It was May of 2008. Michael and I were both enrolled in the same Drivers Ed course. I was a sophomore and he was a freshman. After crushing on him for awhile, I finally found the courage to say hello and introduce myself. After that we became friends on Myspace and eventually he asked for my phone number. We talked constantly. Both of us too shy to make the first move. Fast forward to the 4th of July that summer. He came to a get together at my friend Laura's house. At then end of the night, Laura's mom drove him home. Of course Laura and I came with. I got out of the car to say goodbye and that is where we shared our first kiss. Naturally after that, Michael assumed we were dating, but I told him he actually had to officially ask. Later that night, he called and asked me to be his girlfriend. We dated for 6-7 months, but unfortunately we broke up. It was my choice, but my mom never let me live it down. "He was the one who got away" according to her. I later agreed, but hey I was 16 and we both had a lot of growing up to do.

Flash forward: the year is 2014. Both of us were in long term relationships that had recently ended, and both found ourselves living in Stanwood. We rekindled our friendship, and luckily I still knew his phone number from years ago. I kept up on his life via Facebook, as he did for me. When we hung out again for the first time, it was like no time had passed. Things oddly just made sense. Things had changed, but it felt so right. We spent some time just driving around and getting caught up on what had gone on during those 5 years apart. I learned that we had needed that time to grown and learn and become the adults we are today. We began dating in March of that year. We had fun things going on every weekend. and love came easy. I realized he was my first love, and I truly never really stopped loving him after that initial relationship. The following October we got our first apartment together and adopted our cat, Ruger. We lived there about a year, then we bought our house in North Marysville. Shortly after, we picked out a puppy together and named her Luna! Countless adventures, too many to list. About a year and a half after being in our house we adopted our second dog, Lady. We both moved up in our careers and continued building the life that we have now. I wouldn't trade any of it for the world!

We had our house and our pets, but next on our list was marriage! We both knew what we wanted but the ball was in Michael's court to officially do the asking (again!). I knew it was coming but I just didn't know when, and I surely did not expect it when it happened. We'd previously gone fishing out on one the 7 lakes near our house in our 12 foot aluminum boat together, and we had plans to go the 4th of July. Michael had to work and I was off, so I was eagerly waiting for him to be home. It was just like any ordinary time we went. We got snacks at the gas station and we were on our way. It was a beautiful day! The conversation was flowing and Michael kept saying things about us and how it was the day we started dating when we first met and I for some unknown reason kept changing the subject. Looking back I knew he was being weird. Anyway, the poor guy for kept trying for an hour to get the words out and have a nice romantic conversation with me and I just was oblivious. FINALLY when he said "Jess, there is no one I would rather spend my life with..." it hit me what was happening. I shut up. I let him talk, I was shaking and began to cry. I honestly don't remember what else he said. He pulled the box out of his shorts pocket and opened it and asked me to marry him. I shouted YES! My instant reaction was that I wanted to hug him, but fun fact, two people can't stand up in those little boats. We were on cloud 9 and I couldn't believe I was going to marry my best friend!