Val and I met at a Kingsport Axmen baseball game in early June of 2022. I had reached out to my friend Lauren Glass Mullins, whom I had briefly worked together with, and asked if she’d like to go to the game with me. She agreed and when I picked her up, she mentioned that her friend Val was at the game. I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. Once we took our seats in the stands, Val quickly found Lauren and I. He sat behind us, energetically cheering on the Axmen players and their beloved mascot, Tenasi. I, historically a loud and enthusiastic person, immediately loved his personality and spirit. We both took a picture with Tenasi after the game and went our separate ways. However, days after, Val emailed me asking me to help him with some social media and marketing. I agreed, and we began texting, snapchatting and talking on the phone. The first night we hung out, we stayed up for hours talking, and I came back home around 6am. Not long after that, Val and I were inseparable and spending as much of our time together as we could. I remember telling my mom that I had never been treated like this before, and he was so good to me. He asked me to be his girlfriend a week after seeing each other; but I knew I wanted to be his wife. Val is everything I’ve always dreamed about. He is kind, gentle, a hard worker, devoted, loving, goofy and smart. People always say when they know they know, and I knew Val was the one for me in June of 2022. Here’s to a lifetime of loving him as his wife and Kingsport Axmen games 🩵