Our Story

(By Andrew)

How We Met

Although I'd like to say we met in some fairytale encounter at a bookstore or coffee shop, Jess’ and I’s story starts on the dating app Bumble. We had both put ourselves out there in hopes of finding someone and when I came across Jess’ profile it was almost too good to be true. A tall, educated, attractive woman almost the same age as me and lives just a few miles down the road? I had to talk to her so I swiped right, and fortunately for me she did too. We started talking that same day, and minutes gave way to hours and I knew I had someone special. One of those matches that you hope would go on a date with you. When I asked her out and she said yes I was ecstatic.

We met each other face to face for the first time at Crafter's Brew in Oak Ridge. I got there first and I remember waiting by the gate when I first saw her. When I laid eyes on her walking up to the gate, my first thought was I hope that's her because she looked beautiful. That night we shared a few beers, but many more stories, and we talked up until closing time. I had never met someone I felt so comfortable with right off the bat. We talked like we'd known each other our whole lives, and ironically we'd been in each other's orbit for years and never met.

I went home hoping for another date, and Jess later told me she went home and told her mother that I was the man she was going to marry. I guess that hunch turned out true huh? After that first night we spent many more dates together, and I met her family and quickly understood why we got along so well. They were from Coalfield, knew some of my family already, and they had that very same welcoming, loving demeanor that I knew as a kid with my own family. Eventually it got to the point where Jess' mother Teresa said she'd be keeping me whether we stayed together or not, and you better believe she meant it. It still amazes me how quickly time goes with Jess, and it feels like we were high school sweethearts the way we talk and act with each other. There's a loving care and understanding, and deep knowledge of each other that I've never had with anyone else.

The Proposal

I knew pretty quickly I wanted to marry this girl because there's just so much I love about her. Eventually I started plotting and scheming and finding a ring and a way to propose to her. I got Jess' ring and let me tell you it is not easy to hide anything from this woman. Her being an investigator for so many years tends to do that I suppose. So I did what I do best and put it on a high shelf she couldn't reach and hoped she wouldn't find it. As far as proposing went, I had several ideas but there was one that stuck with me. In one of our many conversations I remember talking to Jess about how otters hold hands so they don't drift apart, that they can have a favorite rock, and how neat we thought they were. Turns out, they’re one of her favorite animals. So I got it in my head that I'd propose to her in a way that called back to that great conversation we had early on.

I called Zoo Knoxville, and while they were initially interested, they were hard to follow up with. I tried Ripley's Aquarium, they said they don't do that kind of thing. Eventually I recruited help (you know who you are!) and ran the gamut of every place around until Zoo Miami. They hadn't had a proposal in months, and were ecstatic to work with me. So the details were worked out and further planning and plotting began! So at this point you're thinking, Miami? That's a long way from Knoxville. And yes, it is. But have patience dear reader, for you see, I was going on a family reunion cruise with my dad and my family on that side, and I wanted to introduce Jess, not as my girlfriend, but as my fiancée and the woman I am going to marry. So everything was arranged and then...Jess nearly canceled her own engagement.

Jess and I are very last minute people, and this trip was no exception. It took us twice as long to pack than we (I) thought it would, and on top of that we decided to finish it up the day we drove down. But the fun didn’t stop there, when we finally set out at 1:00 PM (5 hours later than we wanted to leave) and got 10 minutes down the road towards Oak Ridge, Jess got a notification about a job interview that would be happening during our trip. Naturally we had to turn around, get interview clothes and her laptop so she could do it virtually, as well as respond to said email, which put us even further behind. Mind you during all this I had told her family my intention to propose, asked her father for her hand, and hidden the ring in the spare tire of our car while all of this chaos was going on.

So as we set out anew on our 14 hour drive down to Miami the only thing I could think about was how I hoped we didn't get a flat tire! I made the first leg and got us through the absolute cluster that is Atlanta traffic, and we stopped and swapped places. Jess made the rest of the drive herself, with no breaks or sleeping, and by the time we got to our hotel we were exhausted (her even more so than me), frazzled, and it was the wee hours of the morning already (5:00 AM to be precise), with our engagement set to be at noon the same day. So by the time we got parked and to our room it was 6 o'clock, and as we laid down to finally get some sleep at 7:00 AM, I sheepishly told Jess that I had a surprise date planned tomorrow, or rather…today, to which she replied: “That's a tomorrow problem.” Little did she know that she nearly canceled her engagement! So she agrees to go and we woke up 4 hours later. I refused to give her any details besides dress nice. I forgot to tell her to put on sunscreen (sorry love) and she could not guess where we were going until we got there.

We got there, got parked, and I told her I needed to grab our tickets and I realized that the ring box was way too big and obvious (I made a custom ring box from 2 halves of a geode that we got on a previous camping trip), so naturally I had to take it out of the box and just carry it in my back pocket all day! How I didn't lose it is beyond me, but I was checking every 5 minutes from then on. So, ring in hand (pocket) we go up to the gate.

Now these folks knew that we were coming, and by that point every person that was working that day knew what we looked like and when to expect us. Which is honestly impressive because it is one of the two largest zoos in the United States. They hadn't had a proposal in ages, and so many people greeted us and smiled that Jess thought that Miami must be full of some of the friendliest people on Earth (not including the drivers). We got to the ticket counter and they took one glance at my papers and said “Ah you want to go up ahead”, and after being ping-ponged a couple times we ended up at guest services. They greeted us at the door and said they'd been expecting us and to hang tight. At this point Jess was very curious at what I had planned but I just told her it'd be a surprise. So they called up the folks that would be giving us a tour, and led us to the golf carts.

When we got there one of the people at the desk said “Oh the otters aren't ready yet, but we're going to give you a tour around the zoo until then.” To which Jess said “OTTERS?!” and at that point she couldn't contain her excitement. These two employees drove us around nearly half the zoo, telling us about all the animals along the way as I nervously held onto my pocket the whole time and we had a blast. We got to see so much of the zoo thanks to them. When the otters were ready for us, they took us behind the scenes, which was super fun on its own, but the real fun was just around the corner.

Their keepers showed us their 3 baby otter pups and their father, we got to watch them get fed and play, and hear all about what they do at the zoo. Jess was overjoyed because they were “so dang cute” and at the end of the tour they asked us what we liked most about otters. Jess told them she liked how they had favorite rocks, and when they asked me, I said “My favorite thing about otters is how they hold hands so they don't drift apart, so I was wondering if I could have your hand?” and got down on one knee. Jess of course cried and said yes immediately, and the zoo staff got the whole thing on video while their big burly manager who had barely said a word the whole time burst into tears. We passed around tissues (that their staff kindly brought for us), took some more pictures, and thanked them more times than I can count for a great time. We both left the otter exhibit absolutely beaming, and we called our families to tell them the news. Later that day I introduced Jess, not as my girlfriend, but as my fiancée, and we started our next adventure together.

Thank you for joining us on this next step in our adventure. We hope to have many more as the years come.

Andrew + Jess