DJ and I met in the fall of 2023 while playing softball(on the same team) in the Gateway Church league in Grapevine, TX. That season, I began pitching primarily and being new to the league, she was my catcher. This really created a bond between us, so not only was she catching pitches for me, she also caught my eye early on. I just didn't really think much of it.

Then in the spring of 2024, I started coaching again with my roommate Jake Wade and I suggested drafting DJ as my catcher again, and we did. That season is when I learned exactly how old she was and thought for sure I would not be anywhere in her league. But that season is really when our friendship began to blossom and form.

Going into the fall 2024 season, I made sure she was planning on playing again, which she did, but got sniped from us by another coach in that draft. I even offered a trade for her but her coach denied it. She was devastated. In hindsight, that actually turned out to be a good thing for us. Had she been on my team again, I likely would not have pursued her so as to not make things awkward in a player/coach dynamic.

This was when we started talking more frequently and hanging out outside of softball. In one conversation, she even told me that had I been 10 years younger or her 10 years older, that she would be "into me". Well that opened the door and my eyes to the idea that there actually might be something there between us. This is when I admitted that she had caught my eye a year prior and that the age difference didn't really bother me, because she carries herself as if she was older. She prayed about it but God told her "no". This was hard for me to hear but I still loved talking to her and getting to know her more. We really became best friends at this point. During this time, twice she decided to cut communication with me for a few days to see how things felt during that time and to see how things went when we saw each other again. Each time we resumed communication, she said things began to feel different.

On November 3, 2024, she hurt her back going into church and had to call out of work. She came to my apartment instead to hang out. We asked each other deep questions for hours really getting to the depths of each other. She left her ibuprofen at my apartment that night, so I took it to her the next day and we ended up hanging out that entire day as well. Little did I know, that would be the day of our first kiss! We had discussed my going to meet her family on Wednesday as part of her weekly routine. Later that week, I was supposed to fly to Alabama for my nephew's engagement. Come to find out, that same weekend, her sister was having her fall party and her mom mentioned to her that she "wished I wasn't going to Alabama so I could come to the party and meet everyone in a more casual atmosphere". So I postponed my trip to Alabama and went with DJ to Bridgeport to meet her family on Saturday instead. It was a blast and I loved meeting everyone. While at the party, we slipped away to her hometown to go see the grave site of the 20s era gangster Machine Gun Kelly. In the weeks leading up to this day, I felt like things had begun to shift and as we were leaving the cemetery, I decided to ask her for a date.....AND SHE SAID YES! I was a little shocked because up to that point, all I had known was that God told her no. That was Saturday November 9th and on Monday the 11th, we went on our first date! We decided to take it slow......but a week in we admitted we were falling in love with each other and told each other "I love you".

Over the next few weeks, we really strengthened our bond and by Christmas, we knew we were meant for each other and wanted to get married. I talked her into coaching softball with me for the Spring 2025 season (as I already had a plan in mind). I formulated a ruse and proposed to her at home plate on the field we first played on in 2023.

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