Jay and I first met while we were both in graduate school at South Alabama in Mobile of 2018. He was in his second year of Medical School and I was in my second year of Occupational Therapy. We both were involved in intramural sports for our class teams. One night in November, my OT flag football team was playing the Med School team. I was a wide receiver and Jay happened to be playing safety that game. Well, I ran my route and was wide open. I was about to catch the ball when out of no where, some guy comes along and intercepts my catch! I tried to chase after him, but he was too fast. He even scored a touch down on that catch. After he intercepted my catch, he intercepted my heart. We then began to smack talk each other, mainly me messing with him because he caught my ball when I was about to score a touch down. The Med school team might've kicked our behinds, but I'll always remember that night as the first time I met Jay. After the game, we shook hands and Jay and I got to really talking to each other. He asked for my number and a few days later we were having our first date at Rio's Mexican restaurant. He didn't even know Mexican and margaritas are the way to my heart. We spent several hours at the restaurant talking and later on, I actually found out we went on a date the night before opening season for deer hunting. If you know Jay, deer hunting is VERY important to him. He actually drove back home to Monroeville pretty late after our date that night even though he had to get up before 5 in the morning to hunt. Jay must've known I was something special that night. I graduated with a Master's degree in OT in December 2019 and began working in Home Health in Jay's hometown, Monroeville, AL. Jay graduated from Medical School and matched in Family Medicine at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FL. We are pretty used to the long distance now! Flash forward 3 years, we had planned to visit St. Augustine, FL, for their annual Nights of Lights Christmas Festival. While we were walking around town looking at the Christmas lights, Jay brought me to this beautiful oak and palm tree fused together called "The Love Tree." A guy working at the cafe next door was outside and told us about the history of this "Love Tree." The legend states that a man planted the oak and his lady planted the palm tree. They fell in love, and as their love grew the trees fused into one. If you kiss under the tree, you will be together forever. The man asked to take our picture in front of it and as we were taking our picture, Jay told me to turn around. I turned around and saw my parents and Jay's family hiding behind the cafe. I thought my parents were back home in Mississippi so I then realized what was about to happen. As I turned back around, Jay was on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was in so much shock but I managed to choke out a tearful "yes!" After Jay proposed we celebrated with our families and then took a horse and carriage ride throughout the town. It was the most romantic night of my life. Jay did such a good job at surprising me and I never get surprised. We can't wait to celebrate with our family and friends on November 18th. We both appreciate the love everyone has shared with us over the past few months. We are excited to officially be Dr. and Mrs. James West! See you soon!