Little did I know 8 years ago, I was going to meet my future wife in the college library. My plans for that evening were to study with my track & field teammates. I was the last to arrive and since I was new to joining the team, I didn’t know who was going to be there. After quickly introducing myself to some of my new teammates, the last person I met and took a seat next to, with a wide grin on her face, enthusiastically turned to me and said, “Hi I’m Jessica!!” I immediately took notice of her beautiful smile and heartwarming kindness. After explaining to her how I was nervous for the upcoming track season because I had taken a year off from competing, Jessica said, “Don’t worry you’ll do great!” The next thought that came to my mind was, “I have no chance with her.” Little did I know that this would be the start of our journey together, from teammates, to friends, to best friends, and shortly soon husband and wife.

On the coast of Hawaii, we arrive at THE location. As we strolled through this pathway that led to the water and a hidden beach, we saw a wedding taking place. Gabe turned to me and enthusiastically said “Look at how nice that wedding is!”, which was a little strange to me because I never knew he would be so interested in a wedding. Later I would find out this was all a ploy to distract me and quickly throw his jacket down and take out a little black box that had been hidden inside the whole time. He then took my right hand and continued to guide me closer to the hidden shoreline. Watching my step and observing the scenery, I came to notice a wooden sign pierced in the sand with a lei hanging from it and red and pink rose petals forming the shape of a heart in front of it. The sign read: “Will you marry me?”.  I turn to Gabriel in awe and astonishment as my eyes began to fill (as they are right now writing this) mumbling the words “no way Gabriel, is this happening?”. He turns me around so my back is to the sign and says “yes it is". He’s holding my hands as he looks into my eyes and there the world stopped for me. I know people like to say things like that because it sounds romantic, but I am so serious when I say that it felt like the world stopped in that moment. In every second of that moment, I could feel God's presence, and the amount of peace and joy that engulfed us was indescribable and beyond this world. Gabriel continued on to speak of how much of a blessing I have been in his life and through the tears in his eyes, I saw his love and admiration. Following his words, he gets on one knee and asks the greatest question of my life. Without hesitation and before he could even complete his question, I said yes!! We went on to take more photos and we watched the most incredible sunset of my life. Like I spoke previously, it all felt unreal and not of this world.