Brett and I met in early 2017 at work. Brett was the new guy and since I had been there a good few months, I was asked to train him. The first thing I ever said to him was “I cuss a lot, I’m late a lot, and you’ll always find a coffee in my hand”. This was apparently love at first sight for Brett. That summer of 2017 we grew extremely close. I’m so big on being friends with your partner first now because he truly became my best friend that summer. Unbeknownst to me, he actually asked me on what would have been our first date quite a few times… I just didn’t know and invited other people to these dates and made it a “friend thing”. He was extremely patient with me, bless his heart, and persevered through it all. We got to know each other, the good and the bad, and grew extremely close. We had some rough times and Brett ended up moving back to Cumming. We spent a solid three weeks away from each other before he came back and I knew I never wanted to be away from him again. In October we went to go see the new Kingsmen movie that was out. Great movies, by the way. We went back to his apartment afterwards, I made Brett my famous chicken Alfredo, and then I just didn’t leave. I stayed at his apartment for a few nights, then it turned into a week, then a few weeks, then a month.. and then I had half of my things there. We just never wanted to be away from each other. It seemed like it was all moving so fast, but when you know, you know. As cliche as that sounds.

The next few years we made some incredible memories while building the foundation of what our life together is now. In 2018 we both landed our big career jobs. I became an insurance agent, and Brett got his start at Anthem. We grew out of his tiny apartment and got a slightly bigger apartment together. We acquired both Lynx and Binx and started growing our cat collection. We celebrated our first year anniversary. In 2019 we got Ruby girl back, had our first big ER trip when I decided the can opener worked better on my finger than the can, bought a home together, and got our first Christmas tree together. In 2020 we survived the pandemic, got our sweet Samson boy, took our first flight together to Denver, built a fence, and took our first Christmas card photos. We have taken so many trips, attended a plethora of events, hosted our own, and continued to grow in life and love together.

On May 4th of 2021, Brett decided he liked me enough to keep me around forever. We took a trip to the beach with my best friend and her (at the time) fiancé, and I just assumed it was a regular couples beach trip. Brett hates the beach, so I was set on making it the best experience in hopes he would want to eventually go back. He also had hopes of making it the best experience, just in a different way. We took a walk on the beach around sunset after dinner, he got down on one knee, and asked me the easiest question I ever had to say “yes” to. He truly planned the most unexpected proposal and caught me completely by surprise. It’s ten fold one of the best moments of my entire life. He is my best friend, my partner, my confidant, my anchor, and everything I need in this world to be happy.

Three months later we got the biggest surprise and found out I was 6 weeks pregnant. It was a shock, but an extremely happy one. I used to feel like less of a woman talking about my infertility issues. Now I’m more open about it and don’t have any problem sharing that our girl was a one in a million occurrence. The doctor told me it just wasn’t possible and I would need a lot of meds & assistance to ever be able to attempt to carry a baby to term. God knew what we needed and when we needed it though and he came through. In October we found out it was a little girl, and on March 19 of 2022 we welcomed our sweet Eleanor Caroline into this world. She was the perfect mix of both of us. She was small and little like her mama, with her dads ears and her moms lips. We are extremely thankful for the missing piece we didn’t know we needed. Especially since we were still searching for a flower girl. Surprise, we found her.

As we prepare for our wedding in the upcoming few months, I have never felt more surrounded by love. I have been blessed with the best life partner, the best future husband, and the best father for my child. I am so elated to marry him. I look back on the summer of 2017 and couldn’t picture it going any differently. That was the summer I met my everything. My whole future was looking back at me then and I wouldn’t change a single thing. Our life together hasn’t been all rainbows and sunshine, but it has been worth every obstacle that we have seem to overcome. I am thankful, grateful, and blessed to have all of our friends and family be able to witness us join as one.

Brett Story

Have you ever seen the movie “The Greatest Game Ever Played” starring Shia LaBeouf? Great movie. Shia plays this golfer named Francis Ouimet who competes against his idol Harry Vardon in the 1913 US Open. Watching this movie as a kid, I didn’t realize his last name was Ouimet (pronounced “we met”) and there’s this scene between Francis and Harry where Francis introduces himself saying “Ouimet”, but I thought he was saying “We met” as in an obnoxious “we’ve already met before, you don’t remember me?” and I always questioned why he would say it like that, since Francis was such a modest and respectful character.

Anyway, the whole point of that is: there was NO question about when WE Met! It didn’t take 5 minutes knowing Julia before I was hooked for life. Now, your boy had to play it cool, so I wasn’t trying to make it too obvious right off the bat. I had to play my smooth Griffith moves and woe her. It wasn’t long before she was pickin up what I was puttin down if you know what I mean.

Eventually it got to the point she couldn’t go 10 minutes without me, not surprised, so I let her set up camp at my place. Talk about being thrown into the Lion’s Den, this Leo has claws and a bite! But I tamed the wild feral cat into the warm and fuzzy house cat that she is. We had our fair share of disagreements, maybe helped ourselves to other shares as well, but we built back up twice as strong every time!

Anyway, my wallet started burning a hole in my pocket and I thought “what’s the best way to blow a bunch of money all at once?” next thing I know, i’m walking out of Kay with a diamond ring! I had to propose on May the 4th be with you because I somehow found a hotty who likes Star Wars. I’m not much of a beach person, but that day was unforgettable.

I could not be more thankful to Julia for bringing our daughter into this world, that pregnancy was no joke and I have NO IDEA how she made her body do what it did, but now I have a pretty little baby girl with her dada’s eyes, and every mistake I ever made is a blessing to have gotten us to where we are now. No day is perfect, but with Julia I may just make it out alive.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Girls I TOLD YOU one day i’d marry you!

But this is a vow,
so it must be true,
I hate spiders,
and I love you!