The week of my 21st Birthday my friend Haley and I were grabbing dinner at our hometown favorite, Ramshackles! Where we randomly were sat back to back to Nate and his friend Kyle, whom Haley and I both life guarded with in high school! Haley waves to Kyle, and whispers to me "That's Nathan Damron!" knowing he was my life long crush. After a while we say hello, but nothing more comes of it. Afterward, Haley and I are looking on his social media debating whether or not to message him..I didn't, and later learned he did the same thing! I would be lying if I said the following days I wasn't thinking and wondering what would have come had I tried to talk to him! I mean, he was THE GUY back home. My entire life my family, my girlfriends, and even my guy friends knew if I was given the chance with NATHAN DAMRON I would take it in a heartbeat. 11.24.15 Fast forward two months, the night before Thanksgiving 2016. Nate & I run into each other again, and the hopeless romantic in me definitely thought "two times in two months, after not seeing each other for over 5 years? What does this mean?" Mind you, neither of us lived in the city we keep running into each other. I lived in Tallahassee, Nate lived in Jacksonville. We just happened to be back home at the same time, twice. I almost immediately find him at the bar, tap his shoulder, and the rest truly is history. From that moment on, Nate and I have not gone a day without speaking to each other, and have fallen more in love each second that passes. We bonded over how we wished we would have reached out the night we saw each other in September, but agreed that "everything happens for a reason".

A little back story before we get into the nitty gritty. Of course after I graduated college the questions started from friends, even family (DAD). "So have ya'll started thinking about marriage?" "Do you think he's going to do it soon?" "Do you want it to happen soon?" And every time I talked about it I always answered the same. "I literally do not know. It could be TODAY or it could be 5 years from now. All I know is that either way is OK with me." I knew Nathan was going to be my husband. I knew I wanted to marry him and I knew he wanted to marry me. I also knew he was going to surprise me and do it in a very unexpected moment. He's a big surprise guy. So doing it in front of a sunset, in my favorite place in the keys, while on a catamaran boat? That would be too story-book, right? We were on vacation in the Keys with some of our friends and family. We spent the week fishing, lobstering, and most of all some much needed rest & relaxation! My mom told us a few weeks prior that we were going to go on a little sunset cruise on our last day of the trip and take some family photos (because we really hadn't in quite some time!) If you know Tina, this is nothing out of the ordinary. Well, once again Nate wins. He knows me better than I know myself and decided why not do it where she thinks I never would. We are relaxing on the net overlay of the catamaran, drinking red wine, and truly living in the moment. We start taking pictures and once we get to just him & I, he whispers in my ear "You know I love you, right?" and it was one of those "I love you's" that I really felt. I looked at him, and this was the first time in my life that time truly stood still. You know the feeling when it is raining and you drive under a bridge and the world is silent for a few seconds before it all come back down again.... YES. That was this moment. I'm not sure what he said, I am not even sure I remember saying yes? I just know that it was the happiest moment of my life.