I've always believed that people are put in your life for a reason. Some are fleeting, some are forever. Some help you grow and learn about life, some are there for you to teach. Ours is a story of all of that. I was led through many friends and over many years to meet Shelly Murray and her husband Chris. They let me into their family at a time when my life was changing from a college student into adulthood, and my own family was many miles away. They invited me to meals, adventures, countless summer boat rides, and many holidays. One of these holidays was the 4th of July every year at Chris' parents' lake house. Here, I would meet Chris' cousin Matt, whose parents and brothers would come down every summer to spend the perfect week at the lake with their family (and me, the interloper). Matt didn't talk that much (that's my part of the relationship), and we were never that close, but we were friendly for 7 days out of the year. Shelly would mention occasionally through the years that we were a great match, and one time encouraged us to talk to each other around the campfire about Matt's recent backpacking adventures through Europe. We did, but the 7 days ended and he went home. MANY years of this went by, until the Summer of 2017 when I hit that brick wall of FEELINGS and immediately knew I was in trouble. (For a good story, ask Shelly about me crying on a child's stool in the bathroom when I realized this). That summer, our boat broke down in the middle of the lake. We had to be rescued by Chris' dad and we were separated, girls in the tug boat, boys in the broken boat as we pulled it back to the dock. I admitted all my feelings to Shelly and she got to work devising a plan to get us together. She had known for so long that it was meant to be, and she was ready to get it started! The end of this long story short, many more long summer days and nights, one showing of the movie Sausage Party, and a few extra visits to Knoxville, and we were IN LOVE. <3