The one where an Illinois boy falls in love with a Kentucky girl…

I wish I could give you some sweet and sappy romance story about how he saved me from a burning building, or how we bumped into each other in the fresh produce section at the local Kroger, however, our story doesn’t play out that way. In fact, thanks to the real day and age of internet and social media, I was certain I had set myself up to be catfished! On a random Tuesday, I was sitting on my lunch break scrolling through Facebook when I came across one HUNK of a man’s profile picture. It just so happened to be listed under the “people you may know” section, though we had ZERO mutual friends. To this day, I’m still completely unsure how or why he popped up on my feed there, but I tell ya, I was intrigued. I looked through his profile and scrolled his photos, and was so easily swooning over the hunk that he was, all the while holding the CUTEST blonde haired blue-eyed boy in his arms. Easy on the eyes and the hottest dad I’d ever seen; I was gushing! I stopped for a second and told myself, “this dude might be a catfish, but gosh I have to find out for sure!” So that thought led to another, and the next move I have is shooting my shot and sending him a friend request. To my surprise, about 30 minutes later he accepted it and immediately sent me a DM. I thought for sure I was being catfished at this point. The message he sent read, “Okay this may be out of place here, but you are seriously one of the prettiest people to ever add me randomly. My goodness you’re gorgeous.” Y’ALL. I was so certain I was being catfished; I had set myself up for it and everything. What in the what. I’m freaking out. Is it real? Is he real? Does one human truly look that good AND be interested in an ole gal like me? Surely not… But here I was, testing my luck and hoping for the best. Gosh, am I glad I didn’t listen to my insecurities that day! We ended up chatting back and forth all day, then soon exchanging phone numbers, and before ya know it I make a drive, four hours north, to Springfield, IL to met what would later become to love of my life and soon-to-be husband! My biggest flex and life lesson through that is this: never be scared to go after something you want! You just might surprise yourself and hit the lottery! I know I sure did. ❤️

As many people may know this about me: boy, am I stubborn. Poor Zach, he’s stuck with me, too. Here we are, a random Friday afternoon, I get a text from Zach asking me to meet him and the kids at Smothers Park after work. Mind you, it’s late February and still quite chilly out, even with the sun shining. I end up coming home early from work, not according to his plan, and was told I needed to come with him and the kids to the park. I immediately was like, “absolutely not, it is too cold and that park is right on the riverfront, it’ll be cold and so windy, no thank you.” Annoyed, clearly, he continues to insist. I flat out was not having it, no thank you, not me freezing my tush off for an hour or two while the kids play. (I am such a baby with the cold.) as he continues to seem annoyed with my response, he realizes I am no longer budging or changing my mind. Saturday rolls around and I decide, ehh, it’s the weekend, sweatpants and a baggy tshirt sure sound like the move for the day. Sunday morning comes and it’s time for Church. I decided to actually wash my hair that morning and throw a dress on to wear to church. After service, we decided to go downtown to eat at Fetta for lunch and then get some family photos at the park since we were all dressed up, kids included. The wind was not in our favor that day, and it was chilly. At this point I look at Zach and say, “babe, I don’t even care about a family picture, we can get one some other time, let’s go home so I can change clothes.” He argued and insisted we were not going to change clothes and we WERE going to get a picture since we rarely ever dress up. As annoyed as I was, I finally humored him for a picture. We ended up going all the way to Illinois to take Rory back to his Mom’s house. We stopped along the way in a cute little town where his mom met us there, just to get some pictures of us. Now, why, in my mind, did I not think something fishy was coming? I have no idea. The blonde was clearly shining bright that day, I reckon. We pull over at this town’s local courthouse and Zach’s sweet Mama snaps some pictures of us. Lo and behold, I turn around and see Zach drop to one knee with the most beautiful ring, and I knew right then, wow, I get to marry my very best friend. So many yeses, kisses, and smiles that afternoon, as I was truly on cloud nine from that moment on. Now, back to the first part of the weekend: I ruined it all. (This will eventually be humorous one of these days 😅.) Zach had the Friday all planned out and scheduled for a local photographer to come out to Smothers Park and snap some pictures of the proposal. His plan was for me to meet him and the kids, and the kids were going to hand me flowers when I got there, with Zach down on one knee with a ring in hand. Boy, did I mess that one up. Sweet man though, persevered right through and didn’t give up on me and my stubbornness! Such a trooper, he is. All in all, it was perfect exactly as it was. My sweet man even made sure my nails were done! He always pays attention to the little things. Gosh, I am one lucky girl!