It was May 22, 2012. I was nineteen and a waitress at a local family restaurant. I had just finished my shift and had made plans with Lindsay to help paint her bedroom at her parents house. Shawn was twenty-two and was committed to joining the military. He had plans to stop by and visit a few days with his family before he returned home to Syracuse, New York from Oak Island, North Carolina. This was his last trip before he would leave for Air Force Basic Training in June.

When I arrived at Lindsay's house, I dumped my things all over the floor as usual, and gave some attention to her dog Allie, or "Nugget" as I call her. Lindsay mentioned something about her cousin being in town for a few days. I was the least bit interested in that information so I replied with an unconcerned "Oh...really?" I had never heard much about any out-of-town cousins other than Karrie Phinney, so I had no idea who she was talking about and really didn't care much about it.

I remained on the ground in front of the door, still playing with Allie, when Shawn came walking around the corner and down the hallway towards the living room. I looked up as Lindsay said, "Britt this is Shawn". He stopped and said "Hey" and I replied with a smooth "Oh...Hello". He smiled and I quickly looked away so that I wouldn't give it away that I thought he was attractive. At nineteen I liked being single and had no intentions of getting into a relationship any time soon.

The next three days we spent trying to complete the paint job in Lindsay's room. Shawn volunteered to help and stuck it out with us through the late hours into the night, the trips to home depot, and the endless touch ups and re-dos that needed to be done when someone made a mistake. With all the time we spent in that 12X20 space, Shawn and I had plenty of time to bond. Lindsay even mentioned to her mom, "Well those two are really hitting it off", and we were.

On the fourth day I had to wake up early to work an early bird shift at the restaurant. So I snuck out of the house trying not to disturb anyone. I tethered back and forth whether to wake Shawn up and say bye, but decided that might come across as a little weird, so I just left. Shawn left town later that day and I returned to Lindsay's to help arrange the furniture back in her room. Once we were done I noticed a sticky note had been put on her mirror. It read "if you ever need anything just call or text" and then a phone number was listed. I laughed and asked her who that was from and she shrugged and said it was from Shawn.

Girls have a way of picking up the obvious hints that guys perceive to be low key. I knew that note was a way for me to get his number. I never texted him though, but sure enough a few days later I had a Facebook message from him. He eventually gave me his number again and we talked non-stop for the next two weeks leading up to him leaving for basic training. Over the summer I thought about Shawn more than I was comfortable with and even sent him a post card when Lindsay and I visited Spain. I didn't even send my own family one. The day that we finally landed back in the U.S. from our Spanish travels was the same day that Shawn had gotten his cell phone back. Almost at the exact moment I turned my phone on he had sent me a message that said, "Aloha". We've been talking ever since.

Wednesday, November 23rd,2016 was chaotic. My mom and I were packing basically the whole kitchen so that we could have a successful Thanksgiving dinner up in Chimney Rock, North Carolina. The forest fires that had wreaked havoc all over the Carolina mountains weren't going to stop our family from having a great time and making memories. Shawn was scheduled to work that day and was catching a late afternoon flight out of Tucson, Arizona, where he is stationed. He was planning on arriving in Charlotte at 11:45pm Wednesday night. My dad and brother were going to pick him up and bring him to the cabin.

As Mom and I were fighting traffic and slowly making our way west, I got a text from Shawn saying there were some mechanical issues with the plane and they had cancelled his flight. The first flight he could get would be the next morning. He wouldn't arrive in Charlotte until 5pm. At that point dinner would be over and there would be no way for anyone to get Shawn to the mountains until late Thanksgiving night. We hadn't seen each other since the beginning of August and my mood went from bad to worse.

In the mountains I didn't have cell service and could only communicate via my mom's cell phone. Shawn had told me the earliest he would be able to get there was Thanksgiving evening and I was pretty bummed. I tried to make the best of it and was just looking forward to seeing him on Thursday.

Thanksgiving morning my mom and I started the cooking process. We planned on having dinner at 1 pm so my grandparents could make it back to Charlotte before dark. My dad and Jake decided to leave the cabin to stay out of our way and went to go meet up with a friend of my dad's who lived in the next town. An hour or so later, I had my back towards the door watching the Macy's Day Parade with my grandpa when Shawn walked in and put his hands over my eyes and said "Hey Beautiful". Thanksgiving couldn't have been more perfect.

Friday November 25th, 2016 was spent relaxing and eating leftovers. My mom, dad, Shawn and I finally were able to get dressed enough to go down to Chimney Rock village and look at the stores. We had plans to go to our favorite restaurant that evening for something other than turkey. Little did I know they were planning the engagement.

We got to the village and Shawn refused to put down his old lime green jacket with the holes in it. I didn't understand why but didn't give it a second thought either. I was preoccupied with the stores and getting ahead on my Christmas list, and my dad kept insisting we go down to the river for a walk. I was being difficult and one store turned to two stores which turned to four and five. Finally my mom said "Britt, your dad really wants to go down to the river", I finally agreed but I was getting hungry and wanted to make this quick.

When we got down to the river my mom kept saying how she wanted to get a picture of Shawn and I. I didn't like the idea because I was basically wearing an outfit that was one step up from pajamas. Just enough to make me look semi-presentable in public. We looked for rock after rock and they were either too small, too far, or too difficult to reach without getting wet. I kept insisting we do it at another time and just go to dinner. Finally we settled on one with a background that I found to be terrible. We made adjustment to the angle and finally I gave in to finally taking this "picture".

The next few moments went by fast but in the same way it felt like time had slowed down. We were standing on this rock with my mom on another aiming the camera our way. Shawn asked to hold my hand for the picture which I found odd because that was not our typical pose. As we stood there he began to squeeze my hand and I sincerely thought he was going to act like he was going to push me off the rock. He turned to me and wouldn't break his stare. He started saying something but the only thing I could focus on was this big nasty bug that he had smeared on his forehead. I had to get it off and he just kept on making his speech. When I finally realized what was happening he was down on one knee and pulling the ring out of his pocket. My first reaction was to laugh because thats my nervous instinct. Then I realized he was serious and "the moment of my life" was actually happening.

Shawn asked me to marry him on a rock in the middle of the Rocky Broad River where I had grown up going to on vacation for the past eleven years. I had spent hours playing in that very spot with my younger brother and had so many memories with my family there. No one could truly understand the meaning behind that exact spot.

,