Heaven forbid a social butterfly spread her wings. It was a typical college night hanging out with the rest of Cookeville, TN when a handsome man came to sit down amongst some friends at table in the midst of a crowd. At that exact same moment at that exact same table a clueless, twenty one year old hot mess stood up and began to walk away from the table. Without hesitation the man says, "Well you don't have to leave just because I sat down." She looks at him, feeling awkward, gives him a smile, and heads inside. After asking about the girl and finding out all that he could, the Facebook messaging began. Running in the same circles in a small college town, brought them together again and again. He began to pursue her for the next eleven months. Finally after many dates, meeting families, friends telling him to move on, and her scaredy cat tendencies, he asked her to be his girlfriend (in the middle of duck season!). She said yes. And that is how the story of Allison and Eric came to be.

"Let's go visit my dad and everyone this weekend, okay?" Little did I know that the simplest little question was ultimately put in place for the biggest question to be asked. I should have known, seeing as before we left the house he asks, "Is that what you're wearing?" Uhh, rude. (Looking back I definitely would have changed outfits if I knew. And for those that know me, my nails weren't even painted!!) So we begin our journey to sweet, little Sparta, TN as we had done many times before. However, this time (with my lack of sense of direction) I felt as though we were going a different way. I was told that it was the 'back way' and that we had been that way before. Of course I argued it and of course I was wrong. Before long, we pulled up alongside this quaint natural area that leads down to the sweetest waterfall (where they shot part of the 1994 live-action version of The Jungle Book). When I asked what we were doing he simply said, "Well we're already here, we might as well walk down and look around for a little bit." A shock to me I immediately said, "But it's cold!" Looking back on it, I was the biggest obstacle in his grand plan that day. He eventually got me out of the truck and we began to walk down to the fall. Although it was overcast and chilly, it was just as perfect as I remembered it. We stood there for a few minutes taking it all in, talking about nothing at all. I didn't think much of it but he started to get a little quieter. THEN, of course leave it me to see something out of the corner of my eye. "Hey, there's someone over there behind the bushes." Ruined that plan. Immediately I put two and two together as he knelt down. That person in the bushes, yep that's not a stranger. That's our friend Kenzie posed with her camera in head to toe camo. Tears. All the tears. Whatever beautiful speech he had prepared was washed away by my ridiculous sobs. It was a simple, "I love you so very much. Will you marry me?" "Yes!"