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.

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