Wes and I have been together through thick and thin, practically a life time. We met at University of North Alabama where he played football and I played volleyball. He says we met at a party where I caught his eye going down a slide in a skirt ;). I remember us meeting on Spring Break in Panama City where we met in a group of mutual friends and he ignored me :P. Either way, we started out as friends but decided to seal the deal after a Fourth of July trip down to Panama City Beach to stay with his mom. I rode in the backseat of Wes's old Jeep that had no AC, leg room, and plastic windows for 7 hours just to hangout with him. I guess by the time we got back he figured I was cool enough since I was able to put up with that drive ;). And I figured he was cool enough since he forgave me for giving him mono :P After dating 3 years at UNA we both graduated and alternately spent time overseas playing professional sports. I eventually got into physical therapy school at Armstrong Atlantic State University. He ended up retiring from Arena football to join me in Savannah where we spent another 2 years together. My final year of PT school I traveled a lot on clinical rotations meanwhile he moved to Atlanta to follow his dream and career as a fitness expert and actor/model. After I graduated in 2016 I moved to Atlanta, got a job at Benchmark physical therapy and we eventually ended up where we are now, living in Marietta with our old-man pup, Pip

So this is how the proposal went... It was our 9 year anniversary weekend and Wes planned a cabin getaway trip to the mountains. I was immediately on alert because I told him that when he proposed he had to do the planning, he couldn't just bandwagon off a trip I planned. And because Wes never plans anything I was already suspicious but I thought surely he wouldn't make it so obvious as to propose on our anniversary. Anyways, we packed Pip up in the car and set out for Blue Ridge Mountains. Once we got up there he was like oh, let's stop at that apple orchard you've been talking about. So we stopped and hungout for a bit and then went up the mountain to our cabin. When we pulled up I saw a blue car in the driveway and was like "Who's car is that?". He said "it must be the cleaning ladies, they said they may not be done by the time we get up here because we asked to check-in early". So we got out of the car and were walking up to the front door and I was like "you go first, just in case they forget and try to attack us or something." He kept saying no you go first but I am so stubborn I wouldn't go. So he finally flung the door open and ushered me in. I walked in and saw my dad standing there with a camera and a banner that said Congratulations. I was so confused and I immediately thought, are they congratulating me on getting back into school? Was Wes going to propose but forgot? Then my mom and Wes's Dad and Step mom walked out of the back room and I immediately started crying and knew.... After giving everyone hugs Wes said "Alright, I guess I have to ask the question" and got down on one knee and asked if I would marry him. His hands were shaking and he couldn't open the box which I thought was hilarious because Wes never gets flustered. I said yes and we got to spend the rest of the weekend in the cabin with his parents, my parents, and 2 dogs: Bailey and Pippin'. It was the perfect weekend! :)

So, I obviously wanted to plan something special for the proposal. Simple, but special. Let me start by saying this, Sarah is extremely hard to surprise. I mean she is like a female Sherlock Holmes and knows immediately when something is amiss. Not only that, she prides herself on her detective abilities so its like a fun game for her to thwart my plans. I wanted the proposal to be thoughtful and intimate. Sarah is not fond of big crowds in situations like that. She loves the mountains for their beauty and tranquility, and she loves family. So, I put those two together and figured I could disguise it by saying the trip was for our 9-year anniversary. Clearly, that was way too obvious of a choice for me to surprise Detective Sarah-Lock Holmes. Lets just say trying to keep this a secret was a task! I coordinated times/plans with both of our parents and of course she ends up wanting to get there early. So, I make up some story about the maids at the cabin not being finished yet so our parents have time to get there and I take her to this cool apple orchard to stall her as long as I can. We finally get to the cabin and she sees a car and again I have to say its the maids. At this point I knew Detective Sarah knew something was up. My plan was to have her walk in first to be completely surprised by our parents and then the proposal, and she says to me, "I want you to go in first". Really!? Always trying to thwart my plans! So, I open the door and she walks in. Our parents file out of the back room, she starts crying because she knows for sure now, and Im standing there smiling when I realize "Oh yeh, its my turn now". I dropped on one knee and asked her to marry me ,hands shaking harder than they ever have in my life because I was so nervous and excited, and she said yes! I'll never forget that moment, and I'll never forget that, one time, just once, "Professor Wesley Moriarty" actually got the best of "Detective Sarah-Lock Holmes" and surprised her. Mwahahahaha