How We Met
We met the first day of Freshmen Orientation on the campus of The University of Alabama. We quickly became best friends. Until a little over a year ago, when Jessie asked me to consider being more than friends. I definitely did not see that coming. It was definitely a hard decision because I didn't want to risk ruining our friendship. Of course I've always admired my friend and enjoyed his company but in no way I wanted to jeopardize the past six years. He suggested a courtship that focused on honoring each other and God and deciding whether we were right for each other for marriage so that if it didn't work out we could walk away knowing that we respected one another as brother/sister in Christ in our relationship. After lots of prayer, I eventually agreed. Boy am I glad I did!!!!
How We Got Engaged
Jessie and I live about 4 hours away from each other and we try to see each other as often as we can. Usually it's once a month for a few days. So we agreed to head down to the beach in Destin to celebrate his birthday (March 18) for a few days. Rewind back to Christmas--Jessie had given me a beautiful pearl ring for Christmas unfortunately it didn't fit so he had to take it back to get it resized. When I visited him in January it still wasn't back from the store and the month of February we didn't see each other. I had just gotten off work the morning we left for Destin. We agreed that the first day in Destin I'd get some rest and he would work on his paper. (he's a grad student). When we got to the hotel I grabbed a few brochures to look at. As I was sitting in my bed reading the brochures, Jessie asked did I want to try on the pearl ring to see if it was a better fit. I tried it on and as I was looking at it, he said, "try this one and see if it fits." I looked up and noticed that he was kneeling beside the bed holding a beautiful ring! He asked me to marry him and I was in total shock. So much that I couldn't believe it. I kept saying "No way! Is this for real?!?! Seriously?!? Really?!" He said yeah and put the ring on my finger and I nearly jumped out the window cause I stood up in the bed and got so excited that I jumped over to the other bed and then back to mine. He was still kneeling on the floor when i turned around to ask for one last time was I not dreaming. He said "yes it's for real....so is that a yes?" Wow!! I had completely forgotten to say yes! YES! YES! YES!! After I calmed down, Jessie and I prayed for us, thanking God for our friendship, courtship, engagement and the future of our marriage. I'm so blessed to say that I'm marrying my REAL best friend.