Most people who know me well know how much the sudden and unexplained seizures I began having at 22 definitely changed my life in many, many ways. For a lot of that time, dating just seemed like an unnecessary stress and after more less-than-fulfilling relationships than I’d like to admit to I had no interest in wasting any of my time. Losing my father reminded me just how short life can be and I promised myself that I wouldn’t waste time on anyone I didn’t believe showed me they deserved it. Online dating seemed like the perfect way to meet someone whose goals in life matched mine and felt like the deeply personal questionnaires would weed out many who didn’t know what they wanted or how to love me in a way that made me feel safe and appreciated. I chose match.com because it required users to spend money to be on there and that made me feel like that was a show of commitment to truly wanting to find something real. At 29 years old, I definitely hadn’t given up but of course I always wondered whether or not I would ever find someone who I felt truly appreciated me in a way so many years of lessons finally taught me I deserved. While I was embracing new age culture by being online, I still made every single man who found me on match.com message me first - definitely an unapologetic romantic with an appreciation for good old fashioned courting. Because we answered our questionnaire similarly, we matched and I saw that beard and knew I had to swipe. On Thanksgiving day, I sat on my mawmaw’s couch when I was alerted to a new message in my match.com inbox. It was that handsome man with the incredibly impressive rugged beard who reached out and made the first move. Unassuming and not at all cheesy, our first conversation felt like just that. I never felt like he was trying to pick me up, all I felt was such happiness and warmth when his name popped up on my phone. we talked for about a week before we agreed to take that scary next step - taking an online relationship with promise into the real world. As I was getting ready and overthinking my outfit way too much, I received a text from Marcus asking me what my favorite color was. I assumed it was one of those obligatory “get to know each other“ questions we all ask when getting to know someone and thought no more about it. When I walked in to my absolute favorite restaurant to see Marcus in a red polo my heart skipped a beat. From the very beginning, he’s shown me just how thoughtful and considerate he is. Little things that I would think to do for the ones I love were things he not only truly appreciated but mirrored back to me, something I hadn’t ever truly had before. Circumstances sped our relationship along faster than either of us were really ready for (we ended up moving in together after only nine months of dating because one of my kitties was sick and needed to be rehomed and I couldn’t imagine not living with my children) and now looking back at what could’ve been one of the biggest disasters in the Erin Chronicles ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. That big change only strengthened my knowledge in the fact that I was with exactly who I was supposed to be, the best person who has ever learned how to truly give me the love I’ve always wanted and needed. While living together in a lot of ways did feel like we were already a family, there was definitely part of me who was excited and hopeful at the thought of potentially making it official. While we had talked about it, I had zero inkling that Marcus was even thinking about doing it in the relatively near future. While some may find it boring, my favorite place to be in the entire world is at a table laughing and competing with Marcus in board games (surrounded by cats, of course!). Games have always been a major part of our love language and one of our favorite ways to spend time together. Anyone who knows me also knows that cats, ranch dressing, and murder are three of my favorite things. He combined two of those three when he got down on one knee during a game of Hunt a Killer with our three ridiculously adorable, oblivious clowns laying nearby. Hunt a Killer is not only one of my favorite games but my very first Valentine’s Day gift from him. Ladies and gentlemen, another thoughtful way to propose that so many men would never think of. He shows me each and every day that he is my very best friend, my biggest supporter, and the only person I could ever imagine growing old with. I’m lucky enough to not only have found the love of my life but to have him belong to the most amazing of families. I am gaining an entire army on June 22nd of this coming year and I truly am the luckiest girl. Making that profile is one of the scariest things I’ve ever done but it’s also one of the best decisions I have ever made. Writing this now and thinking about how amazing he’s been from the very beginning (a “unicorn” as my brother calls them), I honestly don’t know how I didn’t just get down on one knee myself a million different times before and beg him to make me his wife.