Dating sites seem to be the norm these days, and we are no different in that regards. Troy was on the site for a couple of months before me and had a month or so left on his subscription. He had become frustrated with it to the point of making his account inactive. So when I signed up, his information was not available for me to see. Side note: I had actually filled out over 90% of my information on a different dating site, but there was a glitch and it kicked me back to the beginning. I was like “forget it” and went to bed. The next day, a different site popped up through Facebook or email which was the one that Troy had his account with. About a month and a half in, I had sifted through what felt like 100s of profiles with no luck other than having acquired some out of state pen pals. One Thursday while I was at work, I was notified that I had received a message. I read over it quickly, making a mental note that I would for sure reach out to this guy once I was home, had gotten dinner, and was kicked back for the evening. He had sent his message pretty early in the day. Poor guy…I had left him waiting and waiting and waiting some more to the point that he had fallen asleep in his chair : ) With getting up before the sun, he goes to bed fairly early, but I don’t think he was upset or disappointed when I replied back probably close to 10pm.
Below photo: picture of where he was sitting at work when he sent that “last ditch effort” message because he had told himself this was it after being disappointed and discouraged with the previous people he had met online.
This was March 2, 2023.

My typical protocol for dating site usage is to message back and forth through the site, eventually move to texting on phones, and then get to the calling and talking phase totaling a couple of weeks time at least to get a feel for someone. It was different with Troy. He just felt like someone I had known, and the messaging and texting conversations were light hearted, easy, and fun. I also knew that Michelle was going to be in full swing softball mode before I knew it. That next day after messaging with him Thursday evening, and moving along to texting on our phones Friday morning, I was like…”Let’s just meet later this evening!” And he agreed!!!
He even kept his promise from Thursday night…he said he would message me the next morning, and he did : )
Above photo: Broken Rocks Wooster, OH where we met for dinner the day after meeting on the dating site. We are making it a point to eat there on every “first date” anniversary : )

Despite only knowing each other for a handful of weeks, there were some pretty strong feelings and a hopefulness that this was in fact it. For those of you who have traveled the dating site route, you know how many people it takes to find someone “decent.” We had both discovered early on that the other had strong potential to become more. My thoughts were to text/talk during the week and get together primarily on the weekends. Troy had another approach…which I feel is responsible for what got us to where we are so quickly. His wasn’t just texting and talking every day, but seeing each other every day. That every day in person interaction solidified our bond at a pretty fast rate. And the fact that we only live 8 mins apart made every day easy to do.
Above photo: first photo we took of ourselves which ended up on Facebook.
Below photo: the date that night; pizza, wine, and live music at Lincolnway Winery.

Sometime in May of 2023, with a couple of hikes under our belts, we talked about heading south for an adventure to Hocking Hills. It not only coincided with Troy’s birthday, but our time there would be in the fall so we knew it would beautiful! The months couldn’t pass quickly enough…we were both ready for some time away to be unplugged and dive into our surroundings. During part of the drive, we were again talking about marriage and what all that would mean. It got me thinking…Did we really need to be married? Would it mess up what we had started? That didn’t sit well with Troy especially with what he had planned. Little did I know, he had gotten all three of my girls together for dinner at Hannah and Steven’s house the month before. Michelle had lied quite convincingly that she was “at extended hitting practice” instead of being at the district volleyball game that we had planned on going to. Troy wasn’t at the game yet either because he had “a work meeting” that evening that was going longer than expected. So I’m outside the Smithville gym pacing and hoping they, and I, wouldn’t miss any of it. Come to find out later that I missed out on one of Kelly’s delicious desserts…an apple cake.
I discovered at Hocking Hills…Ash Cave to be precise and continue to discover that Troy is very thoughtful and has a tender heart…two of the many qualities I love about him! Before asking me to become his wife, he confessed the series of lies from the previous month, that he had talked with my girls who were in agreement with his decision to ask, and that I was the only one left to “say yes.” He went on to explain (as the tears began to well up in his eyes) that he specifically chose Veterans Day as the day to propose. He wanted to honor and remember Alan (my late husband) in some way. Alan was a Marine and had served his country proudly for 20 years. This guy…❤️