We started talking on November 13, 2023 and we both had a feeling that there was something special between us. When we met for the first time on November 18, 2023 at the Everglades Conservation and Sportsman Club Thanksgiving celebration, our suspicions were confirmed. I was surrounded by a large group of life long friends, and Mark knew no one. He said he felt at home almost immediately.

I sure am glad for unlimited cell service. Living an hour and a half from one another with both of us working two full time jobs a piece, we were burning up the phone line. After an event at my place of employment, Mark rushed to my side. We have found ourselves nearly inseparable since. From airboating to buggies and everglades camp life, our two lives have seamlessly melded into one.

Knowing our shared affliction for both family and the outdoors, Mark orchestrated an engagement beyond my wildest dreams. At the Annual Barbecue at the Airboat Association of Florida, where we were joined by both of our parents, as well as my closest extended family, and some of our dearest friends he manged to sneak off and ask my father's permission to marry me. All day long, I was the only person in our group unaware of the surprise in store. I found it a bit peculiar being hurried off to the sunset ride so early, but with our large group of family, it can be similar to herding cats. When we pulled our boats along side a group of fifty others lined up to watch the boats race and the sun go down, Mark joined me on my boat and handed me a small wooden box he claimed was a puzzle box, at which time he turned us around for our families to get a photograph of the two of us together. The countless cameras trained on our position and failing to subside left me at a loss.

Mark then told me that I really aught to open that puzzle box he had handed me just moments earlier. When I opened the box and found that it had been concealing an engagement ring, time stood still. I looked back at Mark, down on one knee, it was as if we were the only two people on earth. I remember the sound of the airboats racing, but everyone else disappeared and all we could see was each other. It was as if the whole world stopped spinning for our one special moment together.

And so begins our life long journey together.