December of 2006, while I was working as a delivery driver for Sabella's Catering before my ship out date for the US Navy's basic training, I happened to stop by the East Erie Turners club. I met the most amazing woman and wanted to spend every second before I shipped out in February with her. I even stopped by New Years Eve when she was working and snuck her outside to ring in the New Year with a bottle of prosecco. After 8 weeks of basic training, we continued to talk, but distance got in the way as I traveled from Chicago to San Diego, then Mayport, Florida where my ship was stationed. As fate would have it, about 2 days before I left Mayport for my next duty station in Sicily, we started talking again. When I eventually made it back stateside, I flew her out to Oahu to visit and we realized that it was meant to be. On January 5th, 2017, with the help of a great friend, I managed to surprise Carla with a proposal as the sun was setting on the big island of Hawaii. Of course the only thing she could think of was how did I keep the large box her ring was in hidden during our beachfront dinner! (I didn't realize that many people were there until we turned around after the proposal!)