So they are no longer two, but one flesh. -Matthew 19:6

At the beginning of the summer, a friend from high school reached out to me about playing on a slow pitch softball team in Monroe. It would be an assortment of some of our old softball team as well as coworkers that she had met working at The Monroe Clinic. I only knew a few of the people on the team but gladly said yes! I met Dillon in Gratiot for our first practice, with this group of goofy boys that all worked together. They joked around, had fun, and weren't too bad at softball. One of my favorite plays of the summer was getting an out at second base then throwing it to Dillon for a double play! I ran to him and hugged him tight in my excitement (to his great surprise). From that moment on we were fast friends. Softball teammates grew to volleyball teammates, which grew to friends, which grew to our relationship. While our softball team didn't do the best that season, I will always be thankful for the team that brought Dillon and I together.

After a very rough night of food poisoning (something Dillon never lets me live down), we woke up early to go fishing. Clearly the boys' idea. We headed out to his grandma's property at a small lake near Yellowstone. After wallowing in stomach cramps, an empty stomach, and the wonderfully fresh smell of the lake in the morning, I finally was able to join in the fishing for a bit. The boys caught a few here and there, but nothing compared to what we normally catch at the lake. After a few more hours of not catching much, it was time to go back to the shore. Dillon grabbed his tackle box and asked me to hold his fishing pole. After a minute, he handed me a pack of fishing lures. Like the jokester that he is, always making fun of me, he said “why don’t you check the expiration on those lures?” Looking down, he had written on the pack of lures, “Will you be my girlfriend?” I laughed, and said yes.

For our 16 “month-iversary” Dillon got us tickets to see the Rotary Gardens Christmas Lights. We bundled up and headed into gardens, excited as can be. The lights were the perfect way to celebrate as I love everything Christmas and all Christmas lights. We made our way through the paths, with Dillon ushering me on every time I tried to slow down and look around. During the pandemic we had to wear masks and he kept saying that we needed to continue on to keep our social distancing. Finally, we reached halfway through the lights show to the gazebo where we had taken some of my favorite pictures of us the year before. Dillon handed Jax the phone and (secretly) told Jax to take a video. We had to wait as people kept walking through the gazebo, ruining the picture. I suggested that we went a bit further down the path for a different picture, but Dillon insisted that we stayed and waited. We took our masks off to take a picture finally, and as we were smiling Dillon turned to me. He got down on one knee, pulled out the ring (upside down at first!), and asked “Tierney Jeanette Cushman, will you marry me?” I gasped and cried, nodding, and said yes! In my excitement (and nerves of us blocking the path), I grabbed the ring and put it on. Everyone around us cheered, clapped, and whistled. I continued to bawl my eyes out for a good fifteen minutes until all of Dillon’s smiles and kisses made them stop. Jax was stunned as even he didn’t know the proposal was happening! He remained speechless almost the rest of the night. Dillon had secretly hired Aaron and Taren Hartwig with Hartwig Film Company to secretly photograph the proposal, which turned out absolutely gorgeous. How could they not when it was the beginning of our happily ever after? The rest of the night was a blur of calling family, taking pictures, and happy tears. That will always be one of my favorite places and favorite times of the year, and now it will always be special to our family too.