Zach and I were introduced by a friend of mine (his cousin Shea) in October 2023. She mentioned to me that her cousin Zach was moving to midland several times, but finally just told me that she wanted us to meet and thought we would be good friends if not more. She invited him to a pumpkin carving party I was hosting. Zach showed up with pumpkins, a carving kit, and pumpkin bread and we sat around the table on my back patio with a group of friends and carved pumpkins and chatted. In the kitchen later that evening my best friend pulled me aside and asked me what I thought of Zach and went ahead and told me she could see us being a good match.

We started texting back and forth after the party. And Zach mentioned getting coffee a week or two later so we could continue conversation in person. We got Coffee at The Grind and went for a walk in grasslands on November 4th (which we now consider our first date). I ran late of course.

We kept talking after our first unofficial date, and Zach called a few days later to see if I was interested in dating and asked if he could cook dinner for me Friday evening. He told me on the phone that night his intention in dating me was to figure out if I was someone he could marry and if I was he planned to marry me. He made soup, had flowers for me, and drugged his dog with anxiety meds so we could hangout without having to worry about her. It was a lovely date.

We hung out as much as we possibly could and talked A LOT through the fall, holidays, and then Spring. We found a common interest in cooking, eating new places, exploring Midland and Odessa, hosting friends for dinner and game nights, and having deep conversations about theology and life experiences.

Towards the end of May, Zach started a new job and I was finishing up the school year (I teach first grade). It was a busy week and Zach mentioned having a date night Friday night so we could catch up. I went over to his place after work and he had a latte waiting for me on the table, was cooking dinner, had turned down the air conditioner (my primary love language), and had jazz music playing. After dinner he pulled out a paint kit and we painted each others portraits and then revealed them to each other. We both laughed hysterically through the process. He asked to go on a walk after we painted and he took me back to the same spot we walked on our first date and he asked me to marry him. I was super surprised, not because I wasn't expecting to get engaged, but I was expecting him to pop the question a few weeks later on a trip we were going on with some friends. So of course I talked over him through the proposal asking questions, asking if he was actually proposing, telling him how I felt, crying (happy tears), and telling him over and over how happy I was. Turns out while I was busy asking questions and sharing all my emotions he had asked me 3 times if I would marry him and was ready for me to answer. On his third time I paused talking long enough to say YES!!!!