Shawn and I met just like every other couple in the 2000’s – online. I was up late on the Thursday before my cousin Laura’s wedding hemming my bridesmaid dress last-minute (Laura, don’t kill me), and I decided to scroll through a dating app and start a conversation to fill the silence while I worked. I saw Shawn’s profile (and duck-face profile photo – don’t let him tell you otherwise), and sent him a message. He was on night shift at the time, so he was awake and messaged me back right away. We sparked up a conversation quickly and ended up texting and talking on the phone all night. I’m not exaggerating, it was all night. Before we knew it, it was 8 AM and I was getting packed up to drive to meet Laura to set up for the wedding, and Shawn was getting home from work. After that, we never stopped talking, and due to either sleep deprivation or liquid courage at the wedding after-party, I asked Shawn out on a date. We decided to go to Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens the following day; Shawn bought his tickets right away so I couldn’t back out. Our first date was my favorite I’ve ever had. We joked and laughed for hours while walking around the park, getting scared to death in the haunted houses and waiting in line. After that, we never left each other’s side. Slowly, his apartment became our apartment. We spent most weeknights in the Taco Bell parking lot by his work where I’d meet him on the way home from mine, and we’d talk about anything and everything. He switched to day shift, and I got a job closer to Virginia Beach. We spent every evening together; watching movies, redecorating the apartment, and slow dancing in the kitchen to country music while I made spaghetti. We talked about our future more and more, and we started talking about which of those songs would be our first dance at our wedding.

Fast forward to today: we’ve closed on our first home together in Suffolk. I’ve had the absolute pleasure of meeting little Jace Michael, and I treasure every moment we get with him. Shawn asked me to spend the rest of my life with him while sitting (what felt like feet away from the sun) in the stands of the Bank of America stadium, and I said yes while the stands cheered. We are so comfortable together and I truly feel like we have known each other for a lifetime. We often joke that we had the same childhood, because many of the quirky things I did as a child, he did, too. We have each become a part of each other’s family seamlessly, and we both value the time we get to spend with them. I could not be happier than I am with Shawn, and I know he feels the same. We complete each other in a way I never thought possible. We are both stubborn, dramatic, goofy, and loving. He brings me up when I’m down and I hold him steady when he’s all over the place. He knows how to calm me when I’m anxious and I know how to ease him when he’s upset. I have truly found the one whom my soul loves. I know he will support me in any endeavor, as will I to him. He is an amazing father, and that just makes me love him that much more. He takes genuine interest in the things that make me happy, and my love for just being around him has made me enjoy football and video games and even WWE wrestling. I am just so thankful every day that the stars aligned in a way that allowed us to meet. We have built our love and our life from the ground up, and I know that we will continue to grow together, ‘til death do us part. - A