Moe and I were introduced at church by our friend Heather Waite just after the 2020 holiday season. I thought he was cute from what I could see of his face (we were still in the middle of the pandemic and everyone was wearing face masks) and was excited to see another (presumably single) young adult at church. But given that I was established in my career and had bought a home a few years before, I wasn’t too interested in dating someone in the military, so I quickly moved on.

A few weeks later, Moe was handing out elements of communion for a midweek virtual service the church was going to have. I walked up to the table and Moe asked me how many adults lived in my household. My mind went completely blank. I’m a licensed professional engineer, have a masters degree in engineering and I could not figure out how many adults lived in my household when I lived by myself! I proceeded to utter complete nonsense for a good minute trying to piece together that I live by myself so only needed one element of communion. Moe had no clue what I was trying to say so just handed me two and I walked straight out of the building in complete embarrassment trying to understand what had just occurred. As I was walking out I heard God audibly say that I couldn’t move on with Moe until I resolved some other things in my life. I completely scoffed at that thought, given that I had just made a fool of myself, and went on with the rest of my day.

The next several months were pretty eventful for my family, mid-February my niece Sophia was born, end of February we found out my Nana, had cancer, beginning of March my mom had hip replacement surgery, end of March we found out my Nana had terminal pancreatic cancer, end of April my gym that had become my community during the pandemic closed and the same week that the gym closed my dear Nana passed away. It was a crazy season. Ironically, my mom proceeded her grief during this season by trying to set me up with one of the single guys at her church. Clearly that didn’t pan out, but it’s an amusing side story.

During this period of time, I observed Moe serving in different capacities at church and kept hearing passing comments from others speaking well of him. We would say hi to each other in passing at church and often it would result with my brain leaving my body and I would utter absolutely nonsense and then just walk away in embarrassment. The only time we had a “normal” conversation during this period was at Easter when he was dressed up at Batman for the children’s ministry and I had no clue who was talking to.

Fast forward to June, I hit the point where I just wanted to get to know Moe better for myself. I asked Heather what she could tell me about Moe and she gave me the run down on him. I was then determined to have a real conversation with him that hopefully didn’t result in me babbling incoherently. Well after 3 weeks and multiple failed attempts, the opportunity presented itself when Moe was greeting by himself at the door I had came in. I was bound and determined to have a conversation with him and I didn’t care if I was late to service as a result. I nearly died when Pastor Lance walked by, saw us talking and interrupted the conversation stating that “Moe was one of the finest young men he knew and that I was one of the finest young women he knew” and then walking away. Luckily someone else walked and the awkwardness dissipated and we were able to carry on with our conversation.

Two weeks later, we had the opportunity to talk again when we ended up scheduled to greet together. Conversation seemed to flow easily and I was enjoying getting to know him. Unfortunately someone else came to greet with us, ahead of 2nd service so we were not able continue our conversation. I spent the whole afternoon thinking about our conversations and kept thinking that I wanted to continue to get to know him and honestly see if there was something more there. I had also been hearing the rumor for months that he was able to leave for deployment, so I didn’t know how many opportunities I was going to have to talk to him at church. After a long walk, I finally got the courage to ask Heather for Moe’s number, and I texted him to see if he was interested in grabbing coffee or drinks sometime. He upped my offer to dinner and we made plans to go out that Thursday night.

Our first date was over 3 hours long and I think it took us an hour to order any food as we kept talking. Moe was very honest and open about his life and I felt like I was drinking from a fire hose learning about him but I was completely smitten. We went out another 3 or 4 times over the proceeding weeks before he left for 6 weeks for a training mission (not the deployment that I had been hearing rumor of). We texted every day he was gone and talked on the phone a few times. Half way through his time way we made our relationship official and started planning dates for when he got back. That time also allowed us to talk through general expectations for our relationship and we established that we wanted to have a weekly date night. We just enjoyed spending time with each other and would often spend out date nights talking about this and that and something else. In November of 2021 we told each other I love you for the first time, and a few weeks later we had our first conversation about getting married some day. Really it was a conversation about how he wanted to elope at the Taco Bell in Las Vegas and wear crocs. I quickly vetoed the Taco Bell idea and begrudgingly agreed to the crocs as long as I got to pre-approve them.

Memorial Day weekend 2022, my sister Elyse and her family, Moe and I all converged at my parents house to celebrate my dad’s birthday. We had a great weekend together eating great food, chasing my niece around the house/yard and enjoying each others company. Monday morning as we were all having breakfast and packing up to head home, my sister slowly gathered us to take one last set of pictures in the backyard. After everyone took turns taking pictures with Sophie, Elyse suggested that Moe and I take a picture together. After Elyse set up the picture Moe got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.

I remember telling my mom at some point, that Moe was nothing that I was looking for but everything that I needed. He has been the biggest blessing to my life and helps calm me when I’m anxious and overwhelmed. He’s also been the perfect addition to my family and is the only one who understands all of my dad’s interests! Im so thankful for how God orchestrated our relationship and brought us together. I’m looking forward to this next chapter of our lives and how we continue to grow and develop together.