The one simple word that started it all. If you ask Blaine, he wanted to be original. If you ask Carmen, she didn’t recognize his name, so she was a little confused. It all started the day Carson-Newman shut down due to the pandemic. In the back of Kyle’s forerunner sat some baseball player with the brim of his hat low over his eyes. In stepped an oblivious girl too upset they went to Taco Bell without her. One awkward exchange later, Blaine knew he would find a way to make her like him while Carmen was too worried about what this whole COVID thing was about. A few weeks later, after convincing his friends, Blaine got Carmen’s number. After working up the courage, he reached out to her, and they went on their first date to Cherokee Dam. The same spot, they would get engaged nearly 4 years later. They began dating in May of 2020 when Blaine nervously asked her to be his girlfriend, to which a caught-off-guard Carmen responded, “Uh…Let’s do the dang thing.” With nowhere to go and nowhere to be during a global pandemic, they grew close quickly, and to no one’s surprise, Blaine said “I love you” first. Nearly 5 years later, Blaine and Carmen have begun to set up roots in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with nothing but love, dreams, and a goofy-looking dog to their names. They are looking forward to the next chapter of their lives as husband and wife…(plus Jax).