I moved to Lubbock, Texas in June 2016 after just completing my Masters in Adult & higher Education at Northern Illinois University and accepting my first full time job working as a Residence Life Coordinator at Texas Tech University. I had interned at TTU in summer 2015 and couldn't wait to move from the chilly Midwest to sunny West Texas.

I began this journey with zero intention of getting into a serious relationship anytime soon. Little did I know, God had a different plan written in the books. A couple of months into my new life in Texas, I was assisting with 'move-in weekend', welcoming several thousand students to the residence halls. With so many students living on campus at Tech, there are 2 days of 'move-in', and in 2016, an invitation for all students to move in on the same day was accidentally sent out. This caused a bit of a human traffic jam in our all freshmen buildings, and sent several staff to aid in alleviating the stress and managing the process--even the IT guys. Mark and I took our lunch break around the same time, and ended up sitting next to one another. As we carried on conversation naturally, the small talk was interrupted when Mark asked me if I have a favorite part of the country and about what traveling I'd done throughout my life. We shared stories about visiting family members all over the country. My eldest brother and his wife had recently moved to Washington and Mark had recently visited Washington on his own. I told him that I would love to go visit them someday and see the Pacific Northwest while he told me of the many times he'd traveled there and how gorgeous and fun it is. Our short lunch break ended, and we parted ways, both feeling some type of connection.

A few weeks went by, and Mark and I had gotten to know each other quite well through small interactions at work and Facebook messages and texting in the evening. Mark's office was next to the mailroom at work, and I hadn't picked a piece of mail up late since August 20th. Still, I was not interested in getting into a relationship, let alone one with someone who worked for the same department. Mark asked me if I was interested in getting coffee at Sugar Brown's on September 15th after work. I had another commitment at 7pm, so I agreed to get coffee knowing if it ended up being awkward, I would need to leave shortly anyway. Speeding away at 6:45pm, we were already making plans to see each other again over the weekend.

In August 2016, I was helping remedy an urgent, unexpected situation that came up at work. As a staff member for the Housing department at Texas Tech University, I was responsible to help when thousands of on-campus residents moved in over two days. Normally, we worked hard to avoid—or at least quickly address—long lines of people, yet when some miscommunication mixed with several hundred very eager students, a bottleneck and long line formed! All of us who were there started racing to make the process more efficient on-the-fly.

Toward the end of the morning, I was working with three people willing to consider my suggestions, including a beautiful woman I had only seen once before who had piqued my curiosity. Getting to witness how intelligent and supportive Alyson was being made me even more driven to get to know her better!

When it came time to eat lunch, I offered to let her go first while I took her place helping the students, but she appreciatively turned the offer down. So, imagine my delight when only a matter of minutes later she happened to arrive at the same place and sat two seats away! As the only other coworker sitting near us got up to leave, I moved over to sit next to her, and we had a great conversation during our meal.

Over the next few weeks we talked more and more, and, naturally, I was looking for the best opportunity to meet with her in our free time outside of work. That opportunity came on September 15th, when we agreed to meet for coffee together after work, which proved to be very enjoyable! The next time we went out, we began by returning to the same coffee shop, and enthusiastically outlasted their hours. So, we moved on to a local pizza place that stayed open later, and continued our lively conversation. Over the next several months, we enjoyed sharing our humor, observations about life, long walks, fun on the road, and many more joyful occasions.

The pattern continued in the spring, when we both started to see a foundation being built for a future together. Amid discussions about similar dreams for our futures, more fun travel experiences, and the joys of our daily routine, I became certain I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Alyson. So, over the summer I poured emotion and thought into when, where, and how I would ask her to marry me!

As Alyson and I both really enjoy nature, trees, mountains, rivers, lakes, and more, I chose to take her high into the Sierra Blanca mountains of Southern New Mexico over Labor Day weekend. There,
we experienced much of what we enjoy about the outdoors and saw some spectacular views, especially when I handed her a few beautiful rocks she was very surprised and excited to keep as she said, “Yes!”