Our love story started when we met in 2017 at the City Line Bar. We were two strangers, at very different stages of our lives walking very different paths. He thought I was a stuck-up bartender, I thought he was an obnoxious drunk. 3 years later, the summer of 2020 he started to come back around, he would hang out on a barstool tucked away in the corner of the bar ordering whatever N/A we had in stock and drinking cokes out of a glass. Every single shift I went into, I knew he would be there and I started looking forward to seeing him walk through the door. He eventually hung around enough, eating 3 meals a day at the City Line just for the chance to see me that I finally agreed to hangout with him, with the strict terms that neither of us "date" or were looking for a relationship. The rest is history, but we are so thankful for the paths God took us on to bring us to each other when we were ready (even if we didn't know it ourselves yet).

My Grandparents have always played a huge role in my childhood and raising me, so when both of my Grandmother's passed I held onto a few pieces of their jewelry that they would wear every day as a way to keep them close to me. I was given my Grandma Bean's necklace after she passed a couple of years ago which I wear around my neck every single day. About 2 years ago my mom gifted me my Grandma Burn's wedding band, which I then consistently wore on my Grandma Bean's necklace. I used to twirl the ring around absentmindedly, and day dream to myself that I would meet my soulmate while I was wearing their jewelry and her ring. It was destined, I could feel it in my bones. The Heart shaped necklace given to her by my grandfather, and the wedding band that symbolized 50 years of marriage. As fate (or habit) would have it, I was wearing the necklace and ring when I met Tod again. Wednesday Morning, May 12th 2021, we were staying at a cabin on the lake of a state park in Oklahoma visiting his beautiful boys. I took off my jewelry to shower, and the thought crossed my mind to give him the ring I always held so close to my heart. Upon getting ready that day, the same thought kept bugging my mind. I met him out on our porch of the cabin, and told him the stories of both of my grandparents marriages, what they meant to me, and what that ring symbolized for me. I handed him that gold band that was way too big, and told him to hold onto it until he was ready. Later that evening just as the sun was setting, not even 5 minutes after we packed the boys into their Grandma's truck, and before she even pulled away, I poked my head out the back door to ask Tod a question to find him kneeling on the ground holding the ring. We did not make it official until we got home and he asked my Dad his permission to marry me (words I never thought would be spoken about ME!) and my mother gave him my grandmothers engagement ring that I have dreamed of wearing since I was a little girl.