star gazing that Thomas asked me on a date. November 17th, 2021 we went to dinner, and we’ve never looked back since.

In the summer of 2023 I had an internship near Nashville while Thomas started his career in McMinnville. Being over an hour apart, we saw each other mostly on weekends. I came to stay with his family one weekend when there was a fireworks show happening in town. On that Saturday evening, we watched the fireworks together. After the show ended we went back to his house, and he asked me to pick out a movie. After a few minutes passed, he texted me to come outside. When I stepped out the back door I saw a field of paper lanterns with a path of candles leading to where Thomas was standing. I walked to him with tears in my eyes as he got down on one knee and asked me in a shaky voice, “Abby, I know there is a question we’ve been talking about for a long time… will you marry me?” The moment was perfect.